The Swiss are famous, of course, for precision and craftsmanship. But what they should also be known for is something even more fundamental to their success: an education system that fuels innovation, produces a superbly skilled workforce and keeps the country’s economy ahead of the curve. Switzerland’s education system is consistently ranked among the best in the world, winning praise for its quality, opportunity and high rate of educational attainment. It’s not surprising that U.S. policymakers and researchers make pilgrimages on a near-annual basis to see the Swiss approach in action.
Education in Switzerland holds plenty of lessons for American policymakers, especially at a time of ever-growing skepticism about the value of college and the ability of U.S. schools to produce the talent our economy needs. Of course, there are vast differences — demographic, geographic and otherwise — between the United States and Switzerland. But as a Swiss American dual citizen who’s spent the bulk of my career studying the U.S. education system, I see plenty of ways that our states can learn from the Swiss model.
How does that model work? In Switzerland, education starts with a much tighter connection between school and work. It’s designed with a dual purpose: to support individual growth and choice while also functioning as a talent development system for the economy. That purpose shapes how the system views young people — as capable learners who can take on real responsibility when given structure, mentorship and clear pathways.
Roughly two-thirds of Swiss teens embark on apprenticeships that combine classroom education with practical — and paid — on-the-job experience. Unlike what Americans might think, this model doesn’t force anyone to make a career decision by age 15. Quite the opposite: Swiss students are given opportunities to explore and plenty of chances to switch if it turns out they don’t like their first option. Like the Swiss public transit system, which is robust and deeply interconnected, education for Swiss students is designed to ensure that as few students as possible miss their connection or get off at the wrong stop.
What accounts for the success of this model? It’s hardly the heavy-handed government intervention that Americans often associate with Europe. Rather, employers take the lead. The country is dotted with training centers — in banking, advanced manufacturing and other industries — funded entirely by private business. Swiss companies recruit aggressively for students who have declared their intent to pursue the vocational education and training track. Employers in Switzerland see education and training of future workers as their responsibility, and see the workplace as an extension of the classroom.
The result is a highly competitive system that gives students access to state-of-the-art learning experiences while also helping companies cultivate the talent they need. And it makes financial sense. Research shows that Swiss businesses earn an average 10 percent return on their investment during the training period alone.
In the U.S., by contrast, employers typically wait for high school and college students to complete their program of study and apply for internships and jobs. Outside of a few select industries, the American talent recruitment process is largely passive and highly reliant on marketing and word of mouth. Public investment, in turn, focuses almost exclusively on degree-granting education programs that are rarely, if ever, driven by employer needs. There’s limited incentive for employers to become co-producers of their own talent or to collaborate with other businesses in their industry. And plenty of money keeps flowing to colleges and universities without any expectation that students will get a job on the other end of their degree.
Understanding the gaps between our approach and Switzerland’s can point to potential solutions, particularly at the state level. This is what’s happening in Indiana, where business, education and community leaders joined forces to build a statewide apprenticeship program — based in part on the Swiss model — to develop new learn-and-earn pathways that can lead to careers in high-demand fields. Its goal is to create 50,000 youth apprenticeships over the next decade. If it succeeds, it’s poised to become a national model for market-driven solutions to talent development. Similar work is taking place in Colorado, which created a state agency called the Office of the Future of Work, with an explicit focus on building stronger connections between school and careers. Several other states, including Maryland, North Carolina and Washington, have also been modifying their high school career and technical education programs following the Swiss model.
No one is suggesting the United States tear down its education system and rebuild it in Switzerland’s image. It’s not necessary. But some states are already demonstrating what it looks like to import the best parts of the Swiss approach — expanding apprenticeships into new industries, strengthening partnerships between employers and educators, and treating talent development as a shared responsibility. If state policymakers want to take a lesson from Davos, those who consider education Switzerland’s most valuable export will be the ones poised to help millions more people and their communities thrive in a fast-changing world.
Vinz Koller is vice president of the Center for Apprenticeship & Work-Based Learning at Jobs for the Future.
Governing's opinion columns reflect the views of their authors and not necessarily those of Governing's editors or management.
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