Switzerland’s dual-track apprenticeship model serves as a benchmark for education systems around the world. Experts recently travelled to Bern to find out how Swiss apprenticeships work – and how they might use what they learned to advocate for better vocational training in their own countries. International guests are part of everyday life at the Kursaal Bern hotel and congress centre. But the group touring its corridors on a late summer afternoon is not here to spend the night. They have come to meet apprentices. The group of around 20 participants were visiting from countries including Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, Mozambique, Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos. They had travelled to Switzerland to learn more about the Swiss vocational education system, following the international Vocational Education and Training Congress (VET Congress), held in Lausanne, western Switzerland, in early September. The Bern visit was organised by the Swiss aid organisation Helvetas. “We wanted to give the ...
