VPET research

The Federal Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act (VPETA) states that the Confederation must contribute to the development of the Swiss VPET system through VPET research, among other things. Quality and independence must be assured by qualified research institutes.

Objectives

The Confederation will continue to support VPET research until a lasting infrastructure is in place that conducts research to an internationally recognised standard. VPET research findings should enable continuous development of the Swiss VPET system. In addition, research findings should produce the knowledge needed to for Swiss VPET policymaking.

The Confederation provides funding for the cyclical creation, review and revision of training programmes and also supports special services that serve the public interest. In addition, to this it pursues VPET research, which constitutes a viable means of ensuring innovation within the VPET system.

Instruments used to support VPET research

The support programme sponsored by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) is comprised of two support instruments: ‹Leading Houses› and ‹Individual Projects›. These instruments complement one another. The Leading House instrument pursues far-reaching objectives with the aim of establishing new research structures that last. Leading Houses focus on clearly defined, relevant research topics that are relevant to upper-secondary level VET and tertiary-level professional education. In their respective areas, each Leading House acts as a competence centre. In contrast, Individual Projects pursue shorter-term objectives and fill research gaps that are not covered by Leading Houses. With these two instruments, it is possible to conduct both fundamental and applied research in support of the VPET system.