Vocational education and training provides two-thirds of young adults in Switzerland with a solid professional basis for life-long learning and offers a wealth of job prospects. Training in industry combined with vocational college training is the most common form of basic professional training. This combination is known as the "Dual Professional Training System" and is highly significant in keeping the level of youth unemployment in Switzerland very low.

Depending on the profession, basic vocational education and training takes two to four years. It leads to a basic or advanced Federal Certificate, which provides the necessary qualifications for practising a specific profession and offers access to continuing vocational education and training.

Bridging Year
Most young people go from an elementary school straight into a professional or further training. Some prefer or need to make use of a "bridging year" and the Canton of Zug provides various types of these (www.brueckenangebote-zug.ch - German).

Among these is the Integrations-Brücken-Angebot I-B-A, which provides young people between the ages of 14 und 21 who have recently arrived in Zug with the necessary tuition in German and other school subjects to enable them to continue their education.

Higher vocational education and training combines solid practical skills with established theoretical expertise, laying the foundation for middle management jobs. The syllabi of colleges of higher vocational education and training lead to a federally recognised diploma and last two to three years. These colleges are at a non-university tertiary level. The requirement for studying is completion of a three- or four-year basic training course with an Advanced Federal Certificate.