The close-to-practice education offered by the newest form of third-level institutes make their graduates highly employable

By Blaise Roulet, Deputy Director, Head of University of Applied Sciences Centre, Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology OPET

It is ten years since the legal bases for a new form of third-level institute in Switzerland entered into force. The motivation behind this educational reform was the desire to revitalise the economy and to enhance the Swiss vocational education system by extending it to the tertiary level. Apprenticeships, chosen by around two thirds of Swiss school-leavers, were supplemented by the introduction of the professional baccalaureate. The majority of incoming UAS students have passed through this education path. Today, UAS offer a wide range of degree courses and advanced education opportunities in the fields of technology, business, design, health, social work and art. Their working languages are primarily German, French or Italian, and in some cases English. As well as teaching activities, the UAS are also active in applied research and development. In this regard, they have an important function, namely bridging the science-economy-society gap. UAS are an important complement to the Swiss higher education system and its traditional universities. Their unique selling points are the offer of a close-to-practice education and focus on innovation.

Quality guaranteed

During their creation phase, the Universities of Applied Sciences underwent a series of quality reviews, or “Peer Reviews” involving national and international experts. They concluded that, compared with international third-level institutions, the quality of the courses offered by Swiss UAS ranked as good to very good. At the end of 2003, the Federal Council (Swiss government) awarded the seven regional Universities of Applied Sciences authorisation for an unlimited period. In 2005, authorisation was given for the first time to a privately funded University of Applied Sciences, which is subject to the same requirements as its state-funded counterparts. In accordance with the Europewide objectives of the Bologna Declaration, an accreditation and quality assurance system will be introduced for Universities of Applied Sciences in 2006.

The Swiss UAS are very successful. Student numbers have continually risen since their creation and today stand at 38,000, of which 16% are foreign students. There is an aboveaverage high share of foreign students (around 50%) in music and theatre. The close-topractice education offered by the UAS make their graduates highly employable. However, the UAS cannot afford to rest on their laurels. They must continue to develop further and set themselves new challenges. They should develop their research activities, improve cooperation with both industry and other third-level institutions, as well as ensure that there is no overlapping in the courses they offer.

Coordinated implementation of Bologna Reform

Switzerland was one of the first countries to sign up to the Bologna Declaration in 1999. Only a few years after they were founded, Universities of Applied Sciences have committed themselves wholeheartedly to this new reform and, compared to other higher education institutions abroad, have efficiently introduced these standards.

Thanks to the adoption of the Bologna system, Universities of Applied Sciences in the future will be in a position to award the nationally and internationally recognised titles of “Bachelor of Science”, “Bachelor of Arts”, “Master of Science”, and “Master of Arts”. At the advanced education level, they will be able to award the same titles as those awarded by traditional universities, namely “Master of Advanced Studies” or “Executive Master of Business Administration”. Following the assimilation of these titles in the other parts of the higher education system, it will be ever more important for UAS to accentuate their unique profile, i.e. close to both practice and the job market. The UAS are also faced with new opportunities to expand on their current degree courses (which up to now run for three or four years) with the introduction of the Masters level as of 2008.

Ready for further reforms

The third level education system in Switzerland remains in a state of flux. To ensure that it is equipped to rise to future challenges, a reform process was launched, entitled “Hochschullandschaft Schweiz” (Swiss higher education landscape), which should reorganise tertiary education over the coming years and subsume all third-level institutes under a single framework law. In addition to this ambitious project, there are further objectives to be met: stricter management of the entire system, a reduction in the number of governing bodies, as well as greater autonomy for individual third-level institutes. The next reform phase will be concerned essentially with maintaining the individuality of the Universities of Applied Sciences and improving their national and international standing through their full integration in the Swiss higher education network.