Two-year VET programmes for the Federal VET Certificate

Like three- or four-year VET programmes, two-year VET programmes are governed by a corresponding VET ordinance and training plan. Two-year VET programmes prepare learners for a specific career profile and lead to the issuance of a Federal VET Certificate. They impart the competences required to work in an occupation that requires mainly practical skills. Attendance of classroom instruction in vocational subjects and branch courses is laid down in each VET ordinance.

At the end of a two-year VET programme, learners undergo a qualification procedure (usually a final examination) to obtain a Federal VET Certificate. The duration of the two-year VET programme may be shortened or extended to take the learner’s needs into account.

If learning difficulties might compromise the success of the two-year VET programme, the learner may benefit from one-to-one coaching. This aims to develop the young person’s personal competences so that he?/?she can meet the demands of society and employers, achieve training objectives and ultimately complete his?/?her training.

Holders of the Federal VET Certificate may – depending on the opportunities offered by the occupational field – obtain advanced placement in a three- or four-year VET programme (which will be shortened by one year). This permeability is established in the corresponding VET ordinance.

Each Federal VET Certificate is issued with an accompanying certificate supplement, which indicates the level that the qualification holds in the Swiss National Qualifications Framework for Vocational and Professional Qualifications NQF VPQ) (supplementprof.ch).