Project

Fifth cost-benefit study of apprenticeship training from the standpoint of companies

The fifth cost-benefit survey of apprenticeship training from the standpoint of companies will use a comprehensive sample to survey the cost-benefit ratio of apprenticeship training in companies.

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The cost-benefit ratio of apprenticeship training is one of the decisive factors determining whether companies are willing to offer a sufficient number of apprenticeship positions for VET programmes. Since the first Swiss cost-benefit survey was conducted in the year 2000, the costs and benefits of apprenticeship training have been surveyed at regular intervals to assess the economic viability of dual-track VET programmes.

SFUVET is working with M.I.S. Trend S.A. to conduct the fifth cost-benefit survey on behalf of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). In addition to providing a macroeconomic estimate of the costs and benefits of apprenticeship training for companies, SFUVET and M.I.S. Trend S.A. staff will calculate the individual cost and benefit parameters for all three training durations (i.e. two-year, three-year and four-year) for the most commonly chosen occupations.

The average gross costs and productive output as well as the resulting net benefits for companies will be broken down for a typical VET programme according to individual apprenticeship year, training duration, sector, company size and large region of Switzerland. In addition, the average benefit that host companies derive from hiring apprentices after graduation (i.e. recruitment opportunity returns) will also be assessed by company size.

Finally, a multivariate analyses of the various determinants of the cost-benefit ratio of apprenticeship training will be performed. The results will then be compared with previous cost-benefit surveys to highlight any fluctuations in survey results.

For companies: Have you received an invitation letter from us by letter and would now like to register for the survey? You can sign in with your personal login data (see back of the invitation letter) at the following link: www.konu.ch

Results of the fourth cost-benefit study of apprenticeship training from the companys’ standpoint

Method

The key indicators of this research project require both macroeconomic and average estimates of the cost-benefit parameters of apprenticeship training. In order to generate these key indicators and ensure comparability with the previous four cost-benefit surveys, the fifth cost-benefit survey conducted on the survey date must be representative of the whole of Switzerland. As with the previous surveys, data will be taken from the Federal Statistical Office’s Business and Enterprise Register (BER) and Vocational Education and Training Statistics (SBG).

The online questionnaire (in German, French and Italian) to be used for this cost-benefit survey will be based on a revised and streamlined version of the questionnaire used thus far. The net survey sample will include 4,500 questionnaires for companies that train apprentices and 3,500 questionnaires for companies that do not. A hotline will be set up for companies in all linguistic regions to handle any questions about the cost-benefit survey and questionnaire.

The same cost model used in the previous four cost-benefit surveys will also be used to calculate cost-benefit parameters for the fifth cost-benefit survey. The final survey report will be published in the summer of 2025.