By Soukaina Rachidi

According to the World Bank, the youth unemployment rate in the MENA region in 2014 was 29.7%, one of the highest in the world. While the political unrest in the region has played a significant role in aggravating this problem, Bayt.com’s 2015 Fresh Graduates in the MENA Survey tells another story. Just over three-fifths of the survey’s respondents claimed “to have considered the availability of jobs in their field before deciding their major.” Furthermore, 76% of MENA graduates claimed that it was difficult to find their first job, because employers frequently wanted candidates with previous work experience. Unfortunately, these attitudes have created two paradoxical problems for young Arabs: unemployment and underemployment. However, this is not the case in Switzerland, where the youth unemployment rate is below 3%.  

This low rate has been attributed to the country’s dual vocational education and training (VET) system, where 16-19 year old students spend two days a week learning in a VET school and three days a week learning practical skills in a host company. Switzerland’s VET system is arguably one of Europe’s strongest, as it is the first choice of 70% of Swiss youth, who are looking to pursue upper-secondary education. This system prepares high achieving youth for white and blue collar jobs in a wide array of fields. Yet another advantage of Swiss apprenticeships is that students are paid. A student can receive the equivalent of $600-$700 to start off with and slowly work their way $1,100- $1,200 by their third year. Once they’ve graduate, VET students in the commercial sector can earn about $50,000 a year, and if they pursue further education, up to $100,000 a year according to the Swiss Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET).

Despite Switzerland’s comparatively low number of graduates to the Arab, it has a strong economy with a GDP of roughly $80,000 per capita, the fourth highest in the world. Moreover, according to INSEAD’s 2014 Global Innovation Index “Switzerland ranks number one, and has in addition a highly competitive export economy that sends 80 percent of what it produces abroad.” So, what is it that makes Switzerland’s VET model so successful and how can the Arab world use it as a case study to eliminate the $40-$50 billion annual loss caused by high unemployment and unproductivity?

• Labor Market Needs are Clearly Identified

To ensure that VET students are prepared for the workforce, Swiss trade organizations thoroughly explore what skills are in demand in the labor market, so apprentices can receive the right training. After identifying what skills are required, The State Secretariat of Education, Research and OPET work closely together with industry associations to devise the curricula for the 200+ occupations that students can do apprenticeships in. During the VET program, students are guaranteed to acquire the various technical, methodological and social skills needed to excel in their chosen occupation.

• Swiss Youth Receive Counselling

Each Swiss state, also known as a canton, has a network of community-based career centers that support grade students, as they decide whether they want to pursue academic or vocational training at the upper-secondary level. Even though these centers exist outside of the educational system, they regularly engage with schools and provide private consultations for interested students and families. These career centers also offer students a range of services including help writing resumes and developing portfolios to organizing short pre-apprenticeships to explore prospective apprenticeship cites. While students are expected to write their own application letters, their career counselors support them until they find an apprenticeship that meets their needs.

• Private Sector is Highly Invested and Engaged

In 2012, around 58,000 Swiss companies provided VET programs to roughly 80,000 young apprentices in commercial, retail, healthcare, technology, and other fields. According to Franziska Schwarz, Vice Director of OPET, “businesses regard [the] training of young people as their social responsibility” and a long-term investment. Consequently, they don’t receive, or even expect, any government subsidies for taking on apprentices. In fact, companies participating in three-year VET programs collectively invest around $5.4 billion to cover apprentices’ salaries, training materials and instructors. However, in return, not only do these companies receive a considerable net-profit, they also get a highly-skilled and experienced workforce.

While several Arab countries already have vocational programs in place, none of them are as successful as the Swiss VET system. Unfortunately, many regional programs are ineffective, because there is poor communication between employers and educational institutions, there is no integrated national system for occupational standards, labor market data is outdated or unreliable and there is a lack of career counseling services for young Arabs. However, these gaps also offer a unique opportunity for those looking to invest in vocational education and training, private universities, and work-readiness programs to improve the competitiveness of the future workforce in the Arab region