Editions

Compared with female graduates in fields such as law and psychology, female STEM graduates have higher salaries one year after graduation, are more likely to have permanent jobs and are more likely to hold managerial positions. Even five years after graduation, four out of five female STEM graduates are in jobs that require a degree in their specialist field. Overall, female STEM graduates seem satisfied with their employment situation.

Apprentices’ wages, additional benefits for apprentices, and the costs for firms offering apprenticeships: the authors of a new KOF Working Paper have investigated whether these dual vocational training costs are offset by the value produced by apprentices during their training. The findings of a pilot project in Nepal show that companies achieve a modest net benefit when they offer apprenticeships.

Greater labour productivity, more interesting work, easier interaction with colleagues and line managers, more time pressure: KOF researchers asked graduates of higher technical colleges about the extent to which digitalisation is changing their work. The results show that the impact is significant. However, it differs according to gender and age.

There are frequent reports in the news suggesting that information and communication technologies lead to higher productivity especially for highly educated workers. However, most of the studies consider only the complementary effect of new technologies and tertiary educated workers. A new study investigates the effect these technologies have on workers with different levels of education.

KOF researchers have investigated the impact of self-study on the probability of completing a vocational baccalaureate II course. They found that a higher degree of self-study results in a higher number of dropouts. By contrast, the final grades are no different.

The 2018 Summer Institute organized by the Center on the Economics and Management of Education and Training Systems (CEMETS) brought teams from Benin, Chile, Costa Rica, Nepal, Serbia, South Africa, and the United States (Colorado and California) to Zurich to participate in a 10-day intensive course on vocational education and training (VET) as part of the CEMETS reform lab.

The public debate frequently conveys the impression that the social status of vocational education and training (VET) has declined. Can this impression be substantiated by empirical evidence? In a new study based on PISA data, KOF researchers show that the relative cognitive skills of prospective VET students and grammar school students have remained constant over time. This suggests that the social status of vocational education and training has not declined.

Universities increasingly rely on funding they have to acquire in competition with others rather than on funding they are being granted as block-grant. However, little is known with respect to how competitive funding affects the behaviour of universities. Therefore, this study analyses how tuition fees, international public funds and private funds influence the productivity of the most productive universities and whether they force peers to catch up with others or rather decrease their ability to compete.

Companies are increasingly asking for a certain amount of work experience in job advertisements. How can graduates gain such experience and which type of experience will actually help them get the job? A recent KOF study shows that work placements abroad and voluntary work, in particular, seem to have little prospect of success.

Interaction between key actors in the labour and the education system is a crucial factor in determining the success of an economy. Up until now, this has been more of an assumption than an empirically substantiated thesis. KOF has now investigated the strength of the link between actors in the two systems in the form of an international comparative study.

In an annual survey of students and their employers, the KOF investigates whether the framework curriculum for the Höheren Fachschulen für Wirtschaft (HFW) [Higher Vocational Training Colleges for Economics] meets its requirements. Alongside an assessment of satisfaction with the study programme, this also assesses expectations of increased earning power as a result of the studies.