News

Second International VPET-Congress - Tickets available

02.12.15

The second International Congress on Vocational and Professional Education and Training will take place in Winterthur between 20 and 22 June 2016 with leading figures from the fields of business and education. Once again interesting and influential speakers are expected. Registration will open in December 2015.

Winterthur will become the centre of vocational and professional education and training for a second time. Following the success of the first edition in the autumn of 2014, the next in a series of such congresses will take place in 2016. Around 450 delegates from around the world are expected to attend the event where they will use the platform to discuss various VPET systems. The emphasis at the second edition of the Congress will be on exchanging views and experiences of country-specific system elements: What are the factors that lead to the success of VPET? What elements have been successful in which countries? Under what conditions and in what form can mutual learning effects be turned into successful principles?

In addition to discussions on these systemic VPET issues, the two-day Congress will provide an insight into specific international initiatives and transfer projects. There will again be an opportunity to visit various VPET institutions and companies training apprentices in the Winterthur region, an opportunity that met with a great deal of interest at the first edition. “It was very impressive to get a first-hand insight into VET”, that was how many delegates summed up the field trips in the evaluation of the 2014 edition.

The Congress will be moderated by “10vor10” newsreader Arthur Honegger, who, during his time as a foreign affairs correspondent for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, was able to observe the education situation of prospective workers in various countries. Arthur Honegger will also chair the podium discussion with a panel of figures from the fields of business and academia including the CEO of Indústrias Romi S.A., Luiz Cassiano Rando Rosolen from Brazil, the CEO of DMG MORI, Masahiko Mori, from Japan, and Ursula Renold, Head of Division of Comparative Education System Research, ETHZ/KOF, Switzerland.

The event was initiated by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) with the aim of strengthening Switzerland’s system of vocational and professional education and training in an international context. The Congress itself is organised by Location Promotion Winterthur Region along with other sponsors including the Canton of Zurich, the City of Winterthur and various professional associations. Other partners involved in the event are UBS, Rieter, SUVA, Implenia, Burckhardt Compression and the Robert and Ruth Heuberger Foundation.

Registration for the Congress will open in December 2015. Journalists are warmly invited to report on the event.

Further information: