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Young people benefit from Swiss apprenticeships

Computational biologist Jitao David Zhang says that the country’s vocational training programme teaches key work and life skills.

Besides writing software that helps to find better drugs, they learn advanced informatics topics, such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI), and acquire crucial skills such as project management and presentation. Defined and organized by a partnership between the Swiss federal government, professional associations and individual regions of Switzerland called cantons, VET combines on-the-job training with classes in schools. After finishing the training, which takes between two and four years depending on the profession, and passing a final exam, apprentices receive a diploma that certifies their qualification to work or to pursue higher education.

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