Education and skills

The OECD's Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) has been recording adults’ proficiency in literacy, numeracy and adaptive problem solving in ten-year cycles since 2011. Switzerland’s participation in the 2nd PIAAC cycle allows it to have corresponding statistical information for the first time since 2003.

As such the measure serves to improve the availability of data in the area of adult skills. The survey focuses on the use of written and numerical information in everyday life and at work among Switzerland’s permanent resident population aged between 16 and 65. The skills are measured using internationally standardised tests. The data from the tests is supplemented with information on the respondents: socio-demographic characteristics, educational background, employment situation, family circumstances, language and migration background, use of basic skills in everyday life and at work as well as socio-emotional skills.

The skills recorded by PIAAC have not lost their importance in today's knowledge and information society, but enable participation in an increasingly digitalised world. PIAAC provides information on the distribution of the population across different skill levels, allows groups with low skills to be identified and characterised, and examines the impact of skills in everyday working and non-working life.

A data use policy for the Swiss education sector will be developed by June 2025. The aim is to ensure the secure and ethically appropriate handling of data in the education system within the framework of existing data protection and to enable its targeted use.

Holding annual Swiss Internet Governance Forum meetings as the national instance of the UN IGT and a multi-stakeholder platform on digital topics in Switzerland.

Attendance at the Swiss IGF is open to all interested parties and free of charge. All target groups are included as equal discussion partners, making the event into an opportunity to build skills and hold a dialogue about social policy on digitalisation.

ETH Zurich is committed to obstacle-free access. Over the next few years, people with disabilities or special needs - whether students, teachers, researchers, employees or visitors - should have largely unrestricted access to ETH buildings and services. Particularly in the use of digital aids, ETH would also like to be a role model for other stakeholders. This includes raising employees' awareness of digital obstacle-free access. For example, the programme includes accessible teaching materials, accessible library media and accessible communication. In addition, the ETH app is to be expanded in a sub-project so that barrier-free orientation on the grounds and in the buildings of ETH Zurich is made possible.

The Confederation, together with the cantons, is committed to ensuring that adults can acquire and maintain the basic competences they lack. The Federal Act on Continuing Education and Training (WeBiG) provides for financial assistance to the cantons for this purpose (Article 16 WeBiG).

Each canton draws up a cantonal programme tailored to its own situation (legal basis, geography, existing structures, etc.). The cantons regularly test innovative measures to improve reaching the target group and adapting teaching to a low-skilled adult audience.

The measure thus aims to improve adults' basic skills, including ICT skills. The primary aim is to reach people with poor basic skills and encourage them to improve them.

This is to be achieved by raising awareness among the population in general, those affected in particular and people in contact with the potential target group - and by providing an educational offer tailored to the target group.

This gives every resident of Switzerland the opportunity to acquire basic ICT skills.

At the end of 2017, the Federal Council adopted the programme "Simply better!...at the workplace" to counteract the shortage of skilled workers on the one hand by enabling existing staff to keep up with the changing demands of the world of work. On the other hand, at the same time, the economy is sensitised to the topics of further education and basic skills, since it is the companies that receive a subsidy if they conduct practice-oriented courses directly at the workplace.

The measure is intended to strengthen the basic competences of adults, including those relating to information and communication technologies (ICT).

The primary aim is to reach adults with a lack of basic skills in the workplace. A sense of achievement in the workplace should motivate further training.

This is to be achieved by making companies aware of the programme and motivating them to submit an application. Providers of practice-oriented courses in the workplace are supported in their acquisition (toolbox for providers).

This benefits Digital Switzerland because adults with a lack of basic ICT skills can be reached at a low threshold via their workplace and improve their IT skills. In this way, companies can better keep pace with digitalisation and automation and develop their staff along with it.

The OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparative study that measures the competencies of 15-year-old students in the core areas of reading, mathematics and science at regular intervals. As part of the 2025 survey, there will be an additional questionnaire on students' familiarity with ICT. Furthermore, the Learning in the Digital World (LDW) module will address competencies that are essential for learning in a digital world.

Specifically, LDW will examine how students acquire knowledge and solve problems using computer tools in an iterative process through self-directed learning and scientific methods.

Appropriate skills and knowledge are necessary for social participation and success in the labour market in light of rapid technological change. PISA thus provides an important basis for steering the Swiss education system.

The measure helps prepare the Swiss education system and students for requirements and future challenges in the digital world.

The primary aim is to build and measure competences and to gain steering knowledge.

This is to be achieved by Switzerland participating in PISA 2025 and using the results as steering knowledge.

This benefits digital Switzerland because digital competences are becoming increasingly important during and after school and the school system and the students must meet these demands.

PISA is a project carried out jointly by the EDK and the Confederation.

The Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) is organising or supporting a series of events that focus on issues of digitalisation-friendly law.

The Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences have been tasked with promoting STEM skills (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) among children and young people in conjunction with the ERI Dispatch for 2025–2028. They will fulfil this mandate through extracurricular, multidisciplinary projects that foster gender equality and aim to reach children who otherwise might not have access to STEM-related recreational activities and support or other forms of accessible science. These activities are intended to promote STEM fields among children and young people, first and foremost by sparking their interest and encouraging them to develop their skills in this area. In doing so, the programme will also further Switzerland’s digital transition by promoting equal opportunities and working to remedy the shortage of skilled workers in STEM fields.

Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a key role in the digital transformation of all areas of society, business, science, education and research, as well as in public administration. At the same time, AI brings with it a wide range of challenges relating to the future of work, fundamental rights, democracy, the rule of law and security. Fundamental questions about the use of AI must be answered and developments in this specialist field anticipated. This requires not only interdisciplinary consultation, but also the coordination of activities at both national and international level. In September 2024, the Federal Council (FC) instructed the FDHA (FSO) and the FCh (DTI), in collaboration with other departments, to draw up a proposal for strengthening coordination within the Federal Administration by the end of 2025. The aim is to promote synergy effects, innovation and trust in the use of AI in all public administrations in Switzerland. The federal government wants to see a common strategic approach in the field of AI and the coordination of all related activities.

The measure is intended to improve the coordination of artificial intelligence within public administrations in Switzerland. The primary aim is to determine how the coordination of AI within public administrations in Switzerland is to be ensured and define which federal offices are responsible for which topics in the field of AI. This is to be achieved by working together with the seven federal departments and the Federal Chancellery, but also with higher education institutions and civil society, to establish a structure that will be able to address the challenges presented by artificial intelligence.

This will benefit digital Switzerland, as the entire Swiss population will benefit if digital transformation can be delivered in a sustainable and responsible manner. Artificial intelligence is a key element of this digital transformation and the sound regulation of responsibilities in this field within public administration in Switzerland will help to strengthen the trust of civil society, business, science and politics.

Gender equality is an integral part of the Federal Council's Digital Switzerland strategy. However, implementing this aspect of the strategy still faces considerable challenges.

A study has been commissioned to analyse the current state of gender equality in Switzerland in the context of digital transformation. It aims to provide an overview of the present situation and identify areas that require action.

The study will provide an informed basis for launching projects to improve gender equality in Switzerland's digital transformation.