Team CES-ETH Switzerland

The Chair Education Systems at ETH Zurich's Department of Management, Technology and Economics investigates what shifts are taking place in educational systems in light of globalisation, an aging society and the breakneck evolution of technologies. It also examines the characteristics of the world’s most effective educational systems that are also in harmony with the demands of the labour market.

Switzerland is currently among the most innovative and competitive countries in the world. It owes these qualities to, among others, its excellent educational system, whose diversity allows it to be perfectly adapted to the needs of the economy and society. Many countries would therefore like to learn from Switzerland. The Chair of Education Systems elaborates comparative analyses of countries with regards to different aspects of educational systems and makes recommendations for possible areas of cooperation to improve the positioning of the Swiss educational, employment and in particular the vocational training system.

Ursula Renold is professor of the Chair of Education Systems at the Deparment of Management, Technology and Economics which is part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. In addition, she is Chairman of the University Board of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland. She was a visiting fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education between September 2012 and March 2013.

Prior to this, Renold was Director General of the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET) until June 2012. In this position, she headed Switzerland‘s competence center for professional education, the universities of applied sciences, and led program innovation starting in 2005. Before becoming Director General, she was head of OPET’s Vocational Education and Training Division and Director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Vocational Education and Training (teacher education).

During her career, Renold has launched numerous key initiatives that have had great impact on the Vocational and Professional Education and Training system in Switzerland. She holds an honorary professorship in Professional Education at the University of Applied Labor Studies in Mannheim (Germany).

Patrick McDonald is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Education Systems, the Deparment of Management, Technology and Economics, ETH Zürich. He holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a master’s in socioeconomics from the University of Geneva. His PhD research, completed at the University of Lausanne, studied the impact of differing family situations on attachment to the labour market in Switzerland. His research interests include labour market inequalities, transitions from education to employment, and experimental and quasi-experimental methods.