Find the right continuing education
PUBLIREPORTAGE Choosing the right continuing education is difficult for many people interested in education. One reason is the complex Swiss education system with its various training and continuing education options.
Switzerland's education system is considered exemplary internationally, but needs explanation because of the many options. In addition, many people interested in further education often do not know in which direction they should develop. In the case of short continuing education courses that deepen one's knowledge in specific areas, the decision is usually not very difficult, but it is in the case of longer continuing education courses. Longer training courses deepen existing skills and teach new topics. They usually last several months or years and cost significantly more than shorter formats.
The right continuing education: short or long?
When choosing the right continuing education, one can distinguish the following continuing education formats:
- Short continuing education:
- A short training of a few hours to a few days is often used to acquire selectively missing knowledge or skills
- Formats: Traditional classroom course, seminar, workshop, coaching, online course, short webinar series.
- Examples: Acquiring new skills in a software update, learning the basics of a new topic, selectively deepening existing skills, etc.
- Longer training courses
- Longer training lasts several months or years
- Formats: Instructional course, online course based on webinars and videoconferencing, study.
- Examples: A course lasting several months that provides a basic knowledge (e.g. online marketing), a course lasting 1-2 years with a nationally recognized qualification (e.g. sales manager with a federal diploma), a continuing education course at a university or a professional reorientation
The short training courses are often decided spontaneously or ordered by companies and financed accordingly due to the significantly lower time and financial expenditure.
Evaluation process for the choice of longer training courses
For the longer continuing education courses, the following process has proven effective in finding the right continuing education course:
Courses with national recognition in Switzerland:
- Federal certificate (professional examination)
- Federal diploma (higher technical examination)
- Federal diploma (higher technical colleges)
Continuing education courses offered by universities in Switzerland with international comparability and recognition via the ECTS points system:
- CAS: Certificate of Advanced Studies (duration approx. 6 months)
- DAS: Diploma of Advanced Studies (duration approx. 1 year)
- MAS: Master of Advanced Studies (duration approx. 1.5 years)
- MBA: Master of Business Administration (duration approx. 1.5 years)
- EMBA: Executive Master of Business Administration (duration approx. 2 years)
Conclusion: The decision-making process is much shorter for very short educational formats, such as for selective deepening of specialist knowledge, than for longer educational offerings. For longer training courses, it is worthwhile to use the process shown in the diagram above.
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