But the Swiss system really scores over ours when it comes to preparing people for work. We have become accustomed to Labour politicians and some Tory ones, too, spouting that university education is vital for economic success. The Swiss example is an illustration that this theory is nonsense. While Tony Blair was claiming that half of young people must go on to university for economic success, Switzerland was and remains content to have a mere 24 per cent doing so. It has, at the same time, achieved much greater economic prosperity. Education is only compulsory until the age of 15, yet the vast majority keep going voluntarily because the schools, colleges and universities are good.
Most of the other three quarters of students progress from school to vocational training. They don’t do airy-fairy theory. The training typically consists of one and a half days a week at college and the other three and a half at a commercial company. This truly prepares people with the skills and attitudes desirable for a successful career. The result? Switzerland has only 4.5 per cent youth unemployment compared to 18 per cent in France where they have the supposedly economy-boosting 50 per cent of students at university. It seems that writing essays on Racine does not make you a shoo-in at a pharmaceutical company. Funny that.
