Establishing Entrepreneurial Thinking and Acting in Swiss Vocational Colleges

Switzerland has one of the best ecosystems for entrepreneurship. However, there is a blind spot with regard to vocational colleges: A systematic integration of the topic is currently missing. The initiative “Entrepreneurial Thinking and Acting in Swiss Vocational Colleges – Economic, Social and Ethical Dimensions” aims to address this blind spot. The vision of the initiative is to ensure that all 75,000 young people entering vocational colleges each year in Switzerland are given the opportunity to acquire entrepreneurial skills to enable them to play an active role in positively shaping the economy and society of the future. In the article, we focus on three key aspects of the initiative: (1) the pedagogical approach of the entrepreneurship program that allows students to develop personal initiative, entrepreneurial competences, and an awareness of sustainability; (2) the continuous evaluation of the program and the teacher training; and (3) the parallel bottom-up and top-down approach chosen to integrate entrepreneurial thinking and acting in the vocational education and training system.