Last week, the Senate CTE Caucus and Embassy of Switzerland hosted a briefing on Swiss-Inspired Apprenticeships in the U.S.: Recent Initiatives and Developments. The afternoon included a variety of remarks from the Swiss, United States federal government, student and administrator perspectives on the impacts of apprenticeship programs.

Swiss Ambassador Martin Dahinden began the briefing by sharing that two out of three students in Switzerland participates in an apprenticeship, and 40 percent of all businesses participate without being compensated by the federal government. Simon Marti, speaking from the Swiss Embassy, explained that the apprenticeship model is 60 percent privately funded, 10 percent by cantons (a Swiss canton is equivalent to a U.S. state) and 30 percent federally funded. Participating companies get approximately a half billion dollar return on investment just during the initial training period.

Marti outlined the three factors that have led to success for the Swiss apprenticeship model:

1. The apprenticeship model is fully integrated into the education system;
2. There are strong public-private partnerships; and
3. Apprenticeships are comprehensive and labor market oriented.

The apprenticeship model takes on a systems approach that involved three core partners- the federal government, cantons and the private sector- that all share one common mission. The close working relationship between the three, operating under a common goal, leads to effective apprenticeship programs.

Senate CTE Caucus Co-Chairs, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) joined the briefing as well, and each gave remarks voicing support of expanding opportunities for high-quality apprenticeships.

The full list of speakers included:

• Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA)
• Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
• H.E. Martin Dahinden, Ambassador of Switzerland to the USA
• Simon Marti, Head of the Office of Science, Technology and Higher Education at the Swiss Embassy
• Mike Gunner, General Manager at Mikron Corporation Denver
• Selena Elekovic, Apprentice at Mikron Corporation Denver
• Meaghan Sullivan, Chief Program Officer, CareerWise Colorado

Meredith Hills, Policy Associate

Over the past five years, renewed  attention has been placed on apprenticeships. This began with investment from the Obama administration, and has continued to be a priority for the current administration. A series of panels last week, hosted by Opportunity America, discussed what to consider when developing and expanding registered and unregistered high-quality apprenticeships, and what the future holds for such programs.

The first panel featured: Tamar Jacoby, Opportunity America; Robert Lerman, Urban Institute; and Brent Parton, New America, with Eric Seleznow as the moderator. Panelists discussed the importance of ensuring that apprenticeship programs address equity and access issues to meet the needs of all learners, as well as represent the communities that they are serving. The panel also discussed the role of states in industry recognized apprenticeships. Tamar suggested that it may be the state’s responsibility to determine what high-quality means, assess what programs are high-quality and create incentives for other businesses to follow that mode. Parton also noted that states play a large role in coordinating systems alignment.

The second panel featured: Laura Beeth, Fairview Health Services; Michael Coley, Automotive Service Excellence Education Foundation; and Robbie Heinrich, Dana Holding Corporation with Tamar Jacoby as the moderator. This discussion featured the employer perspective. All panelists reiterated the importance of including employers when creating apprenticeship policies. Employers cannot be used just in implementation of policy (as an apprenticeship supplier) but must also be involved in creating the foundation of that policy.  

This event also introduced Opportunity America’s report, Industry-Driven Apprenticeship: What Works, What’s Needed by Jacoby and Lerman. This report explores the results of the U.S. Department of Education’s 2016 Adult Training and Education Survey, as well as reviews four case studies of high-quality unregistered apprenticeships in construction, advanced manufacturing, health care and automotive maintenance and repair. The authors also organized a half-day meeting of about 20 employers and employer association executives to learn about program standards from their perspective.

This report offers five policy principal recommendations:

1. Create a respected and brand-recognized apprenticeship that is an alternative to traditional academic education;
2. Develop some form of standardized occupational frameworks;
3. Utilize public funds currently directed to less impactful types of workforce education and training to finance the off-job part of registered and unregistered apprenticeships;
4. Provide financial incentives for organizations and industry groups to act as the intermediary; and  
5. Develop outcome metrics to assess quality.

A recording of the full panels, as well as an introduction of the new report, can be viewed here.

Meredith Hills, Policy Associate