The passerelle test has proven its worth. In view of the shortage of skilled workers, however, politicians are now demanding easier access.
Vocational high school graduates who want to study at a university must take an additional exam.
The grammar school is increasingly becoming an educational path that is primarily open to academic children. This complaint has been heard more and more often in recent years. In fact, children whose parents have completed a university degree complete a cantonal high school diploma much more frequently than young people from working-class households. The situation at the universities looks similar.
In order to take countermeasures and improve the permeability of the education system, Switzerland introduced the so-called passerelle. This exam opens up the way for apprentices with a vocational baccalaureate and people with specialist baccalaureate certificates not only to universities of applied sciences, but also to universities. Anyone who has decided to do an apprenticeship in secondary school can therefore still revise their decision.
Contribution against social selection
But does the Passerelle supplementary test introduced 17 years ago meet the expectations placed in it? Now, for the first time, concrete figures are available to answer this question. Franz Eberle, professor emeritus for high school education at the University of Zurich, examined the success of the graduates on behalf of the Swiss Matura Commission.
As far as family educational background is concerned, the result is clear. It is actually the case that around half of the young people who do a classic, high school diploma come from an academic household. It is only a quarter of the students who come to a university or ETH via the passerelle. “The Passerelle is therefore a small contribution to smoothing out the social selectivity of access to baccalaureate schools,” says Eberle. The contribution is comparatively modest because only a little more than 3 percent of the students at the universities have passed the passerelle examination. However, the number of passerelle exams is increasing.
Eberle also examined how successful graduates of the Passerelle examination are in their studies. To do this, the scientist analyzed the data from the Federal Statistical Office for first-year students from 2012 to 2015 up to Bachelor’s level. 66.2 percent of students with a passerelle had completed a bachelor’s degree within 5 years. The rate was slightly higher for students with a cantonal high school diploma. There it was 70.3 percent. Due to the relatively small number of Passerelle graduates since 2012, the data is still not very reliable for a differentiated analysis of the further study levels such as Master.
The dropout rate is slightly higher among former apprentices. 18.9 percent of high school graduates with a recognized cantonal high school diploma drop out. The figure for the Passerelle graduates is 22.2 percent. “If you consider that the vocational school-leavers only have an average of one-third of the lessons of high school students, you can speak of a great success,” emphasizes Eberle. The good rate shows that very talented vocational school leavers in particular take up university studies.
This is not least due to the fact that the hurdles for young people with a vocational qualification to study at a university are high. The passerelle exams contain a large part of the material taught at high schools. German, a second national language or English, history and geography as well as natural sciences and mathematics are tested. Many young people therefore prefer to switch to a university of applied sciences after completing their vocational school diploma, for which no additional examination is required.
Unnecessary hurdle for specialists
For the SP national councilor Nadine Masshardt, the passerelle test is in certain cases “an unnecessary obstacle that is put in the way of young people”. For example, for the graduate of a polymechanic apprenticeship who wanted to study engineering at the ETH after graduating from high school. After the National Council submitted a corresponding postulate by Masshardt in September, the Federal Council must now examine the conditions under which direct transfer to the universities should be possible. Masshardt does not call for a complete abolition.
Eberle is not enthusiastic about this idea. His investigations have shown that the general ability to study in essential components is lower than that of high school graduates. “Especially in the field of mathematics, there is an empirically proven backlog of vocational baccalaureate graduates,” says Eberle.
Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin also does not believe in relaxing the transition conditions. In the National Council, the Minister of Education explained that this would “run counter to the goal of sharpening the profile at tertiary level, which was again confirmed by the federal government and the cantons in 2019”. It should therefore be avoided that the universities and the technical colleges are constantly aligning themselves.
Masshardt justifies their initiative with the general shortage of skilled workers. This is particularly acute for teachers. Efforts are therefore also being made in this area to abolish the passerelle. The Commission for Science, Education and Culture of the National Council recently passed a motion that wants to enable vocational graduates to transfer to the teacher training colleges (PH) without an examination.
fight against teacher shortages
In an interview with the NZZ, Simon Stadler, Central National Councilor from Uri, explained that the vocational baccalaureate is virtually meaningless in the current admissions process. “On the second educational path, i.e. with an apprenticeship and subsequent full-time vocational baccalaureate, the preliminary course and the entrance exam, it takes a long time before you get to the teacher training college. Then three years of study follow. It’s an unnecessary hurdle,” criticized Stadler.
Franz Eberle doesn’t think this is a smart idea to tackle the teacher shortage. According to his analysis, the vocational high school graduates without additional training lack a significant part of the general education, which is particularly important for teaching at primary level. Dagmar Rösler, President of the Swiss Teachers’ Association, argues similarly. In the “NZZ am Sonntag” she explained that a comparable basic knowledge is required and that this is not the case with vocational high school graduates. But the parliamentary decisions show that the pressure for at least partial abolition of the passerelle test will continue.