Comparative Advantages of School and Workplace Environment in Competence Acquisition: Empirical Evidence From a Survey Among Professional Tertiary Education and Training Students in Switzerland
Open access
Date
2015-07Type
- Working Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
Altmetrics
Abstract
This paper sheds light on the questions how important competences are and which competences can best be learned at school and which competences can be acquired better in the workplace. Exploiting data from a survey among professional tertiary education and training business administration students and their employers in Switzerland, we find that competences related to strategic management, human resource management, organizational design and project management processes are most suitable to be taught in school. However, the results further suggest that soft skills can be acquired more effectively in the workplace than at school. The only exceptions are analytical thinking, joy of learning and organizational competences, for which school and workplace are similarly suitable. Thereby, the paper provides empirical evidence regarding the optimal choice of the learning place for both human resource managers as well as educational decision makers who aim to combine education and training, e.g. in an apprenticeship. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-010480922Publication status
publishedJournal / series
KOF Working PapersVolume
Publisher
KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH ZurichSubject
Competences; STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT; Soft skills; PROJECT PLANNING + PROJECT MANAGEMENT (BUSINESS ECONOMICS); SKILLED WORKERS VOCATIONAL TRAINING (VOCATIONAL EDUCATION); Workplace learning; FACHARBEITERAUSBILDUNG (BERUFSAUSBILDUNG); ORGANISATIONSGESTALTUNG (BETRIEBSWIRTSCHAFT); PERSONALWESEN; PROJEKTPLANUNG + PROJEKTMANAGEMENT + PROJEKTKONTROLLE (BETRIEBSWIRTSCHAFT); SCHWEIZ (MITTELEUROPA). SCHWEIZERISCHE EIDGENOSSENSCHAFT; SWITZERLAND (CENTRAL EUROPE). SWISS CONFEDERATION; STRATEGISCHE UNTERNEHMENSFÜHRUNG; ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN (BUSINESS ECONOMICS); Relevance; LEARNING ORGANIZATION + ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING (BUSINESS ECONOMICS); LERNENDE ORGANISATION + ORGANISATIONALES LERNEN (BETRIEBSWIRTSCHAFT); Learning place; School; HUMAN RESOURCESOrganisational unit
02525 - KOF Konjunkturforschungsstelle / KOF Swiss Economic Institute
06334 - KOF FB Bildungssysteme / KOF Education Systems
Related publications and datasets
Is previous version of: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/638898
More
Show all metadata
ETH Bibliography
yes
Altmetrics