New commercial training lab makes start into professional life easier
Last August saw the launch of ETH Zurich’s newly designed commercial training lab with seven apprentices on the Hönggerberg campus. Both the apprentices and the vocational trainers stand to benefit from the ensuing gains in basic professional skills and the lab’s focus on the working world of tomorrow. This will also strengthen the basic commercial training programme as a whole.
What do I need to consider when writing a business e-mail? What’s the best way to answer the phone? What tools can help me to organise my tasks and ongoing topics?
Seasoned professionals no longer have to worry about questions like these – for the most part, anyway. But for those at the beginning of their careers, such questions and tasks are new and can be challenging.
As of the start of this training year, commercial apprentices at ETH Zurich will find it easier to start their careers and acquire basic skills early on: the university’s commercial lab has been integrated into the new curriculum of the commercial apprenticeship at ETH. “The apprentices in the commercial training lab greatly benefit from professional supervision, coaching and the cultivation of basic professional skills. They can take the abilities and soft skills they acquire in the basic training and apply them wherever they do their apprenticeships,” says Fabienne Jaquet, who is responsible for vocational training at ETH Zurich.
Aiming for independence
ETH Zurich already offers training labs for apprentices in biology, chemistry, electronics, IT, physics and polytechnics, where young people at the start of their careers gain theoretical knowledge as well as practical skills and competencies that will help them in the workplace.
Since last August, the seven Profil EFZ commercial apprentices have also been completing their first training semester in a commercial lab on the Hönggerberg campus. The programme focuses on imparting, learning and applying professional and personal skills. “This is how we lay the foundation for independent learning and working; such abilities are becoming more and more important in today’s working world,” Jaquet says. “The aim is to make the apprentices’ transition to their first placement in a Central Administrative Unit or in a Department easier. They’ll acquire a ‘backpack’ full of skills in the training lab, thus preparing them for their day-to-day work in ETH Zurich’s business environment.”
Heike Reinheimer, head of the commercial training lab at ETH, adds, “We integrate typical work situations into the course design of the modules within the commercial training lab. This helps to motivate the apprentices, allows them to see what they’re capable of and gives them a sense of professional identity.”
Ready for the working world of tomorrow
The training lab also reflects the goals of the latest commercial training reform, which takes into account trends such as digitalisation and aims to prepare commercial training graduates as best as possible for the changing world of work. “As all-rounders, our commercial apprentices must be able to deal with difficult challenges creatively and cooperatively as they will increasingly be working in interface roles, coordinating projects and the like,” Reinheimer says. “So it’s important that they learn early on in their training to work independently, and assume responsibility, work in a team, use ICT technologies in a secure way and find practical solutions to problems. With these skills, they have what it takes to shine in the multifaceted field of administrative activity within ETH Zurich as well as on the general labour market.”
Instructors and teams benefit as well
However, the apprentices are not the only ones benefiting from the future-oriented skills provided by the training lab. Their instructors and future colleagues, too, stand to gain a lot: “Since the apprentices bring prior knowledge and expertise to their first apprenticeship, they are able to independently assume and execute tasks in a team and understand the underlying processes sooner,” Reinheimer says. “We want to enable and encourage apprentices to take on tasks and be productive from day one. We thus deliberately take apprentice supervisors’ feedback into account in the hope of further increasing the number of apprenticeships at ETH.”
Counteracting the shortage of skilled workers
In its strategy for the ETH Domain, the Swiss federal government has stipulated that the number of apprenticeships be raised from 175 to 211 by 1 August 2026. This increase is necessary to counteract the current shortage of skilled workers – one that affects ETH as well. “If the commercial training lab prompts more teams in ETH’s departments and central administrative units to offer commercial apprenticeships to motivated young people, then we’ll have reached an important goal together,” Jaquet says. “For decades, our university has offered young adults an opportunity to lay the foundations for their professional life with first-rate vocational training programmes. Let’s all do our bit to make sure it stays that way in future and that ETH Zurich can continue to play a key role in the Swiss educational system.”
Vocational training at ETH Zurich
ETH Zurich is currently training over 175 apprentices in 15 different professions. Aside from apprenticeships such as chemistry lab assistant, media technician and polymechanic, there are also opportunities for recognised refugees and temporarily admitted foreign nationals thanks to the Pre-Apprenticeship Integration Programme (INVOL).
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