The vocational Matura bacchalaurate or Berufsmatura offers apprentices completing vocational training an academic education, access to Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences and – with an additional exam – to a teacher training college or university.
The vocational Matura can be acquired either while completing vocational training (BM1) or attending a vocational baccalaureate school for one year (full-time) or two years (part-time) upon completion of the vocational programme (BM2). Around 25% of all apprentices complement their vocational training with a Berufsmatura.
Different options
The BM offers five specialisations: 1. “Engineering, Architecture, Life Sciences” , 2. Nature, Landscape and Food, 3. Business and Services, 4. Design and Arts, and 5. Health and Social Services. The BM1 specialisation is tied to the chosen apprenticeship and can not be chosen freely. Graduates are more free to choose their BM2 specialisation and, can normally align it with the subject area they wish to pursue at the university of applied sciences.
Students who complete the BM1 as part of an in-company training programme spend less time in the company and have additional school lessons. In contrast to BM1, which is completed alongside the apprenticeship, students pursuing a vocational Matura after finishing their vocational training companies are no longer tied to their apprenticeship employer. The BM2 can be completed full-time in one year or as a two year part-time degree.
Which vocational training professions lead to a vocational Matura?
While the vocational Matura is open to a range of apprenticeships, the vast majority of BM degrees is completed in just ten professions with engineering, technical and information sciences apprenticeships in the lead as the below table demonstrates. Top ranging BM professions includes electronics, laboratory technology, building and civil engineering, planning/construction, multimedia, information technologies and commercial apprenticeships.
BM degrees per profession. Source: Trede et al. 2020
Do you want to know more about the different qualifications? Read on:
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