Problems

• The school closures resulting from COVID-19 prevented 1.6 billion children from attending school in 2020.

• According to UNESCO, in 2018, 258 million children and young people in the world still did not have access to school, and 200 million young people had not acquired the necessary skills for the job market by the end of their schooling.

• The OECD’s Future of Work 2019 report predicts that in the next 20 years, 14% of current jobs will be lost due to digitization and 32% of employment profiles will change dramatically. As a result, about 1.1 billion people will need to acquire fundamentally new skills.

Solutions

Online education platforms, such as Coursera, Labster or Khan Academy, enable the delivery of high-quality learning content around the world ; they make learning scalable and therefore more effective. Learning management systems, such as Google Classroom or Moodle help teachers communicate with their classrooms online, give assignments and even create and proofread exams. Digital learning tools based on AI technology and virtual reality enable individualized learning experiences.

Strenghts & Weaknesses

The Swiss education system is the heir to a long tradition with its world-renowned pedagogical theorists (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Johann Pestalozzi and Jean Piaget), its dual education system and its leading institutions of higher education. EPFL is a pioneer in Europe in massive online courses (MOOCs) and today has 2 million online students from all over the world. Many Swiss universities are conducting educational research. The Swiss EdTech Collider in Lausanne, funded by the Jacobs Foundation, and the Kickstart Accelerator in Zurich run incubation programs for young companies focused on EdTech. There are currently about 80 active EdTech start-ups in Switzerland. The main segments are online learning management platforms (beecome, Cikumas, Taskbase), digital learning tools (Labster, Classtime, Dybuster, SYLVA), vocational training (Coorpacademy, Dual Academy, MaxBrain, LUCY Security) and competency management (People Analytics, Janzz, Skillhub).

Challenges

The biggest challenge is to overcome the digital divide that depends on access to the internet and computer equipment. Digital content must be adapted to the target audience and traditional learning methods (e.g., classroom teaching). A major pedagogical innovation is needed digitalizing teaching.

Ambition 2030

• The Swiss cluster EdTech in the top five worldwide and two in Europe

• Three start-ups valued at more than CHF 1 billion

• Switzerland has a leading position in the field of learning in the digital world in the context of PISA 2025