Switzerland’s economy is one of the strongest and most innovative in the world. The country’s youth unemployment rate is below five percent, and income inequality is far lower than in the United States. Many believe Switzerland’s vocational education system, arguably the best in the world, is a critical reason why. As part of the Askwith Forum, Harvard Graduate School of Education has organized this panel of experts, who will shed new light on why the Swiss system is working, and what the U.S. can learn from it.

Moderated by Robert Schwartz, Professor of Practice, Emeritus, HGSE; co-author, Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century

Panelists include:

• Noel Ginsburg, Chairman and CEO, Intertech Plastics; chair, Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance
• Nancy Hoffman, Vice President, Jobs for the Future; author of Schooling in the Workplace
• Ursula Renold, Head of Comparative Education System Research Division, Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich; former General Director of the Swiss Federal Office overseeing vocational education and training
• Marc Tucker, President, National Center on Education and the Economy, and leader of NCEE’s international study of vocational education systems