Third International Leading House Conference on the “Economics of Vocational Education and Training”
July 8–10, 2026, University of Bern, Switzerland
The Swiss Leading House VPET–ECON is pleased to announce its third international conference on the economics of vocational education and training (VET). This event will feature distinguished keynote speakers, a special anniversary panel, and sessions on current research and knowledge transfer.
Keynote Speakers
• Simona Lorena Comi, University of Milano Bicocca
• Kerstin Pull, University of Tuebingen
Special Panel Discussion
Celebrating 20 Years of the Swiss Leading House VPET–ECON
A panel reflecting on two decades of research in the economics of vocational education and skills development, featuring:
• Giorgio Brunello, University of Padova
• Bernd Fitzenberger, IAB Institute for Employment Research
• Sandra McNally, CVER Centre for Vocational Education Research, LSE
• Uschi Backes-Gellner, University of Zurich, Co-Director Leading House
• Stefan C. Wolter, University of Bern, Co-Director Leading House
Invited Speaker Sessions
1. Current Research Topics in Economics of Vocational Education and Training
• Harald Pfeifer, BIBB: Firms’ Apprenticeship Training: Disentangling Institutional, Firm-level, and Decision-maker Influences
• Samuel Mühlemann, LMU: Catalyst or Crisis? The Future of Swiss and German Apprenticeships in the Age of AI
• Arnaldo Camuffo, Bocconi: Causal Reasoning Trained Entrepreneurs and Start-up Performance: Empirical Evidence from RCTs (working title)
2. Knowledge Transfer: From Research to Practice and Back
• Ursula Renold, ETH Zurich: International Knowledge Transfer - Supporting Systems Change with Research Results (working title)
• Eric Bettinger, Stanford University: RCTs and Change in Education Systems (working title)
• Jürg Schweri, SFUVET: Knowledge Transfer in Well-established VET Systems (working title)
Centre for Research in Economics of Education – 25th Anniversary
To mark this milestone, the conference will feature a keynote address by:
• C. Katharina Spiess, Director Federal Institute for Population Research, University of Mainz
In case of questions, please send us an email to vetconference@business.uzh.ch
We look forward to welcoming you to Bern for three days of insightful discussions, networking, and celebration of achievements in vocational education and training research.