Valuable guidance: Vocational taster courses
Each year, ETH Zurich offers around 360 places on taster courses in different vocational fields, with current apprentices providing support. “We don’t use taster courses for recruitment purposes. Instead, they’re exclusively designed to guide young people in their career choices,” explains Sandra Rosenfelder. The aim is to allow young people to explore different professions free from any pressure to perform. “We don’t issue grades for the taster courses because we don’t feel it’s possible to make a sound, reliable assessment in such a short time and given the variety of trainers involved.”
In addition to taster courses, ETH hosts special events such as Schnuppern2 (Schnuppern = Tasting courses), which enable young people to explore two professions in one day. These pre-set tandem sessions are designed so that, in addition to the profession participants feel is their dream choice, they also engage with careers that might not be at the top of their list. Directly comparing different roles allows young people to identify which careers are best suited to their abilities. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of them making the right choice and getting their career off to a successful start.