For a long time Germany and Switzerland had similar education systems with a clear separation
between general and vocational education. Both countries have adapted their systems to the
challenges of globalization and structural change in different ways. Against this background
we compare the trend towards higher educational qualifications and the relative importance of
qualifications at upper secondary and tertiary level between 2005 and 2019. The discussion of
similarities and differences is based on the four neuralgic points of Busemeyer Trampusch
(2012). The results show that the upper secondary level in Switzerland has become more plural
and the tertiary level has developed distinctively. In Germany the opposite trend can be
observed.
