Research

On this page, we've organized research done by the entire CES team including CEMETS. You can find projects by topic or by location. We've included quick reads, CES studies, CES working papers, and published peer-​reviewed journal articles.

Summary
What makes a VET program effective? We believe that the effectiveness of a labor-​market-oriented education program depends on how well the education and employment systems share power over crucial decision-​making processes throughout curriculum design, application, and updating. This linkage balances the information and resource asymmetries that would appear if either system had all the power. The research in this project traces the development of our education-​employment linkage index (EELI), its application in numerous countries, and initial evidence that EELI scores are correlated with youth labor market outcomes.

Reports & publications

Summary

Why do companies offer training, especially if students might leave at the end? Companies train because they earn returns from training (Wolter & Muehlemann, 2006). They can earn returns during the apprenticeship through apprentices’ productivity, through saved hiring costs, or after the apprenticeship due to certain labor market conditions. Companies’ returns depend on program design decisions that shape their incentives and those of students. We have investigated how returns shape policy in a number of countries and programs.

Reports & publications

 

Summary

What do we mean when we talk about positive labor market outcomes for youth? The CES youth labor market index (YLMI) goes beyond just employment and unemployment, with twelve items in four dimensions that include activity state, working conditions, education and skills usage, and transition smoothness. The index is built on internationally comparable indicators and data sources, making it comparable across countries and longitudinally over time. We use it as a key outcome metric.

Quick reads

Interactive webtool

Reports & publications

Summary

Once reform leaders know where they want their education system to be, how do they get there? A lot of evidence exists to support evidence-based program design, but it’s harder to find an evidence-based answer to what reform leaders should do first. We are working on understanding the success factors and barriers to reform implementation in VET and education systems reforms.

Quick reads

Reports & publications

Summary

Why do employers choose to start training? Although their costs and benefits of training summarize why employers stay in training programs, joining new or reforming programs might require a more complex set of motives. In this strain of research, we investigate why companies choose to start training—skills gaps, social interest, etc.—and how that varies across places. One of the most consistent motivations employers have is the comparative advantage of the workplace over schools as a learning environment for crucially important “soft” or transferable skills.

Quick reads

Reports & publications

Summary

What are the system-level conditions that enable program success? Even the best program cannot attract students and help them achieve success without further pathways, permeability, good governance, and other key factors. Research in this strain examines the characteristics of good governance and how those vary across contexts, legal conditions surrounding successful education systems, and permeability.

Quick reads

Reports & publications

Summary

What makes education systems more equitable? Education and training are major drivers of important outcomes like employment, earnings, health, and social status-among many others. However, the characteristics and construction of education systems dramatically affect who has access to these benefits. We explore how systemic and program factors relate to more and less equitable outcomes.

Quick reads

Reports & publications

Summary

How do we meaningfully compare education programs across very diverse contexts? Every education program has to carry out certain functions in curriculum design, application, and feedback. However, the way those functions are carried out can differ dramatically. Social institutions that serve the same function might look completely different, making it hard to accurately compare them from the outside. Therefore, we start with the functions and use those to find the social institutions, then compare at that equivalent level.

Reports & publications

Summary

Can education and training contribute to income, youth labor market success, and economic development? The LELAM-TVET4INCOME project is a multi-year project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation that investigates these questions across development stages by focusing on Nepal, Benin, Costa Rica, and Chile. You can learn more on that project’s website.

Link to LELAM website

Summary

What effects did the COVID-19 pandemic have on apprenticeship training in Switzerland? Starting in the first lockdown in April 2020, the CES team began collecting, processing, and reporting data monthly on the situation of Swiss apprentices during the COVID-19 pandemic. That project is run by the CES Swiss Education Lab. You can find English-language information here and full details in German and French here.

Related Links

Quick reads

Reports and publications

Summary

The Swiss system is one of the best in the world, what can we learn from that? We use the Swiss education system as an example of the power of evidence-based reform over time and a demonstration of key best practices. No education program or system can be copied and pasted, but the Swiss case is an excellent proof of concept. We have some research that examines the Swiss system or explains some of its key characteristics for an international audience.

Quick reads

Reports and publications

Link to SEL website for more info (in German/French)

Summary

How different are education systems throughout the world? CES has been systematically compiling education system factbooks since 2013. We are constantly updating and adding new factbooks that compile and present key information on countries’ education systems and youth labor markets in a consistent format. These let readers quickly absorb and compare education systems and are our starting point for understanding new and dynamic systems.

CES factbook list

Projects by place

Reports & publications

Quick reads

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Quick reads

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Quick reads

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Quick reads

Reports & publications

Reports & publications

Reports & publications

Reports & publications

Reports & publications

Reports & publications

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