People

Prof. Dr. Ursula Renold is Professor of Education Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. She is Chairperson of the Center on the Economics and Management of Education and Training Systems (CEMETS). In addition, she is Chairman of the University Board of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Northwestern Switzerland. She is a member of the Research Advisory Council of the German Economic Institute in Cologne (Germany), the International Advisory Group at the Center on International Education Benchmarking (USA), the Pearson International Expert Panel (UK), and member of the Commission for the Dual Education Law (Serbia). She holds an honorary Professorship at the University of Applied Labor Studies in Mannheim (Germany). She is a visiting faculty member at the Kathmandu University School of Education (Nepal). She was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (USA). Prior to this, Renold was Director General (equal to Secretary of State in other countries) of the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET) in the Department of Economic Affairs, Bern. In this position she led Switzerland‘s competence center for professional education, universities of applied sciences, and innovation. Before becoming Director General, she was head of OPET’s Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET) Division and Director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Vocational Education and Training. Renold has launched numerous key initiatives, which have had great impact on the VPET system in Switzerland. In her research, Ursula Renold applies empirical methods, statistics, and theoretical concepts to the areas of comparative education and translational research with a specific focus on labour-market-oriented education and training.

Dr. Katie Caves is the director of CEMETS, the international education system reform laboratory at the Chair of Education Systems (CES) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. Katie is a senior researcher at CES. Her research interests center around the policies, institutions, and infrastructure that support strong education systems and system-level improvement in education. She is particularly interested in the design and implementation of reforms that make education and training more equitable, effective, and efficient. Katie is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Vocational Education and Training and the Career and Technical Education Research Journal. She is also a member of SwissContact’s Scientific Advisory Board. She studied at the University of California at Berkeley, and earned her PhD at the University of Zurich where her research focused on the economics of education.

The leadership of CEMETS is made up of the world’s top researchers in vocational education and training. Their work and research have shaped education systems around the world as well as our knowledge on the subject. In cooperation with the two program directors of the Leading House on Economics of Education, Firm Behaviour, and Training Policy, the program is under the direction of the co-​directors of CEMETS:

Prof. Dr. Ursula Renold, Professor of Education Systems at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich (see biography above)

and

Prof. Dr. Marko Köthenbürger, Professor of Chair of Public Economics, D-​MTEC/ETHZ
Marko Köthenbürger is a professor of Public Economics at ETH Zurich and Vicedirector of KOF Swiss Economic Institute. He is also head of the Chair of Public Economics at D-MTEC. Prior to his current position, he held positions at the University of Munich, University of Copenhagen and University of Bern. He was also research director of the CESifo research network. His research is on fiscal federalism and the intergovernmental financial flows involved in the provision of public services such as education. He is member of the CESifo research network and Editor of “Economics of Governance”.

The program is under the direction of the co-​directors of CEMETS in cooperation with the two program directors of the Leading House on Economics of Education, Firm Behaviour, and Training Policy:

Prof. Dr. Uschi Backes-Gellner, University of Zürich
Uschi Backes-Gellner is holding the Chair for Business and Personnel Economics at the University of Zurich. Since 2008 she is also Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics. She studied economics and received her doctoral degree in business administration at the University of Trier in 1987. After visiting positions at Northwestern University, Evanston, U.S., and the University of California, Berkeley, she was working at the Institute for Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Community. From 1995 to 2002 she was Full Professor for Business and Personnel Economics at the University of Cologne. In 2000 she was visiting scholar at Cornell University and since 2002 she is Professor of Business and Personnel Economics at the University of Zurich. Her work focuses on topics in the field of Economics of Human Resources Management, on Innovation and Economics of Vocational Education in particular. She was a member of the Steering Committee on the Continuing Training Law of the Swiss Federal Government. Since 2011 she is a member of the German Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation of the German Federal Government (EFI) and since 2004 she is a member of the Swiss Federal Committee on "Vocational Education".

Prof. Dr. Stefan Wolter, University of Bern
Stefan Wolter is the Managing Director of the Swiss Coordination Centre for Research in Education since 1999. Before that he was Chief Economist of the Federal Office for Industry and Labour. He is also a professor of economics of education at the economics department of the University of Bern, chair of the group of national experts on vocational education and training of the OECD as well as amongst other functions, governing board member of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) and delegate to the education policy committee of the OECD. Between 2005 and 2011 he was the founding president of the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET). He has also been a Visiting Researcher and Scholar at Harvard, University of Munich and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and is a Research Fellow of CESifo (Munich) and IZA (Bonn) and on the board of trustees of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories at the University of Bamberg (D).

In addition, the Program Advisory Board is made up of the most influential international scholars and reform practitioners.

The development of the program is assisted by the following program advisory board:

Prof. Robert B. Schwartz, Professor of Practice Emeritus, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge MA (USA)

Dr. Nancy Hoffman, Vice-President, Jobs for the Future, Boston (USA)

Noel Ginsburg - President of CEMETS Alumni Association, CEO, Intertech Plastics, Denver (USA)

Valentin Vogt, President of the Confederation of Swiss Employer Associations and Chairmen of the Burckhardt Compression Holding, Zurich

Prof. Dr. Paul Ryan, Fellow in Economics, King’s College, Cambridge (UK)

Prof. Dr. Sandra McNally, Professor of Economics, University of Surrey Director of Education and Skills Programme, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, London (UK)

Prof. Dr. Stephen Billett, Professor of Adult and Vocational Education, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt QLD, (Australia)

Former Board Members

Suzi & Eric LeVine, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration, US Department of Labor. Previously, United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein (2014-2017).