Switzerland is a relatively small country with a population of just over 7 million, yet in 1994 it had the world's highest per capita Gross Domestic Product (33'572 $)[3] and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) indicators single it out as one of the most developed telecommunications countries in terms of equipment in the world. Only Sweden, Denmark, the USA and Japan have a higher main telephone line density per capita and 92.5% of all households have at least one telephone - bettered in Europe only by Belgium, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Italy. There are an estimated 2'050K PCs in Switzerland which represents a penetration of 28.8 per hundred inhabitants. Only the USA can boast a higher level. As for the Internet, there were an estimated 283'320 users in 1994, representing 3.98 users per 100. Only Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the USA and Canada have a higher ratio.
According to a nation-wide survey carried out by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, during the period from April 92 to April 93 more than 2 million people aged between twenty and seventy four living in Switzerland took part in some form of further training in an institutional context[4], representing 40% of that age group. If we limit ourselves to professional training, some form of course was taken by 23% of the adult population (1.25 million people), of which nearly three quarters did only one. The length of time spent by an individual on taking courses varied in the following way: 28% spent 20 hours or less, 23% spent from 21 to 40 hours, 23% spent from 41 to 80 hours and the remaining 26% spent over 81 hours. The total number of hours taken was around 200 million. In considering these figures it should be borne in mind that, according to the definition employed in the context of the research work carried out by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office[5], these figures do not include autodidacts like those, for example, learning by using a built-in help-system in a computer programme.
In such circumstances one might expect to find a high level of use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education and training in Switzerland. In a previous study about distance learning in higher education in Switzerland[6] we found this not to be the case.
Here, however, we shall see that there is extensive use of ICT in education and training in medium and large companies and to a lesser degree in administrations. At the same time, the perceived barriers to efficient use of these tools have more to do with social, cultural and economic factors than with technological considerations.
[3] All the following figures unless otherwise stated are for 1994 and taken from World Telecommunication Development Report, ITU, Geneva, Oct. 1995.
[4] La formation continue en Suisse. Enquête de 1993, Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Berne , 1995
[5] Op Cit Pg. 13-14.
[6] Tendances actuelles de la formation à distance en Suisse, Peraya D. & McCluskey A., TECFA/OFES, Genèocde03.htmve/Berne, 1995.