250‘000 ICDL candidates in Switzerland

Sonia Afonso, student at the HSO commercial college, is the 250’000th ICDL candidate in Switzerland. Yesterday, she received her ICDL registration at a small ceremony during the ECDL Information Day at the Swiss Transport Museum in Lucerne.

Since the introduction of the ICDL in Switzerland in 2000, a quarter of a million candidates have taken part in the ICDL programme. Every year about 16’000 people in Switzerland and Liechtenstein take the ICDL exams. Like Sonia Afonso, the majority (65%) of these candidates is under 26 years old – with the percentage of young candidates increasing. On average, 63% of the candidates are in education, 23% take the ICDL exams as part of a further training programme and 14% as a measure for the unemployed.

Peter Grunenfelder, director of Avenir Suisse, presented Sonia Afonso with her ICDL ID at the ICDL Information Day. The 25-year-old was delighted to receive this honour, saying: “I’m convinced the ICDL certificate will benefit my career.”

In addition to this ceremony, highlights of the Information Day included Peter Grunenfelder’s talk on modernisation in Switzerland and Viola Dondo, executive director of the Computer Society in Zimbabwe, giving insights into the implementation of the ICDL in Zimbabwe.

Take a look at some more photos of the event.