"Those who cut back on education for short-term reasons will pay dearly for it in the long run"

EDUCATION Peter Petrin, Vice President and Head of Education at the Swiss Marketing Association, on the trends for the 2016 academic year.

Peter Petrin, Vice President and Head of Education at the Swiss Marketing Association.MK Mr. Petrin, what are the most important buzzwords and expressions that run through your mind when you think about the 2016 education year?PETER PETRIN English title designations, national qualification framework and occupational field analysis. Under these keywords, we have put our qualifications Marketing and Sales Specialists with Federal Certificate, Dipl. Marketingmanager/innen HF and (Federal) Dipl. Marketing- und Verkaufsleiter/innen to the test and positioned them for the future.MK Do you see any other trends emerging for the new year?PETRIN The number of educational offerings will continue to increase, which is why it will become increasingly important to complete continuing education at institutions with a good reputation. If the educational qualifications are becoming increasingly difficult to interpret, the institution offering the training will gain in importance as an anchor of trust.MK The education landscape has changed massively over the past few years in the wake of digitization. Do you expect a kind of stagnation in this regard, or will this development continue unabated?PETRIN A brake is unlikely to do the trick. Digitization affects education in two ways: on the one hand, it has a strong impact on the educational content itself, and on the other hand, it has a significant influence on the way we teach.MK There are currently real examples of how digital media are also being used for the global marketing of criminal and inhuman messages. Can or must the education market also somehow counter this phenomenon?PETRIN Where it fits in with the educational content, I certainly recommend addressing the problematic side of digital media. We know from behavioral economics that people are unlikely to change their behavior in response to appeals. That's why this important and sensitive topic must be dealt with discursively and as lively as possible.MK There are still tendencies in business for savings to be made first in education and marketing in difficult times. What arguments do you use to tell such companies that they are saving in the wrong place?PETRIN It is not really saving money, but postponing necessary investments into the future. The longer they are delayed, the more expensive the cumulative bill will be in the end. Moreover, the loyalty of the workforce erodes when savings are made on them. After all, it is a communicative act with signal character. In short, those who cut back on the qualifications and thus the quality of their employees out of short-term necessity will have to pay dearly for this in the medium to long term.MK According to training providers, the demand trend for short, modular courses will continue to strengthen in the future. How can traditional professional examinations and federal qualifications be strengthened in this environment?PETRIN Care must be taken to ensure that preparation for these exams can be completed within a useful period of time. I think that in the field of marketing and sales, one to one and a half years is reasonable. At the same time, this means that one must focus on the key competencies in these exams. One must not try to cover everything with one qualification measure. After all, people should continue their education even after the federal exams and acquire what was not covered in the exam in question.MK What marketing performance has excited you the most in the past year 2015 quite spontaneously?PETRIN The way to market a nonsense like the show "Bachelor".Interview: Robert WildiRead more about the 2016 education trends in the current MK issue 02/2016. Subscribe now.