Prüfungskommission 19 Kanton Zürich

What Prüfungskommission 19 Kanton Zürich does

Prüfungskommission 19 Kanton Zürich (PK19) is the official cantonal examination commission for ICT professions in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland. It administers the annual Qualifikationsverfahren (professional qualification procedures) that award the federally recognized EFZ diploma (Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis) to ICT apprentices. PK19 oversees four examination tracks — Informatiker/in EFZ with specializations in Applikationsentwicklung (application development) and Plattformentwicklung (platform development), Betriebsinformatiker/in EFZ, and ICT-Fachmann/ICT-Fachfrau EFZ — and serves approximately 800 apprentices per year, supported by a network of over 200 volunteer expert examiners drawn from the ICT profession. PK19 holds a government-mandated monopoly on these examinations within the Canton of Zurich.

PK19's examination process combines an Individual Practical Work (IPA) or Predefined Practical Work (VPA) project with a presentation and professional discussion, structured around federal Handlungskompetenzbereiche (action competency areas). Operational delivery is managed through the PkOrg examination management platform (used across Swiss cantonal examination commissions), which handles candidate registration, expert assignment, IPA/VPA planning, work submission, and grading. Candidate communications and examiner briefings are conducted via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and in-person classroom sessions; expert briefings, debriefings, and grade conferences are held at vocational school venues such as TBZ (Technische Berufsschule Zürich) and OIZ.

The commission is organizationally assigned to the Mittelschul- und Berufsbildungsamt (MBA) of Canton Zurich, funded entirely through cantonal government budgets, and housed at the MBA's offices at Ausstellungsstrasse 80, 8090 Zürich. No fees are charged to candidates; expert examiners are compensated according to cantonal regulations. The standing leadership consists of President Adrian Krebs, Vice President Diego Suter, a two-person Aktuariat (Karin Hueber and Nadia Zyka), and seven Chefexperten covering each specialization track.

Name

Prüfungskommission 19 Kanton Zürich

Legal name

Prüfungskommission 19 Kanton Zürich

Website

https://pk19.ch

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Prüfungskommission 19 Kanton Zürich (PK19) is the official cantonal examination commission for ICT professions in the Canton of Zurich, administering annual EFZ qualification examinations for approximately 800 ICT apprentices across four professional tracks, supported by over 200 volunteer expert examiners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Vocational Education Examination

NAICS

Other Technical and Trade Schools (611519)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Testing Laboratories (8734)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDADAFAA

National/State Examination Boards & Testing Agencies

Education/Education Administration, Accreditation & Policy/Assessment, Examinations & Qualifications Authorities

SECONDARYEDADAFAD

Professional & Occupational Licensing Examination Authorities

Education/Education Administration, Accreditation & Policy/Assessment, Examinations & Qualifications Authorities

Keywords

• Vocational examination
• ICT certification
• Professional qualification
• Apprenticeship assessment
• Cantonal examination

Headquarters

HQ city

Zürich

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Cantonal Government Funding: PK19 is a government examination body funded by the Canton of Zurich. It operates under the Mittelschul- und Berufsbildungsamt (MBA). Revenue is derived from public cantonal budgets, not commercial sales. No pricing or fees are charged to examination candidates.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Prüfungskommission 19 Kanton Zürich (PK19) is the cantonal examination commission responsible for administering federal vocational qualification examinations (Qualifikationsverfahren) for ICT apprentices in the Canton of Zürich. It operates under the Mittelschul- und Berufsbildungsamt (MBA) des Kantons Zürich and organizes individual practical work (IPA) and in-depth practical assessments (VPA) for ICT professions such as application development, platform development, and ICT system management.

Product overview

Prüfungskommission 19 Kanton Zürich (PK19) is a vocational examination commission for IT professions in the canton of Zürich. Rather than a commercial software product company, PK19 provides examination and certification services for IT vocational education programs. Their core offerings include four distinct qualification examination procedures: Informatiker/in EFZ with specializations in Applikationsentwicklung and Plattformentwicklung, Betriebsinformatiker/in EFZ, and ICT-Fachmann/Fachfrau EFZ. These examinations use an IPA (Individual Practical Work) format for most tracks or VPA (Predefined Practical Work) for ICT-F. The organization operates the PkOrg platform for examination management and maintains a network of over 200 trained examination experts. PK19 provides supporting documentation including examination guidelines, criteria catalogs, and informational videos, and recruits professionals to serve as examination experts through their expert program.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ICT Apprenticeship Qualifikationsverfahren
• Individuelle Praktische Arbeit (IPA)
• Vertiefungs- und Praxisarbeit (VPA)

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 800 ICT apprentices examined per year in the Canton of Zurich
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Mittelschul- und Berufsbildungsamt (MBA) des Kantons ZürichcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPK19 is organizationally assigned to the Mittelschul- und Berufsbildungsamt (MBA) des Kantons Zürich. The MBA provides institutional oversight, governance, and funding. PK19's office is located at the MBA's address (Ausstellungsstrasse 80, 8090 Zürich). The MBA website is www.zh.ch/mba.
• PkOrg (PK-Organisation)coreTechnology or IntegrationPkOrg is the examination management software platform used by PK19 and other cantonal examination commissions in Switzerland for exam announcement, candidate/expert management, IPA/VPA planning, and grading. PK19 uses PkOrg for all operational aspects of the qualification procedure.
• TBZ (Technische Berufsschule Zürich)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTBZ serves as a venue for expert briefings, debriefings, and grade conferences (Notenkonferenz) for the ICT-Fachmann and Betriebsinformatiker examination tracks. PK19 coordinates scheduling with TBZ for in-person examination events.
• OIZ (Oberstufenschulhaus Informatikzentrum), ZürichminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOIZ serves as a venue for expert briefings (e.g., BrushUp events) for the ICT-Fachmann examination track. PK19 uses OIZ facilities for examination-related events in the Zürich area.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Prüfungskommission 21 (PK21) — Kanton Zürich: PK21 is the directly referenced sibling cantonal examination commission for Mediamatiker/in EFZ, operating under the same MBA oversight and using the same PkOrg platform. It is the closest peer because it executes the same function (qualifikationsverfahren) for an adjacent vocational profession within Canton of Zurich.
• Certiport (a Pearson VUE business): Certiport delivers vendor-neutral ICT certification exams (e.g., IC3, Microsoft Office Specialist, IT Specialist) through schools and training programs. It is directly comparable to PK19 because it assesses ICT competence among apprentice/student populations issuing recognized professional credentials.

Broad incumbents

• Pearson VUE: Pearson VUE is the global market leader in delivering computer-based professional certification examinations, including for major ICT vendors (Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA). It is comparable because it administers high-volume standardized ICT professional assessments under regulated, credentialed frameworks, just at scale.
• Prometric: Prometric operates a global network of testing centers and administers ICT and professional certification exams for hundreds of credentialing programs. It is comparable in functional role — running high-stakes, structured professional qualification examinations for ICT and technical professions.
• SGS S.A. SGS is a Swiss-headquartered global testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) giant. While its scope is far broader than ICT credentialing, the core service model — independent third-party assessment against defined standards — mirrors PK19's mandate to certify professional competence.
• Bureau Veritas: Bureau Veritas is one of the world's leading TIC service providers, with a Swiss heritage through its founding in Antwerp and Paris and significant Zurich-area activity. Its testing and certification function parallels PK19's role of certifying professional competence against regulatory standards.

Emerging players

• Kryterion: Kryterion provides online proctored certification testing infrastructure used by many ICT credentialing bodies. It is an emerging peer in that it delivers the assessment-platform layer of what PK19 in part builds internally with PkOrg, and serves similar ICT professional certification customers.

Regional players

• EHB/IFFI/IAG (Eidgenössisches Hochschulinstitut für Berufsbildung): EHB/IFFI/IAG is Switzerland's federal university for vocational education and training, responsible for training vocational educators and developing VET frameworks. It is a regional peer because, alongside SBFI, it shapes the Swiss VET (Berufsbildung) regulatory and qualification ecosystem in which PK19 operates.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pk19

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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