Cadschool: Find Top Courses & Training Locations

Cadschool has more than 30 years of experience delivering professional training. Today, the school is certified by eduQua and is an authorized training center for Adobe and Autodesk. Students can earn professional certificates and participate in internships through Cadschool’s programming.

Founded by Mina Maiwand in 1998 in Geneva, Cadschool is a French-language Swiss school that teaches classes in the software programs used by cutting-edge creative professionals. The CAD at the start of the school’s name stands for Communication, Arts & Digital, and those are indeed the foci of the school’s classes. Since 2017, Cadschool has been under the direction of Cédric Millioud, and in 2018, the school moved to new, larger premises in Geneva. In 2020, the school stepped up its efforts in the canton of Vaud and, in late 2021, opened a second learning facility in Lausanne.

The school is an Adobe Authorized Training Center, an Autodesk Authorized Training Center, and a Maxon Authorized Training Provider. It is also a CERTIPORT-certified testing center that can administer certification exams to students who have completed their courses. Cadschool is also certified by eduQua, a Swiss label that testifies to the quality of continuing education establishments.

School Locations

Cadschool has schools in two cities in francophone Switzerland: Geneva and Lausanne.

The Geneva school is at 62 Route de Frontenex, right next to the Parc La Grange and a few blocks from the Genève-Eaux-Vives metro stop. The Lausanne facility is at 2 Avenue de la Rasude, a short walk from the city’s principal train station. La Rasude is an area in Lausanne being developed as a state-of-the-art urban space; Cadschool is located very close to these new developments.

Subjects Taught at Cadschool

Cadschool breaks its curriculum into five departments, which they abbreviate as PAO, CAO, Post Prod, WEB, and COM. PAO stands for publication assistée par ordinateur (computer-assisted publishing) and covers the “Big Three” Adobe programs: Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. CAO—conception assistée par ordinateur (computer-assisted design)—covers the principal CAD programs (that’s CAD in the usual sense of the term). Under Post Prod, the school groups its video production classes, including instruction in After Effects and Premiere Pro. The WEB department is where the school places its classes in web design (UX, UI, WordPress), while COM is the rubric under which courses in social media marketing and ecommerce fall.

If you’re considering taking a class at Cadschool, you will probably want to weigh your other options before making your final choice. Noble Desktop’s Classes Near Me tool is designed to help you do just that. A simple click will bring up the Adobe Creative Cloud, AutoCAD, and Web Design classes available elsewhere in Switzerland, along with a smattering of online courses that may be followed from any locale with a stable internet connection.

What Classes Are Available?

Unlike some other schools, Cadschool doesn’t have a massive listing of classes and prefers to focus on the essentials, which makes it easier to navigate their class catalog.

Being an Adobe Certified Training Center, the school has extensive Creative Cloud offerings, including beginner, intermediate, and advanced classes in each of the big three programs, Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. Each class runs for two full days (or, in some rare instances, for multiple evenings.) For all three Photoshop classes, and for some of the InDesign and Illustrator classes, a parallel e-learning option is available as well.

There is only one Premiere Pro class available, but it runs for five full days and therefore covers the content of both regular beginner and intermediate courses combined. After Effects is taught in even greater depth: the beginner-to-intermediate class runs for six days and covers more advanced skills such as managing a camera in a 3D environment and setting animation in rhythm to an audio track. Tutored on-demand asynchronous versions of both these classes are also available. There is also a 16-day deep dive into After Effects’ motion design capabilities that takes students with knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator into the advanced capabilities of the special effects software. The class includes a pair of independent projects.

Moving away from Adobe, one of Cadschool’s most popular courses is a Smartphone Video Production class that teaches students to create professional-quality vlogs, interviews, and short films using only a smartphone as equipment. Slightly confusingly, the class runs for three full-day sessions when taken in Lausanne but for eight half-day sessions when taken in Geneva.

AutoCAD 2D and 3D design classes are available, both of which go into their subject matter in considerable depth, calling for 13 full-day sessions for the 2D class and another 13 days for the 3D class. An even broader selection of classes is available in both Revit Architecture and ArchiCAD. There is also a three-day class in SketchUp, which will have students able by the course’s end to create preliminary versions of all manner of 3D projects.

Cadschool teaches a class in UX and UI design that runs for six full days. The class includes a student project that will take participants through everything they’ve learned so as to arrive at an interactive prototype of the site they’ve designed. The school also has a basic-to-intermediate WordPress class (six full days of classroom learning) that leads students through the website creation process using the world’s most popular CMS. Unlike so many schools, Cadschool also offers a class in Wix that, in five days, shows students how to build sites and develop portfolios using an alternative CMS.

Digital Marketing and Social Media are covered in a course by that name. It runs for 12 days and gives students a very solid foundation upon which to build digital marketing strategies that make optimal use of social media to attain their goals. Something even more intense is a 21-day specialist class in community management and brand content management. The course, in addition to incorporating Photoshop and video with smartphone modules described above, goes extensively into using social media networks to create content strategies and to exploit the metrics those involve. Targeted at people working in marketing roles, the class will also be helpful for anyone whose work lies at the intersection of digital images and network management. Finally, Cadschool offers a course in ecommerce (two days or five evenings) that takes students through all the steps necessary to open and manage an online store.

Cadschool also arranges classes for companies seeking to upskill their existing teams, including courses beyond those offered to the general public.

Class Formats

The majority of Cadschool’s classes are taught live and in-person, either at the Geneva or Lausanne facilities. In a few cases, courses involve a hybrid model in which the in-person sessions are complemented by live online classes. Furthermore, the Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator classes, along with the WordPress and ecommerce classes, are available fully live online as well as live and in-person.

The school offers a number of its classes in an e-learning format, i.e., on-demand courses that may be followed at students’ leisure and as their schedules dictate. These on-demand classes do not, however, leave the students totally to their own devices: the class includes a live session with a tutor to whom questions can be addressed and who can monitor the student’s progress.

Practical internships are available for students who have completed the longest courses. These internships allow Cadschool graduates to solidify and demonstrate their knowledge of the subject matter they studied.

Class sizes, whether live or online, are limited and range from 6 to 16 students depending on the subject.

Certain classes include access to video materials for revision for a year following the end of the class.

The Adobe and Autodesk classes lead towards official certification examinations. Cadschool is able to administer the exams.

Admissions Process

Admissions are open at Cadschool, at least until all the available places in a class have been filled. Admission is, however, preceded by an interview with school staff to determine precisely which class will best further students along their career paths.

Pricing & Payment Options

Cadschool is consistent in its pricing of the Adobe classes: they are each priced at (in CHF or Swiss Francs) CHF 600 (approximately $635); the on-demand version costs CHF 400 ($425). The AutoCAD classes, both the 2D and 3D versions, are CHF 3,900 ($4,135), while Revit Architecture prices out to CHF 2,400 ($2,545).

The comprehensive motion design class with After Effects costs CHF 4,400 ($4,464), while the briefer After Effects beginner to intermediate class is priced at CHF 1,800 ($1,910); the on-demand version goes for CHF 1,190. The popular video with smartphone class is priced at CHF 890 ($945).

As for UX and UI design, that class is priced at CHF 1,950 ($2,065), while the WordPress course costs CHF 1,800. The slightly briefer Wix class costs CHF 1,500 ($1,590).

The extended Community Management and Brand Content course is priced at CHF 4,850 ($5,145) in Lausanne but at CHF 4,450 ($4,715) in Geneva, where some of the course is taught live online. Finally, the Ecommerce class is priced at CHF 750 ($795).

Quite a bit of government financing is available, led by the BOOST program from Digital Switzerland, that can cover as much as 50% of a class tuition. Additional funding is to be had for residents of Geneva or the canton of Vaud.

Career Support Services

The largest contribution to career support services that Cadschool provides is the internships that connect the graduates of its longer programs. These are designed to allow students the chance to apply what they learned to actual workplace situations; they also look very good on résumés. Otherwise, the school does not offer traditional career placement services.

Alumni Outcomes

Cadschool does not collect or publish data about its graduates’ success in the job market after completing their studies.

What Do Students Say?

There is a lack of third-party reviews of Cadschool. On the other hand, the Cadschool website does include a number of testimonials, both in written and video form, although these are predictably uniformly positive. Nevertheless, among these, one student praised both the teacher and the general ambiance of the school. He went on to write, “the class adapts to the speed and competencies of each student. The structure of the course is very good, and the final project allowed me to get a handle on [Revit Architecture] so as to be able to imagine working on a real project.”

A second student, an alumnus of the digital marketing and social networks class, commented that the teachers “were up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies.” His review continued by singling out their “active participation during the course” and the “practical examples for each concept” they gave.

A student from both the AutoCAD 2D and 3D classes said that he had mastered both programs, “which I use every day in my business… A big ‘thank you’ to Cadschool for having permitted me to learn a new trade which led to my being hired. Another big thank you to those who work [at the school], who supported me from the start to the end of my classes with care worthy of a major school.”

Key Takeaways

Cadschool is a school specializing in live courses at their schools in Geneva and Lausanne.
The language of instruction at Cadschool is French.
The school is an Adobe Certified Training Center, and a large section of its catalog is devoted to teaching Adobe programs. The school also carries certification from Autodesk for the teaching of AutoCAD software.
Classes prepare students for Adobe and Autodesk certification.
Other courses involve video production (smartphone) and post-production, digital marketing, and ecommerce.
Numerous financing schemes are available through the Swiss and local governments.

Top Courses at Cadschool

Find the perfect course for you at Cadschool. We’ve selected 22 of Cadschool’s most popular courses. View the course catalog at cadschool.ch

Subjects Taught at Cadschool

Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is one of the most popular vector graphics applications. With seamless integrations across Adobe Creative Cloud, Illustrator is widely used by individuals and organizations to create resizable illustrations, design elements for videos and motion graphics, all through its powerful vector creation tools.

In-Person Illustrator Classes Live Online Illustrator Classes

InDesign

Adobe InDesign is the industry-leading layout design tool for print. Publishers of magazines, books, newspapers and other media rely on InDesign for page layouts and graphic design. InDesign can also be used to create digital documents such as PDFs and eBooks.

In-Person InDesign Classes Live Online InDesign Classes

Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is widely known as the best photo editing software for photographers and photo retouchers. It's also used by digital painters as well as graphic designers for creating a wide variety of designs such as social media graphics, web designs, app designs, graphics that will be animated in Adobe After Effects, and much more.

In-Person Photoshop Classes Live Online Photoshop Classes

AutoCAD

AutoCAD is a computer-aided design software used to create scale blueprints, schematics, and models. It’s used by engineers, interior designers, manufacturers, and architects. AutoCAD offers intelligent objects for creating common plans such as electrical and plumbing design plans.

In-Person AutoCAD Classes Live Online AutoCAD Classes

After Effects

Adobe After Effects is the industry standard for video post-production, compositing, effects, and animation. It's one of the most important apps for motion designers and can be used for creating animations and videos for social media, YouTube, websites, TV, and movies.

In-Person After Effects Classes Live Online After Effects Classes

WordPress

WordPress is used on over 37% of all websites, and growing. It's a free and open-source content management system (CMS) that lets you create and manage a website or blog. It’s popular for blogging, but you can build websites that don't even have a blog.

In-Person WordPress Classes Live Online WordPress Classes

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing includes the online marketing efforts to promote a business, including social media marketing, email marketing, search engine marketing, SEO, and conversion rate optimization. Digital marketing skills are critical for business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers in our digital-first world.

In-Person Digital Marketing Classes Live Online Digital Marketing Classes Digital Marketing Bootcamps

SketchUp

SketchUp is a 3D CAD application, primarily used in architecture and design, that is made available through Google as an alternative to applications like AutoCAD. It offers users the tools to create complex 3D models of structures and spaces and users have acces to an open library of uploaded designs and models

In-Person SketchUp Classes Live Online SketchUp Classes

Motion Graphics

Motion graphics refers to animated graphic design. It blends together text, sound, motion, animation, and visual effects to communicate a message or tell a story.

In-Person Motion Graphics Classes Live Online Motion Graphics Classes

Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro is the leading choice for video editing for TV, movies and the internet. It allows users to weave together video clips, graphics, and audio to produce professional grade video projects. It offers seamless integrations with Adobe Audition, After Effects, Photoshop and more.

In-Person Premiere Pro Classes Live Online Premiere Pro Classes

Top Certificate Programs

Top Courses

Top Certificate Programs

Top Certificate Programs

Top Courses

Top Certificate Programs

Top Courses

School Locations

Subjects Taught at Cadschool

What Classes Are Available?

Class Formats

Admissions Process

Pricing & Payment Options

Career Support Services

Alumni Outcomes

What Do Students Say?

Key Takeaways

Top Courses at Cadschool

Subjects Taught at Cadschool

Illustrator

InDesign

Photoshop

AutoCAD

After Effects

WordPress

Digital Marketing

SketchUp

Motion Graphics

Premiere Pro

Map of Cadschool Locations