How to Proceed When Wishing to Study in Switzerland
Swiss Education System: diversified but coherent
Swiss Education System: How it works

Swiss Education System

Very broadly, the Swiss education system may be broken down into three levels: primary, secondary and tertiary

A “pre-school” level can be distinguished as a preparation for primary school. Pre-school is optional, but it offers preparation for compulsory education and is an entitlement enjoyed by children in every canton.

For its part, the secondary level is subdivided into two parts, one being compulsory and the other not.

Compulsory schooling is the basis of the Swiss education system. It generally lasts nine years, split between the primary and lower secondary levels. In most of the cantons, primary school lasts six years. It is followed by lower secondary school, which often lasts three years. Completion of this stage of education ends the obligation to attend school.

Schooling at upper secondary level ordinarily lasts three to four years, with an upper secondary school qualification entitling students to enter tertiary education. Holders of a baccalaureate or maturity certificate (“gymnasiale Matura”) have access to the traditional academic universities, or they may enter a university of applied sciences after completing a one-year internship or work placement.

Upon completion of compulsory schooling students can follow an apprenticeship which leads to a professional baccalaureate or professional maturity certificate (“Berufsmaturität”). Holders of this certificate are entitled to study at a university of applied sciences or, after passing a supplementary examination, at a scientific university.

Higher education in Switzerland comprises both academic studies at the traditional “scientific” universities and Federal Institutes of Technology and rather more professionally oriented studies at the Universities of Applied Sciences (“Fachhochschulen” / “Hautes Ecoles Spécialisées”). The recent expansion of the Swiss higher education system through the establishment of the Universities of Applied Sciences aimed to integrate this new type of university as an equal though different partner of the traditional universities. This modernised system of Swiss higher education – diversified but coherent – is not only better suited to meeting the needs of the students, the scientific community, modern society, and the new economy, it is also more directly compatible with other European educational systems.