Applicants holding a baccalaureate certificate recognised by the Swiss Confederation or an equivalent foreign qualification have direct access to university study. However, not all foreign university-entry qualifications are equivalent. The admission criteria may differ greatly depending upon the country of origin and may stipulate, for example, a minimum grade, an additional examination or even an initial university degree in the country of origin. The Rectors’ Conference of the Swiss Universities draws up guidelines on the evaluation of foreign university-entry qualifications. Detailed information can be found on the website of www.swissuniversities.ch (www.swissuniversities.ch/en/services/admission-to-universities/countries). Special criteria apply to admission to medicine courses as places are limited.
Applicants must also have a good command of the language of tuition. C1 level based on the European reference framework (www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/cadre1_en.asp) is generally required. It is therefore worthwhile obtaining a recognised language qualification while at secondary school. Candidates will find the exact guidelines on language requirements and recognised qualifications on the websites of the respective universities. (e.g.: Federal Institute of Technology Zurich – www.ethz.ch/en/studies/registration-application/master/application/language-requirements). There is no central admissions system in Switzerland. With the exception of medicine courses, applications should always be made to the universities, which decide on their own admissions independently.
Of the 17 Swiss schools abroad, those in Bangkok, Barcelona, Bogotá, Madrid, Milan, Rome and Santiago de Chile provide the opportunity to obtain a baccalaureate certificate recognised by the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss schools in Curitiba, Lima, Mexico and Sao Paulo offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) (www.swissuniversities.ch/en/services/admission-to-universities/international-baccalaureate).
Further information about education and training in Switzerland and on the Swiss schools abroad is available at www.educationsuisse.ch. Or contact us directly:
educationsuisse, Alpenstrasse 26, 3006 Berne, SWITZERLAND
Tel. +41 31 356 61 04, info@educationsuisse.ch
Our employees speak German, French, English, Italian and Spanish.
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