Switzerland

| Education

There are 12 recognized universities awarding doctorate degrees in Switzerland. Two of the 12 universities are Federal Institutes of Technology. About 100,000 students attend these academic institutions; 21% are international students (one of the highest percentages of foreign university students in the world for one country). Though a number of variations exist, most universities consist of the following faculties: theology, law and social sciences, arts, natural sciences, and medicine.

In addition to the 12 universities mentioned above, there are also 9 universities of applied sciences, 14 universities of teacher education, and several university institutes receiving financial support from the Swiss Confederation. The institutes include mainly the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration (IDHEAP) in Lausanne, Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (IUKB) in Sion and Stiftung Universitäre Fernstudien Schweiz (distance higher education) in Brig.

Switzerland also offers courses of study at a number of private universities and institutes. These courses of study and degrees are not nationally accredited, however. As many of the offerings of these institutions are not sound, it is important to choose institutions and programmes carefully.

Swiss institutions of higher learning typically divide study into 1) a broadly-based period of study; 2) in-depth study in the first stage; and 3) the final period of specialization in the second stage.

Since winter semester 2001/2002, the universities in Switzerland have been instituting reforms in degree programs in accordance with the Bologna Declaration. This is a two-cycle (undergraduate / postgraduate) system and qualifications structure:

1. Bachelor’s degree: 180 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits or three years of full-time study.
2. Master’s degree: 90 - 120 ECTS credits or 1.5 - 2 years of full-time study beyond the Bachelor’s degree. Access to a Master’s degree program requires the successful completion of the Bachelor’s degree.
3. Doctoral degree: 180 ECTS credits or 3 years of full-time study beyond the Master’s degree. Access to doctoral level studies (dissertation) requires successful completion of a Master’s degree with good grades.

The universities also offer an additional post-graduate degree called Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) (minimum 60 ECTS credits or one year of full-time study). The MAS does not give access to doctoral level programs.

As the implementation of the Bologna reforms is not yet complete in Switzerland, academic degrees following the older system are still being awarded. In the older system, students are awarded the Licentiate or Diploma after completion of 4 - 5 years of full-time studies. Completion of a Licentiate / Diploma with good grades gives the holder access to doctoral level studies.

Significant differences exist between European universities and their U.S. counterparts; In European universities, the structures of programs and majors vary considerably. Foreign students are placed differently than natives; thus, although ISEP students are able to take courses with regular Swiss students, their programs of study may be slightly different than those of their Swiss friends.

To complement lectures, professors sometimes prepare a bibliography of suggested readings on the lecture topics; it is a good idea to talk with the professors early to find out whether they might have these reading lists. Specific assigned readings or homework, as U.S. students know them, are uncommon; keeping up with general reading is your responsibility. It is advisable to tell your professors that you are a U.S. ISEP student and are not totally familiar with the Swiss educational system; most professors will be willing to advise and guide you in the first few weeks of adjustment.

Courses are usually in the form of lectures and seminars. Swiss students usually take a majority of courses in their field of study with some flexibility within the field. They do not have the same general education requirements found in other higher education systems such as in the United States.

Students will also find that universities have modules. A module is a unit that is confined in respect of content and time and can consist of multiple courses, e.g. lecture and tutorial. Modules are structural components of study programs and generate a defined workload. For the calculation of a student’s workload, the ECTS-credit points are to be multiplied by the factor 30 (1 ECTS-credit point = 30 hours). The workload that is to be brought up in order to pass the module comprises all learning activities of the student, i.e. contact hours (actual taught course hours) and self-study hours. During the self-study hours the reading of relevant literature (reading assignments), the writing of term papers, and the preparation of oral presentations and/or exams are to be accomplished.

Registration will generally take place during the first few weeks of courses. Students are allowed to register in multiple facultés or departments in order to meet with their home institutions requirements. Each department will have different registration requirements and processes, so students will need to speak with individual departments to ensure they are registered for courses properly. Students may be able to register online for certain courses while other courses will require the student to speak with a department faculty member.

Grade averages between 5.5 and 6 are very rare; an average of a 6 is mostly impossible. In exams, quarter steps are usually used to indicate grades between integer grades: e.g., 5.25. To pass a year, this overall result needs to be sufficient. Sometimes further conditions need to be fulfilled, such as a maximum allowed number of grades below four. At university level, classes can often be repeated individually in case of an insufficient grade, so not the whole year or semester needs to be repeated.

Since education is the responsibility of the cantons (except for the federal universities), grading notations may differ depending on the region. In some regions, + and - are used to indicate marks below or above an integer. Sometimes the - is used to indicate a better grade if it stands after the grade and a lower grade if it stands before the grade (in which case - is a symbol for "bis" 'to' rather than 'minus'), for example -5 is lower than 5 which is lower than 5- in that system.

6 Excellent
5.5 Very good
5 Good
4.5 Satisfactory
4 Pass
3.5 Fail
3 Poor
2.5 Very poor
2 Extremely poor
1.5 Almost no performance
1 No performance
0 Absence without good cause

Evaluation is based on written or oral exams, presentations, and works. In a typical exam, the average result will be somewhat above 4 with a variance between 0.5 and 1. This of course varies depending on the kind of exam, the tested class, the school level, the region, the teacher and other factors. Exams take place at the end of each semester. Students may have to register for examinations, so be sure to contact the departments about exam registration procedures.

Students will be able to earn ECTS credits for courses. In the ECTS system, credits are allocated to course units according to the workload required to complete the course unit. The workload takes into account lectures, practical work, seminars, field work, private study, examinations, and other assessment activities. ECTS is thus based on a full student workload and not limited to contact hours only. In the ECTS system, 60 credits correspond to the workload of a full academic year of study and 30 credits to that of a semester (full-time studies). ECTS credits are a relative rather than an absolute measure of student workload. They only specify how much of a year’s workload a course unit represents at the institution allocating the credits. ECTS credits ensure that the program will be reasonable in terms of workload during the period of study abroad.

Credits will only be given for a course if the student has passed the evaluation. A written or oral exam will usually be administered at the end of the semester.

The Swiss academic year is divided into two semesters: the first from mid-October to late February, and the second semester, which lasts from early March to mid-July.