Switzerland’s polytechnic institute in Zurich (ETH) has tripled its tuition fees from the September semester for international students joining this year. Has this move had any impact on enrolment numbers?
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As the new academic year begins at the ETH on September 18th, international students will see their tuition triple.
This means their per-semester fees will increase from 730 to 2,190 francs.
The increase will apply only to new students, however; those who are already enrolled at the two universities can complete their studies at old rates.
These hikes are meant to compensate for lower federal contributions because the government’s financial aid to the two public institutes is sharply reduced.
READ ALSO: How much will foreign students have to pay for Zurich’s top university?
Has this increase had an impact on the number of new students?
There have been fears that higher tuition will keep foreigners from studying at the ETH.
So far, however, this has not happened
According to the university, roughly the same number of students have enrolled this year as in 2024.
“The actual effect of the higher tuition fees cannot yet be determined after such a short period of time,” ETH Rector Günther Dissertori said on Thursday.
In all, a total of around 3,650 new bachelor’s students have registered for studies at ETH Zurich.
This is a similar number as in previous years.
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What about the EPFL?
The situation at the ETH’s ‘sister’ institution in Lausanne, where new students will also see their fees triple when the semester begins on September 15th, is more ambiguous.
According to the EPFL’s spokesperson, “we are indeed seeing a decline in the number of students from France in the first year.”
However, this drop can’t be attributed to the increased fees only.
Starting in 2025, the university is capping the number of new Bachelor’s students from abroad to 3,000 admissions.
The EPFL took this step, in effect until 2029, because the number of its students has more than doubled in the last decade.
Consequently, “our lecture halls are saturated, the student-faculty ratio is on the rise, and the workload for our support services has expanded considerably,” the institute explained.
Therefore, while no limit has been placed on the number of Swiss students, fewer foreign ones will be admitted for the next four years.
