Currently, some universities in Switzerland charge higher tuition of foreign students in comparison to Swiss nationals. But this practice will be abolished.
Faced with a financial shortfall, many public universities in Switzerland – including the two federal polytechnic institutes, the ETH in Zurich and EPFL in Lausanne – had to increase the fees for international students.
READ ALSO: How much will foreign students have to pay for Zurich’s top university?
However, the new treaties concluded by Switzerland and the European Union in December 2024 could eliminate those extra charges.
Why is that?
Among other new rules that Switzerland would have to comply with – including in the area of immigration – the new agreements between Bern and Brussels will prohibit Swiss universities from charging EU citizens higher tuition fees than domestic students.
While this is good news for people from the European Union states who want to study in Switzerland (or already do so), this move would result in a loss of almost 41 million francs in revenue, figures published by the federal government indicate.
“Many universities will face significant financial and structural challenges,” according to the conference of rectors of Swiss universities.
Advertisement
Considerable losses ahead
In concrete terms, the ETH and EPFL, which have just tripled the tuition for international students, will be particularly hard hit, as they will lose 23.6 million francs in additional revenue.
The Universities of St. Gallen and Lugano would also be impacted, with projected losses of 7.6 million and 7.7 million francs, respectively.
Other Swiss universities, on the other hand, including Basel, Bern, Geneva, and Lausanne, don’t impose higher fees on foreign students, so they would not be affected by the new rule.
Does this mean the universities will be in the red?
Not initially.
For the first four years, the federal government plans to offset the losses.
In the case of the federal institutes of technology, it will cover the full costs.
For the cantonal universities, it intends to pay half and leave the remainder to the cantons themselves.
Advertisement
Could Swiss universities introduce admission quotas for EU students?
That is not likely.
That’s because there is a clause in the bilateral agreements designed to prevent the current number of students from the European Union from plummeting due to restrictions.
However, Swiss universities could still decide to charge higher tuition, or implement restrictions, on students from third countries.
But it is not known at this point whether they will exercise this option.
