Admissions to higher education

There is no central service in Switzerland which is responsible for recognising foreign upper-secondary school leaving certificates prior to admission. This falls under the remit of higher education institutions. We recommend you get in touch with the institution of your choice.

You will find most information on institutional websites and you can refer to berufsberatung.ch for an overview (available in German, French or Italian).

The admission processes at universities and universities of applied sciences are different, as are the admission requirements for Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes.

Necessary prior education
As a rule, a upper secondary school-leaving certificate is required for admission. swissuniversities provides a good overview of the admission requirements by country of origin.
An existing higher education diploma can also enable admission. However, the university must be officially recognised in the country itself. Information on this can be found in the German database Anabin. If you are unsure, you can enquire either at your university or at Swiss ENIC. The respective university will decide whether to recognise the diploma for admission.

Enrolment deadlines
You can enrol for a degree course in the spring or autumn semester. However, it is often only possible to start your studies in the autumn semester.
Each university has different enrolment deadlines. Find out directly on the website of the respective university. Generally, enrolment must take place several months before the desired start date.

 

Bachelor

In order to be admitted for an undergraduate course, you will require an upper-secondary school leaving certificate permitting admission to universities.

Access the country list of swissuniversities to find the requirements applicable for your country of origin. You will usually need to prove that you have been awarded an upper-secondary school leaving certificate which is equivalent to the Baccalaureate in Switzerland. As well as this, you will require an enrolment certificate and need to complete the complementary examination of the Swiss higher education institutions ECUS. Make sure you have looked into the language requirements at the institution of your choice. Refer to the Documents section of the website.

Degree courses with a limited student intake may require you to sit an admissions exam. Some universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education and federal technical universities (ETH/EPFL) also have individual admissions exams. Obtain this information directly from the institution of your choice.

Master

To be accepted onto the Master’s programme, you must have a Bachelor’s degree from a recognised university and a letter of motivation.

Not all programmes have language requirements. If there are no formal requirements, it is your own responsibility to be sufficiently proficient in the language of instruction.

If your Bachelor’s diploma is recognised, but the university requires you to have completed certain modules or to have acquired specific knowledge upon admission, you may be asked to take additional modules at Bachelor’s level in compensation. However, if these modules exceed 60 ECTS, you will not usually be admitted for the Master’s programme.

Admission procedure

The admission procedures at the various universities are different. In most cases, registration is made online. The basic process is as follows:

1. completing the online application form before the enrolment deadline and submitting all necessary documents. You will be notified if any documents are missing.
2. submit the missing documents or a written explanation as to why you are unable to provide these documents.
3. payment of the enrolment fee after receipt of the invoice.
4. admission to the desired degree programme is checked. Once the application dossier has been checked, the admissions office will send you the decision. There are three options:

• • You will be admitted and asked to submit your original diploma.
  • You will be admitted with conditions: for example, you may be required to take a language test or the supplementary ECUS examination. Discuss these with your social worker and clarify whether the conditions are realistic. If you need more time to fulfil the requirements, clarify with the admissions office whether your admission is still valid for the coming semester or year.
  • You will not be admitted.

Admission to universities of applied sciences usually works on a case-by-case basis. Depending on the department or degree programme you choose, there are major differences in the requirements. It may be worth contacting the admissions office directly before applying.

Admission requires sufficient command in the language of instruction, professional experience and previous training. In some cases, applicants might be required to complete the complementary examination of the Swiss higher education institutions ECUS. Proof of previous education and training as well as language requirements will be examined by an admissions committee.

The admission procedures at the various universities of applied sciences are different. In most cases, enrolment takes place online. The basic process is as follows:

1. completing the online application form before the enrolment deadline and submitting all the necessary documents. You will be notified if any documents are missing.
2. submit the requested documents or a written explanation as to why you are unable to provide these documents.
3. payment of the enrolment fee after receipt of the invoice.
4. admission to the desired degree programme is checked. Once the application dossier has been checked, the Admissions Office will send you the decision. There are three options:

• •  You will be admitted and asked to submit your original diploma.
  • You will be admitted with conditions (conditions that you must fulfil): for example, you may be required to take a language test or the supplementary ECUS examination. Discuss these with your social worker and clarify whether the conditions are realistic. If you need more time to fulfil the requirements, clarify with the admissions office whether your admission is still valid for the coming semester or year.
  • You will not be admitted.

Each higher education institution is responsible for recognising modules from your previous studies and decides if those modules shall count towards your course. For modules to be recognised, you require documents describing the module content, workload and associated credits. Ideally, you have access to the original documents and translations. Ask the university what proof you need to provide and what forms you need to fill out.

• Do you need officially certified translations?
• Would it suffice if you described the course content yourself?
• What form do these descriptions need to take?
   

If you do not have the documents required for admission, you can ask the university for alternative admission requirements. As well as that, many Swiss universities allow for individuals with considerable professional experience to be admitted without the baccalaureate certificate or equivalent.

Admission without baccalaureate certificate or equivalent

Certain faculties at EPFL, ETH Zurich, USI and the Universities of Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne and Neuchâtel permit admission at Bachelor’s level without a baccalaureate certificate or equivalent if certain requirements are met. Instead, the university or faculty in question will put in place a specific admissions process which is specific to their institution. You cannot be admitted for medicine or pharmaceutical sciences at most universities with this process. Only the information you obtain from the university is binding.

This kind of admission tends to be possible if you are of a certain age (ca. 30 years) and have relevant professional experience in the field of study. You should expect to see your subject knowledge assessed.

Unlike students who are admitted in a regular admissions process, you will however be unable to change your course following admission.

ECUS (Examen Complémentaire des Hautes Écoles Suisses) is a complementary examination you need to sit if your upper-secondary school leaving certificate has been issued in a country which has not entered a bilateral agreement with Switzerland regarding mutual recognition of diplomas. You will be assessed on your general education which is required for university study.

Registration for the ECUS examination must be made through a university or university of applied sciences. To do so, you must first submit an enrolment application and fulfil all other admission requirements. If you pass the ECUS examination, you will only be admitted to the university that registered you.
The respective university decides which subjects are to be examined. The following areas can be tested: Language of instruction, English, maths, special subject (history, geography) and specialisation chapter (biology, chemistry, physics).

You must take either:

1. the entire examination: language of instruction (1st part) plus 4 subjects (2nd part), or
2. a partial examination in individual subjects. This is decided by the university to which you wish to be admitted.

The examinations only take place once a year. The total examination for German-speaking universities costs CHF 1050. For French universities CHF 870.

There are no open-access classes in preparation for ECUS. There are private providers in Zurich, Lausanne and Geneva offering classes in preparation but be aware that these are expensive.