Education in Switzerland is relatively high. Switzerland is currently ranked 9 out of 65 countries and economies in the OECD/PISA 2012 survey of educational standards amongst 15 year olds.
The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) is the federal body overseeing education in in Switzerland but each of the 26 individual cantons has primary responsibility for their education and in effect run their own education systems.
Each canton has its own education department and its own school calendar, education structure, methods of teaching and curricula, although there are agreements in place to coordinate the latter across the country. Bear in mind that this can make moving a child from a school in one canton to one in another quite difficult. Responsibility for post compulsory education is shared between the Swiss confederation (federal government) and the cantons.
The structure of the Swiss education system
The basic structure of the Swiss education system is as follows:
Primary education usually consists of pre-school (kindergarten) and primary school. Primary level, including two years of kindergarten or a first learning cycle, can last for eight years. Although most children do attend kindergarten for two years, in some cantons they are not obliged to attend or do so only for one year.
In German speaking cantons, some municipalities combine kindergarten and the first two years of primary school into the first learning cycle called Grundstufe or Basisstufe and children aged four to eight years are in the same class.
In French speaking cantons, two kindergarten years are included in a four-year ‘cycle 1’ or cycle primaire 1. In the Italian-speaking canton Ticino, it’s optional for children to go to kindergarten from the age of three and then compulsory from the age of four, for two years. Contact the education department in your own canton to confirm what happens in your region.
Even where pre-school is not compulsory, most children attend kindergarten before primary school. The aim is to stimulate the development and social skills of the children mainly through play-based learning – lots of music, crafts and games – and in the last year, the rudiments of reading, writing and mathematics. Pre-schools are a great way for expat children to pick up a new language and start integrating with Swiss culture. For more information, see the Expatica’s guide to childcare in Switzerland.
Around the age of six, children go to primary school. Depending on the canton, primary school lasts between four and six years. At this level, children are not divided into achievement groups.
The children will be taught in the language of the region (German, French, Italian, or Romansh). Subjects include the first language, a second national language and English, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities (e.g. geography, history, ethics, and religion), music art and design, physical education and health.
Pupil assessment varies from canton to canton but generally pupils receive either an ungraded or graded school report twice a year at the end of each term (grades are from one to six with six being the best grade and one being ‘insufficient’). There can be end-of-year tests as well.
Depending on how well pupils have done in the year, they may be promoted to the next level, given extra support or have to repeat a year, for which there is no stigma attached.
Higher education includes technical and vocational schools, as well as universities, spread across cantons such as Basel, Berne, Fribourg, Geneva, Neuchatel, Lausanne, Lugano, Zurich, Lucerne, and St Gallen.
In Switzerland, lessons are taught in the language of the region ¬ – German, French, Italian or Romansh. From early on, students also learn one of the other official Swiss languages, as well as English. During enrolment at a school, your child’s ability in the local national language will be assessed. Some schools offer induction courses or intensive language courses to help students reach the standard required for them to join regular classes, or will receive language lessons alongside normal classes. Sometimes, the school might recommend that a pupil repeat a year in order to catch up.
There are 14 public and generic universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Of the remaining 4 institutions, 2 are run by the Swiss Confederation and are known as “Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology”.
Switzerland is well known for its advanced business education system. A number of world-class universities and MBA programmes, such as the International Institute for Management Development, HEC Lausanne, St. Gallen, Kalaidos FH and University of Zurich belong to that category. All of them are also registered in the Financial Times ranking. See also the list of universities in Switzerland.
Switzerland has a high rate of international students. In 2013, 16.9% of the total tertiary enrollment in Switzerland came from outside the country, a rate that is the 10th highest of the 291 countries included in the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. This rate was just higher than Austria (16.8) and just lower than the United Kingdom (17.5). However, due to the much smaller tertiary system in Switzerland their 47,000 foreign tertiary enrollments are dwarfed by much larger countries such as the United States (740,000), the United Kingdom (416,000), France (228,000) and Germany (196,000).[16] Many international students
