2.8 Switzerland: School system
Description
This article is from the Switzerland FAQ, by Marc Schaefer schaefer@alphanet.ch with numerous contributions by others.
2.8 Switzerland: School system
Compulsory school (and also non compulsory school, Universities,
except the Federal Institute of Technology) is set up by the
Cantons. Thus, there are differences between Cantons. Most of the
Cantons have however a compulsory school system as follows:
5 (or 6) years of primary school (6,7 to 12)
4 (or 3) years of secondary school (12 to 15)
The secondary school is usually separated in different sections,
such as Scientific, Classic and Modern. Some cantons do implement
a pre-professional section. Among others, you learn at least
three languages (yours, one other Swiss language, and another).
Usually this is French/German/English for French-speaking people, or
French/German/Italian. Most (if not all) Swiss-German Cantons teach
French.
Then, people may choose one of the following options:
a) do an apprenticeship (French: apprentissage/German: Lehrling)
while working, and obtain the Federal Certificate of Capacity.
b) go to technical school to become technician or engineer (this
is the same as an engineer in Germany or England). There are a lot
of technical schools / engineer schools. There is currently a
reform going on.
c) go to Gymnasium/Gymnase/Lycee (4 years) and get the Federal
Certificate of Maturity in Science, Letters or General matters
(the latter is not federally recognized, but there are agreements
between some Cantons). This is like a Baccalaureate in France.
d) go to Commercial School and get a Federal Certificate of Maturity.
e) go to private schools which deliver similar certificates. Most of
the Private schools are for dropouts, generally, who want to stay
in school, and these are not frequent cases. This does not include
the many Private schools for foreign people sending their children
in Switzerland, or Elitist (read: expensive) or Religious schools.
Option c and d allows to enter the Universities or ETH/EPF (Federal
Institute of Technology, two in Switzerland). There are some ways to
enter ETH/EPF with unrecognized certificates and gateways for ETS/HTL,
as long as you have solid math basis and you speak at least two swiss
languages (this is of course a big problem for ``Auslandschweizer'',
foreign Swiss citizens). There are many Universities, especially
in the French-speaking part, a lot less in the Swiss-German-speaking
region, and one in Tessin. They are in the process of merging
somewhat because of the costs involved.
The Universities are:
Geneve (http://www.unige.ch), Lausanne (http://www.unil.ch),
Fribourg (http://www.unifr.ch), Neuchatel (http://www.unine.ch),
Bern (http://www.unibe.ch), Zuerich (http://www.unizh.ch),
Basel (http://www.unibas.ch), Sankt-Gall (http://www.unisg.ch),
and Tessin (http://www.unisi.ch).
The Federal Institutes of Technology are:
ETHZ: Zuerich (http://www.ethz.ch)
EPFL: Lausanne (http://www.epfl.ch)
There are also a lot of technical schools (ETS/HTL), and some are
currently merging. To enter an HTL/ETS, you need a completed apprenticeship
Note that very few Swiss people go to University, since the practical
formation is very good and because, even if the direct costs for
studying is low (most universities and both EPF are under SFr 500.-
per semester) and the openness is high, the indirect costs (flat,
books, food) are quite high. For example, a shared flat in Lausanne
near the EPFL is more than 400.- SFr per month. An independent
``studio'' costs 500 to 600.-. Also note that the
women/men distribution is not equal (a lot less women), especially in
the technical and scientific world.
In Tessin, a study has shown that 35% of the people get a Certificate
of Maturity, and of them 90% go to Universities or Institute of
Technology. These numbers are fairly high for Switzerland.
Bildungsstatistik 1994 about the educational level of people age 20.
16 % has a Matura/Baccalaureate degree from a Gymnasium
(Automatic University Admission including Law and Med.)
3 % have a Education degree (elementary and high school teachers)
65 % have a professional degree (apprentice, vocational, technical schools)
(This includes people as skilled as branch director of banks or
nursing)
16 % have just the mandatory 9 years of elementary and high school
Note that the first category has 16% male and female, and the last 11%
male and 21% female.
A ``matura-reform'' is currently being undertaken: the goal is to
diminish the number of compulsory courses (for example even removing
the compulsory German course for French-speaking people and
vice-versa) but to allow a lot more freedom in course selection (``a
la carte''). It is also to change the old professional degrees into
something more ``European'' (people having a CFC will then have a
Technical Matura instead, a little like the French baccalaureate). This
is not easy to do (because the school system is cantonal) and is not
always seen as a good thing if this augments the number of people
frequenting universities at a time of ``numerus clausus'' proposals.
The reform is supposed to take 8 years until all cantons will have
harmonized their legislations.
The principal changes are summarized as follows:
- creation of ``fundamental courses'' which must be followed;
- definition of ``specific courses'', which is the main orientation
a student chooses;
- definition of ``complementary courses'', which are options;
- introduction of a final presentation on a specific subject (written
and oral form).
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