Swiss Higher Institutions set to Increase Fees Threefold for International Students from 2025
International students pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees at two Swiss institutions will now pay three times as much in tuition.
The Swiss Federal Council made this announcement, and it is scheduled to go into effect in the autumn of 2025.
The universities which will implement these fee increments are the Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne (ETH Zurich and EPFL).
At ETH Zurich and EPFL, the cost of a semester is now CHF 730 (€749.42) for both foreign and Swiss students. There are already several Swiss universities that charge local and foreign students differently.
But under the new policy, which takes effect in the autumn of 2025, registered students will be able to finish their degrees without having to pay the higher costs.
The Swiss Federal Statistical Office reports that 76,257 international students are enrolled in Swiss higher education institutions, with most in Bachelor’s degree programs, totaling 17,850 students.
Approximately 35% of ETH Zurich’s 21,000 students are international, while at EPFL, about half of the 13,000 students are from abroad.
During the conference, the ETH Board proposed linking tuition fees to the national consumer price index to prevent devaluation due to inflation.
This fee increment is likely to be the norm with other higher institutions across Europe. This is caused by the high inflation witnessed globally.
