As per the reports, international students studying at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich and the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) are likely to face a huge increase in tuition fees. Recently, the House of Representatives accepted the proposal to raise the fees on Wednesday, May 29. Further, it has been sent for approval to the Senate House. If the proposal gets approved, then international students will need to pay three times more than domestic students are paying.
Currently, international students are paying the same amount of tuition fees as domestic students. Even so, the reports confirm that the tuition fees for international students from both EU and non-EU countries in Switzerland start at €400 per year.
The proposal of tripling the tuition fees is made by the Science, Education, and Culture Committee (WBK-N). In the reports, the committee clearly highlights that Switzerland is one of the most affordable study abroad destinations with the lowest tuition fees.
The Federal technology institute ETH Zurich turns out to be one of the most popular higher education institutions in Switzerland. There has been an increase in student enrollment from 11,000 in the 2000s to 21,000 in 2023. Moreover, around 35 percent of the students that are enrolled in the university are international.
According to media sources from earlier this year, the institute intends to cap the number of first-year bachelor’s degree students at 3,000 beginning in 2025 and reduce study spaces for overseas students. The institution stated that the new policy, which is in effect for four years, may be extended if needed.
More than 78,000 foreign students reside in Switzerland, the majority of them are from Italy, Australia, Spain, Portugal, and Turkey, according to official data.
