"Allowing all talents to study"
In the ETH domain, tuition fees are to be increased by 500 Swiss francs per year. After the increase, ETH Zurich's tuition fees are roughly on a par with those of other Swiss universities. Definitive decision on this proposal will be made in March 2018.
ETH Zurich is currently one of the Swiss universities with the lowest tuition fees. With 1160 Swiss francs per year, ETH Zurich is in the third with the lowest fees. The ETH Board has now decided to raise the fees by CHF 500 per year. The new fees will be introduced in two stages. The increase amounts to CHF 250 for the autumn semester 2019/2020 and CHF 250 for the autumn semester 2020/2021. This affects not only Bachelor's and Master's students, but also doctoral candidates, participants in continuing education programmes and students attending the courses.
Top training at a still favourable price
It is the first adjustment in 13 years, i. e. since 2004: after the increase, ETH's tuition fees are roughly the same as at the universities of Basel or Lucerne. For Swiss students they will be slightly higher than at the University of Zurich, but significantly lower than at the USI in Lugano and at the University of St. Gallen.
ETH Rector Sarah Springman explains:"These tuition fees are still inexpensive, given the actual costs of a place at ETH Zurich, the quality of the training offered here and the excellent career opportunities for ETH graduates." She also points out that the number of students at ETH Zurich has grown sharply in recent years, rising by around 55 percent since 2005. However, the federal budget subsidies did not keep pace with this development.
More scholarships promised
ETH Zurich will do everything in its power to ensure that no one is prevented from studying here for financial reasons. Rector Springman:"We want to make it possible for all talents to study at this university. We are therefore planning to allocate more funds for scholarships. The rector of ETH Zurich is now hoping for a constructive cooperation with the student associations. ETH Zurich attaches great importance to the quality of teaching and a good mentoring relationship. We want to maintain this, even if it becomes financially tighter and the number of students continues to grow."
Gradual increase
The ETH Board decides on tuition fees at the two ETHs and has now sent an increase for ETH Zurich and ETH Lausanne to the consultation process (see external page press release). Starting in autumn 2019, tuition fees are to increase gradually over two years by a total of CHF 500 per year. From the autumn semester 2020/21 onwards, the semester fees will then amount to CHF 1,660 per year. The fees at the other Swiss universities are between 1000 and 4000 Swiss francs per year. In German-speaking Switzerland, ETH Zurich currently offers the lowest tuition fees of all universities.