Scholarships and financial aid for international students 2026 Guide

1. Do I qualify for a cantonal scholarship on a student permit?

No, in almost every case. Swiss education grants are a cantonal matter, not a federal one. Their common floor is the intercantonal agreement on the harmonisation of education grants, generally called the scholarship concordat, which the vast majority of cantons have joined. That text sets the minimum personal conditions, and this is where access for foreign nationals is decided.

The concordat's four gateways

The concordat grants entitlement to education allowances to four categories of foreign nationals:

• holders of a C settlement permit;
• holders of a residence permit who have been lawfully resident in Switzerland for at least five years;
• people domiciled in Switzerland and recognised as refugees or stateless persons by Switzerland;
• nationals of the European Union and EFTA treated on an equal footing with Swiss citizens under international agreements, which typically covers the children of cross-border workers or residents.

And it immediately sets out the exclusion that changes everything: people who are in Switzerland for the exclusive purpose of education have no entitlement to education allowances. In other words, a B permit issued to follow a degree does not build entitlement to a grant, and university years do not count towards the five years required. A Brazilian student who arrived in Lausanne in 2023 for a bachelor's degree will have no more rights in 2028 than on the day they landed.

What you miss when you do not qualify

The concordat sets minimum annual amounts that cantons may exceed but not reduce. These are by far the most substantial forms of aid in the Swiss landscape.

Alongside grants, cantons offer education loans, repayable and often interest-free during the course of study. They are subject to the same personal conditions: a student who came from abroad to study has no more access to them. One exception is worth checking canton by canton: a student who first worked in Switzerland for several years and then returns to education may meet the five-year condition, because their stay did not have education as its exclusive purpose.

2. Who can obtain a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship?

Researchers who already hold a master's degree, aged 35 at most, and who are nationals of one of the 183 countries covered. The Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships, known by the acronym ESKAS and run by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, are the only federal scheme open to international students. They fund neither a bachelor's degree nor a conventional academic master's.

Amount and duration

The Federal Council amended the ordinance governing these scholarships and raised the monthly amount to CHF 2,450 on 1 January 2026. Health insurance cover, a partial waiver of registration fees and a set of practical welcome services come on top. Duration depends on the project: twelve months for a research stay, up to thirty-six months for a doctorate completed in Switzerland.

The calendar, which decides everything

The call for applications for the 2027-2028 academic year has been open since 20 August 2026. Filing deadlines are set country by country and, for the previous cycle, fell between late October and mid-December. The Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students communicates its decisions by the end of May at the latest, and scholarships start on 1 September. Applications are filed with the Swiss representation in the country of origin, which applies a national quota: you compete against applicants from your own country, not against the whole world.

3. What scholarships do the universities award themselves?

This is the main route for a master's degree, and the one most often overlooked. Every Swiss higher education institution runs its own excellence programme, funded from its own resources or by donors, and open to foreign applicants with no permit or residence duration condition. The amounts are substantial and filing happens at the time of the master's application, not afterwards.

Two logics not to confuse

At ETH Zurich, the ESOP scholarship is requested through the eApply system during a strict window from 1 to 30 November, and shortlisted candidates are interviewed in February. At EPFL, the process is built into the master's application: you tick the relevant box and attach the documents, with two selection rounds, on 15 December and then 31 March. At UNIL and the University of Geneva, the scholarship file is separate from the admission application and requires applying twice, to two different offices.

The practical consequence is that the filing window for a master's scholarship almost always falls before the ordinary admission window. Waiting for the admission letter before looking for funding means missing the round. Our guide to student residences in Switzerland and their application deadlines describes the same phenomenon on the housing side, with waiting lists opening well before the start of the academic year.

4. Are there scholarships for a Bachelor's degree?

Very few, and this is the main disappointment for applicants. Almost all Swiss schemes open to foreign nationals start at master's level: the Confederation targets doctorates and research, the universities target the master's. EPFL is the exception with a bachelor excellence fellowship programme, but the quota is very small and selection weighs extracurricular achievement as much as grades.

The three realistic ways to fund a first degree

For a bachelor's degree, the budget rests on three pillars, in this order of importance:

1. Scholarships from your home country. This is the most effective and least explored route: national mobility programmes, foundations, companies and local authorities fund studies abroad, often with more flexible deadlines than the Swiss schemes. The application is built in the language and the administrative system the applicant knows best.
2. Side work. Third-country nationals may work a maximum of 15 hours per week during semesters, and up to 40 hours during university holidays, but only at the earliest six months after the start of the programme, subject to a cantonal authorisation requested by the employer. The details are in our guide to student jobs and internships in Switzerland.
3. Family support, which remains the dominant source and the one that offers the most room for optimisation, as section 10 shows.

The special case of the federal institutes of technology

The two federal institutes of technology have broken with that principle. Since the autumn semester of 2025, ETH Zurich has applied a threefold fee to international students: CHF 2,190 per semester, against CHF 730 for Swiss students and for those who were resident in Switzerland when they obtained their university entrance qualification. At EPFL, the annual bill for affected students rises from CHF 1,560 to CHF 4,680. A transitional arrangement protects students already enrolled, who complete their programme at the ordinary rate. European Union and EFTA nationals holding an appropriate permit, people admitted through family reunification and holders of refugee status remain on the simple rate. This is precisely what makes the fee waiver included in ETH Zurich's ESOP scholarship so valuable: on its own it is worth CHF 4,380 a year to an international student.

5. Is a doctorate a scholarship or a salary?

A salary, in the vast majority of cases. This is the Swiss feature most often misunderstood from abroad: a doctorate is not a funded student status but salaried employment, with an employment contract, social security contributions and pension entitlements. Applying for a PhD in Switzerland means applying for a job.

The gap between a doctoral assistant post and an ESKAS scholarship therefore exceeds CHF 20,000 a year, and it is not only about the amount. The employee contributes to the old-age insurance and to the occupational pension scheme, builds up entitlements, and holds a permit tied to an employment contract that eases the next step; the scholarship holder builds up nothing and sees their authorisation expire with the grant. Where both options exist, the salaried post almost always wins. The scholarship keeps its full value when it funds a short research stay, or when no post is open in the target laboratory.

For what comes next, our guide on how to convert a student B permit into a work permit sets out the period granted after graduation to look for a job.

6. How much does an exchange semester pay, and who funds it?

Between CHF 380 and CHF 440 per month for mobility supported by the Swiss-European Mobility Programme. This programme, known as SEMP and administered by the national agency Movetia, is Switzerland's answer to Erasmus+ since the country's non-association with the European programme. It funds Swiss students going abroad as well as foreign students coming to Switzerland.

The actual amounts

For the 2025-2026 academic year, support ranges from CHF 380 to CHF 440 per month depending on the country of origin or destination and the type of mobility, for stays of two to twelve months. For a student coming into a Swiss institution, the contribution is commonly CHF 1,600 per semester, i.e. CHF 400 per month, paid for the whole exchange period. A bonus of around CHF 100 rewards the use of low-emission transport for the journey.

These amounts do not claim to cover a Swiss budget: they offset the extra cost of mobility. A one-semester exchange in Geneva, Lausanne or Zurich leaves a shortfall of roughly CHF 1,400 to CHF 1,800 per month to be funded elsewhere. The Federal Council is also examining association with Erasmus+ from 2027, which would give access to the full range of European offers and networks.

7. What aid exists beyond scholarships?

Three families of support, less visible but far more accessible than the major excellence programmes. They do not fund entire degrees, but they cover cash-flow gaps or reduce specific cost items.

University emergency and solidarity funds

Every Swiss university runs a student financial aid service, funded from its own resources and bequests, which grants one-off support or small interest-free loans to students facing a setback: illness, a guarantor defaulting, a delayed payment from a foreign scholarship. These forms of aid do not fall under the concordat and therefore remain open to international students. They are requested from the institution's welfare office, not from the canton, and are often processed within a few weeks.

Fee waivers and reductions

Several universities provide for a partial or full waiver of the semester fee on evidence of circumstances, or a reduction for final-year students who are only completing a dissertation. At ETH Zurich, the tuition fee waiver is an integral part of the ESOP scholarship, which weighs heavily for an international student on the increased rate.

Private foundations

Switzerland has several thousand foundations, some of which support education. Cantonal foundation directories, published notably by the canton of Vaud, make it possible to identify them by field and target group. Watch the direction of travel: some well-known foundations, such as the Zdenek and Michaela Bakala Foundation in Geneva, fund students domiciled in Switzerland for five years who go abroad to study, not the other way round. Reading the residence condition before building the application saves weeks.

8. Is a scholarship enough to obtain the residence permit?

Yes, if it is firmly granted and sufficient. The residence permit for studies is subject to proof of financial means covering living and study costs. The order of magnitude required is around CHF 21,000 per year, with cantonal variations.

The Geneva scale, taken as a reference

In Geneva, the minimum applied to a single 20-year-old student with no dependants is around CHF 2,464 per month, broken down into CHF 1,006 for living costs, CHF 358 for the health insurance premium in the 19 to 25 age band, and up to CHF 1,100 for rent. The amount rises with age and the number of dependants.

The three accepted forms of proof

The proof must be renewed every year throughout the studies, when the permit is renewed. A one-year scholarship that is not extended therefore weakens the renewal, even if the degree is going well. The whole procedure is set out in our guide to the Swiss student residence permit (B and L).

9. What is the real application calendar?

Major scholarships are filed 9 to 12 months before the academic year you are targeting. This is the most underestimated constraint: an excellent application filed in June for a September start has no scheme left open in front of it. Here is the full sequence for a September 2027 start.

Exact dates vary from year to year and from country to country: check them on each programme's official pages, listed at the end of this article. The logic, however, does not vary: funding is decided before admission.

10. How to receive your scholarship without losing on exchange?

By having the funds arrive on a Swiss IBAN in your own name and by controlling the conversion margin, item by item. A Swiss scholarship is paid in francs into a Swiss account, which raises no currency issue at all. The subject lies elsewhere: the scholarship rarely covers the whole budget, and the balance arrives from abroad, in euros, dollars, rupees or yuan, twelve times a year.

What the exchange margin costs on a student budget

A conventional bank conversion commonly takes 1.5% to 3% as a margin built into the rate, on top of fixed international transfer fees. On the amounts of a student budget, the total is best read over the length of the degree.

Over a bachelor's degree, the saving exceeds a full year of university fees at a cantonal university, or nearly three months of health insurance premiums. The ibani scale is tapered: 0.40% up to CHF 10,000, then 0.35% from CHF 10,000 to CHF 50,000, and down to 0.15% above CHF 250,000. No account opening fee, account maintenance fee or SEPA transfer fee is added.

Three practical habits

1. Open the Swiss IBAN before you leave. It serves to assemble the proof of financial means for the permit, to pay the first instalment of fees and to place the rental deposit, before you even arrive in Switzerland.
2. Group family transfers. A quarterly transfer rather than a monthly one reduces the number of operations and moves you faster through the tapered scale.
3. Choose when to convert. Over a year, the movement of the EUR/CHF rate weighs more than the margin itself. Our CHF/EUR exchange rate forecast page helps frame that decision, and the currency converter gives the exact amount received.

For tuition fees themselves, particularly at private schools where the annual bill runs into tens of thousands of francs, our dedicated guide to paying tuition fees in Switzerland from abroad compares the payment methods. And to frame the whole journey, everything is gathered in our international student guide to Switzerland.

Institutional sources: SERI, Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships · SERI, Excellence Scholarships FAQ · EDK, cantonal grants offices · Scholarship concordat (CBE), rsGE C 1 19 · ch.ch, education grants and loans · ETH Zurich, Excellence Scholarship and Opportunity Programme · ETH Zurich, tuition fees · EPFL, Master Excellence Fellowships · UNIL, Master's Grant · University of Geneva, Excellence Master Fellowships · Movetia, Swiss-European Mobility Programme · Swiss National Science Foundation · Republic and Canton of Geneva, student residence permit

Frequently Asked Questions

Can an international student get a cantonal scholarship in Switzerland?

Almost never, if they come to Switzerland for the sole purpose of studying. The intercantonal agreement on the harmonisation of education grants, known as the scholarship concordat, restricts education allowances to holders of a C settlement permit, to holders of a residence permit who have been lawfully resident in Switzerland for at least five years, to people recognised as refugees or stateless persons, and to European Union nationals treated on an equal footing with Swiss citizens under international agreements. The same text expressly excludes people staying in Switzerland for the exclusive purpose of education. A student who arrives from abroad on a B permit issued for their studies therefore fails the personal condition, and years spent at university do not build up the required five years. Cantons apply this common floor with variations, but none of them funds a stay whose sole purpose is education.

How much is the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship in 2026?

CHF 2,450 per month. The Federal Council amended the ordinance governing these scholarships and raised the monthly amount to CHF 2,450 on 1 January 2026. The Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship, known by the acronym ESKAS and managed by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, is aimed at researchers who already hold a master's degree or a doctorate, with an age limit of 35, and not at bachelor's applicants. It funds a twelve-month research stay or a doctorate lasting up to thirty-six months. A second track, restricted to certain countries, allows art students to complete a first master's degree in Switzerland. The offer is open to 183 countries and applications are filed with the Swiss representation in the country of origin. No postdoctoral scholarships will be awarded from the 2027-2028 academic year onwards.

Are there scholarships for a Bachelor's degree in Switzerland?

Very few, and this is the main disappointment for applicants. The two major Swiss schemes open to foreign nationals start at master's level: federal scholarships target doctorates and research, university excellence fellowships target the master's. EPFL is the exception with bachelor excellence fellowships, but in very small numbers. For a first degree, funding therefore rests in practice on three sources: scholarships from the home country, which remain the most realistic route, a side job limited to 15 hours per week and authorised at the earliest six months after the start of the programme for third-country nationals, and family support. Tuition fees at cantonal universities remain modest, between CHF 500 and CHF 1,000 per semester, which shifts the real difficulty to the cost of living.

How much does a PhD student earn in Switzerland in 2026?

Between CHF 50,000 and CHF 55,000 gross per year in most cases, because a Swiss doctorate is salaried employment rather than a scholarship. The Swiss National Science Foundation raised the minimum salary for the doctoral students it funds to CHF 50,000 per year on 1 January 2026. EPFL applies CHF 55,000, in force since May 2024. Sector surveys put the median at around CHF 53,000 gross per year, with a range of roughly CHF 3,920 to CHF 6,690 gross per month at full time depending on the institution and the discipline. This pay is subject to social security contributions and builds up entitlements under the old-age insurance and the occupational pension scheme, which no scholarship provides. Applying for a doctorate in Switzerland therefore means applying for a job, with an employment contract and a permit tied to it.

Is a scholarship enough to obtain a Swiss student residence permit?

Yes, provided it is firmly granted and large enough. Cantonal authorities require proof of financial means covering living and study costs, in the region of CHF 21,000 per year depending on the canton. In Geneva, the reference scale for a single 20-year-old student with no dependants is around CHF 2,464 per month, made up of CHF 1,006 for living costs, CHF 358 for health insurance in the 19 to 25 age band and up to CHF 1,100 for rent. Three types of proof are accepted: a declaration of undertaking by a solvent guarantor resident in Switzerland, a bank confirmation from a recognised institution in Switzerland, or a firm guarantee that a sufficient scholarship or education loan will be granted. A scholarship application still under review does not count, and the proof must be renewed every year.

How can you receive your scholarship or family money without losing out on the exchange rate?

By having the funds arrive on a Swiss IBAN in your own name and by controlling the conversion margin. A Swiss scholarship is paid in francs into a Swiss account, but most international students are funded from home in euros, dollars or another currency, and it is on that monthly conversion that the bill builds up. On a budget of CHF 21,000 a year, a bank exchange margin of 2% means CHF 420 lost every year, roughly one month of health insurance premium and two semesters of university fees. With ibani, opening the account and SEPA transfers are free and the exchange margin is 0.40% on the amounts typical of a student budget, which brings the annual cost down to CHF 84. A Swiss IBAN in your own name is also the document requested by the grants office, the university and the letting agency.