Council of States decides ETH triples fees for foreign students

Tuition fees for foreign ETH students will be at least tripled. After the National Council, this was also decided by the Council of States on Thursday.

After the Council of States, the National Council has now also decided to triple the tuition fees for foreign ETH students. By a very narrow margin, namely 22 votes to 21 with two abstentions, this provision prevailed against the proposal of a group led by Werner Salzmann (SVP/BE).

This group wanted to set the tuition fees for foreign ETH students at three to five times the fees for Swiss students and foreign students resident in Switzerland. The members of the Council of States around Salzmann wanted to increase the fees more or less depending on the subject.

The tripling of fees also prevailed with a clear majority against the proposal of a group led by Flavia Wasserfallen (SP/BE), who wanted to retain the current regulation. The tripling also clearly prevailed against an increase in ETH fees for foreigners by "at least a factor of two".

Proposed amendment to the federal law

This proposal came from the majority of the Council of States' preliminary consultation committee for science, education and culture (WBK-S). The decision was made by the Council of States when discussing the Federal Council's Dispatch on the Promotion of Education, Research and Innovation (ERI Dispatch) for the years 2025-2028.

This package includes a proposed amendment to the Federal Act on the Federal Institutes of Technology. It currently states that higher tuition fees can be set for foreign students who live in Switzerland for the purpose of studying or who are not domiciled in Switzerland.

However, these fees may not be more than three times higher than the tuition fees for Swiss or foreign students resident in Switzerland. Currently, the fees for studying at ETH Zurich and EPFL are CHF 730 per semester for both Swiss and foreign students.

Often higher fees abroad

The motion to follow the National Council's line came from a group of members of the Council of States led by Andrea Gmür-Schönenberger (center/LU).

At the request of its Committee for Science, Education and Culture (WBK-N), the National Council decided in May that foreign students at ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne should in future pay at least three times the tuition fees of Swiss or foreign students resident in Switzerland.

At renowned foreign universities, Swiss students pay up to forty times the amount that Swiss or foreign students pay in Switzerland. Yet the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology in Lausanne and Zurich are among the best in the world, according to the National Council in May. It was also necessary to look for additional income in the education and research sector.

Matthias Michel (FDP/ZG) campaigned on Thursday for the proposal of the preliminary advisory committee, stating that it was based on a minimum target and no longer on a maximum target. This would give the ETH Board the necessary leeway. Michel spoke as the rapporteur of the Council of States' preliminary committee.

ETH Board has already acted

The ETH Board, the strategic management body of the ETH Domain, has already reacted to the fee discussion: It announced in mid-July that it wanted to triple the fees for foreign students. In doing so, it is taking into account the clear votes and voting results on this topic in Parliament.

The new fees are to be introduced in fall 2025. In March, the ETH Board had still spoken out against such an increase. At the time, it justified this with the importance of internationality and the ability to attract the best talent.

At some Swiss universities, the fees for domestic and foreign students are already different. For example, at the University of St. Gallen, where Swiss nationals pay CHF 1229 for a Bachelor's degree and foreign nationals CHF 3129.