Switzerland education system

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. In total, there are 12 Universities in Switzerland; ten of them are managed by the cantons, while two federal institutes of technology, ETHZ in Zürich and EPFL in Lausanne, are under the responsibility of the federal state. In addition, there are various Universities of Applied Sciences which do not require a matura degree to study. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists. More recently Vladimir Prelog, Heinrich Rohrer, Richard Ernst, Edmond Fischer, Rolf Zinkernagel and Kurt Wüthrich received nobel prizes in the sciences. In total, 113 Nobel Prize winners stand in relation to Switzerland and the Nobel Peace Price was awarded 9 times to organizations residing in Switzerland.[4] Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which belongs to the ETHZ.