Foreigners to boost student numbers
The number of students at Swiss universities is expected to grow by 13 per cent in the next five years, according to figures released by the Federal Statistics Office.
The figure should pass from 182,500 (+ 5,000) next autumn to around 200,000 in 2012, boosted by demographic evolution and foreigners wishing to take masters' courses.
Foreign students already represent 20 per cent of the annual intake for masters' courses at the country's mainstream universities.
Master degrees will also be generalised this year in the country's technical universities, the second-tier institutions of Switzerland's tertiary education system.
The authorities expect 10-12,000 masters to be handed out each year between 2010 and 2017.
The teaching corps will also continue to become more international at Swiss universities, with foreigners constituting more than half the staff in 2011.
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