The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons. The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in state schools and that the confederation can run or support universities.
The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. After primary schools, the pupils split up according to their abilities and intentions of career paths. 90% of students complete upper secondary education.
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, ETH in Zürich and EPFL in Lausanne, are under the authority of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation. In addition, there are seven regional associations of Universities for Applied Sciences (Fachhochschulen) which require vocational education and a special Berufsmatura, or a Fachmatura (a graduation by a Fachmittelschule) to study. Switzerland has a high rate of foreign students in tertiary education including one of the highest in the world of doctoral level students.
Many Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Swiss scientists. More recently Vladimir Prelog, Heinrich Rohrer, Richard Ernst, Edmond Fischer, Rolf Zinkernagel, Didier Queloz, Michel Mayor, Kurt Wüthrich, and Jacques Dubochet have received Nobel Prizes in the sciences. In total, 113 Nobel Prize winners stand in relation to Switzerland and the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded nine times to organizations residing in Switzerland. Geneva hosts the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. Other important research centers are the Empa and Paul Scherrer Institute which belong to the ETH domain.
Primary
The obligatory school system usually includes primary education (Primarschule in German, école primaire in French, scuola primaria / elementare in Italian and scola primara in Romansh) and secondary education I (Sekundarschule or Sekundarstufe I in German, secondaire I in French and scuola secondaria / media in Italian and scola secundar in Romansh). Before that, children generally go to Kindergarten, with one or two years is required in most cantons. In the Canton of Ticino, an optional, third year is available for three-year-old children. In some German speaking cantons kindergarten and the first one or two years may be combined into a Grundstufe or Basisstufe where they are all taught together in a single class. In French speaking cantons kindergarten is combined into a four-year cycle primaire 1 or cycle 1 which is followed by a four-year cycle primaire 2 or cycle 2 which completes their primary school.Swiss education server - Compulsory education accessed 24 August 2017
The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. The cantons Thurgau and Nidwalden allow five-year-olds to start primary school in exceptional cases. Primary school continues until grade four, five or six, depending on the school/canton. Any child can take part in school if they choose to, but pupils are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian.
At around age 11–12, depending on which canton in Switzerland the child goes to school in, there could be a screening exam to decide how to separate the students for secondary school. Some cantons have a system of examination in the second semester of the final year of primary school, some cantons have an exam in second semester and continuous evaluation in both first and second semesters. In some cases, parents or legal guardians of the child are also asked for their recommendations (see Indicator C below) along with a self-evaluation done by the child. Parents' recommendation in combination with child's self-evaluation is called the third indicator (Indicator C) for evaluating the student, the first being teacher's evaluation (Indicator A), the second the results of tests (Indicator B) held in first semester. The fourth criterion is the final exam that takes place in the middle of the second semester of the final year primary school (usually held before Easter Break).
Secondary
At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated (see Indicator C for Fribourg under Primary School) according to their capacities and career-intentions in several (often three) sections for a period of 2–3 years (Sekundarschule) in either Pre-higher secondary school section, General section, or Basic section (Basic may be called Realschule in German or Classe d'exigence de base in French). Students who aspire for an academic career enter Mittelschule (also named Gymnasium, or Kantonsschule, a public school by the canton/state) to be prepared for further studies and the Matura (normally obtained after 12 or 13 years of school usually at the age of 18 or 19). Students intending to pursue a trade or vocation complete three to four additional years before entering Vocational Educations which are regulated by federal law and are based on a cooperation of private business offering educational job-positions and public schools offering obligatory school-lessons complementary to the on-the-job education. This so-called "dual system" splitting academic and vocational training has its continuation in the higher education system. While the academic training leads to the matura and free admission to universities, successfully completed vocational education gives access to third level of practical education, the Höhere Fachschule (Schweiz). If in addition to the vocational training the Berufsmaturitätsschule is completed the Fachhochschule may be visited instead. Rather recently introduced is a third, middle path via the Fachmittelschule which leads to a direct access to a Fachhochschule after a successful graduation of a Fachmatura. In some cantons, students with a Fachmatura may also get access to universities after a successful additional year. In the science literacy, mathematics and reading assessment of PISA, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 10 highest average score of 81 countries.
In the lower second level, there are several different teaching and school models that may exist. Some cantons define a specific model, while others allow the individual municipalities to determine which model to follow.
+ 2015 Matura completion rates per canton and genderSwiss Federal Statistical Office accessed 9 August 2016 Canton Gender Total matura % Gymnasium matura % Berufsmatura % Fachmatura % Switzerland Total 37.5% 20.1% 14.7% 2.7% Female 42.1% 23.7% 14.0% 4.5% Male 33.1% 16.7% 15.4% 1.0% Zürich Total 36.3% 19.7% 15.8% 0.8% Female 39.7% 23.4% 15.0% 1.3% Male 33.1% 16.2% 16.6% 0.4% Bern Total 35.4% 17.9% 16.3% 1.2% Female 40.2% 22.6% 15.6% 2.1% Male 30.7% 13.5% 17.0% 0.3% Lucerne Total 31.1% 18.6% 11.0% 1.5% Female 35.4% 21.7% 11.0% 2.7% Male 26.9% 15.5% 11.0% 0.4% Uri Total 29.7% 14.7% 13.1% 1.9% Female 30.1% 12.7% 13.3% 4.1% Male 30.0% 17.0% 13.0% -% Schwyz Total 32.9% 17.9% 13.6% 1.5% Female 36.0% 21.0% 12.2% 2.8% Male 29.8% 14.8% 14.8% 0.2% Obwalden Total 33.8% 18.2% 15.1% 0.4% Female 40.7% 22.0% 17.8% 0.8% Male 27.3% 14.4% 12.9% -% Nidwalden Total 31.3% 16.1% 14.3% 0.9% Female 35.3% 22.4% 11.1% 1.8% Male 28.1% 11.0% 17.1% -% Glarus Total 27.0% 11.7% 13.7% 1.6% Female 31.4% 15.4% 13.3% 2.7% Male 22.8% 8.2% 14.2% 0.4% Zug Total 42.2% 21.4% 17.9% 2.9% Female 45.9% 23.4% 18.4% 4.2% Male 38.8% 19.6% 17.4% 1.8% Fribourg Total 45.4% 22.6% 17.2% 5.5% Female 50.4% 26.9% 14.5% 9.0% Male 40.4% 18.7% 19.7% 2.1% Solothurn Total 30.7% 14.7% 12.3% 3.8% Female 34.3% 15.7% 12.3% 6.4% Male 27.2% 13.7% 12.3% 1.3% Basel-Stadt Total 48.4% 32.1% 10.6% 5.6% Female 54.3% 37.2% 9.8% 7.3% Male 42.4% 27.1% 11.5% 3.9% Basel-Landschaft Total 46.3% 23.1% 17.4% 5.8% Female 53.0% 27.7% 15.4% 9.8% Male 39.8% 18.6% 19.3% 1.9% Schaffhausen Total 34.4% 15.4% 16.1% 2.9% Female 40.0% 19.9% 15.5% 4.6% Male 29.0% 11.1% 16.7% 1.1% Appenzell Ausserrhoden Total 32.4% 17.5% 13.4% 1.5% Female 34.4% 18.4% 13.3% 2.7% Male 30.8% 16.7% 13.6% 0.5% Appenzell Innerrhoden Total 30.0% 14.4% 14.6% 0.9% Female 34.8% 19.2% 14.7% 0.9% Male 26.0% 10.4% 14.6% 1.0% St. Gallen Total 30.5% 14.0% 14.6% 1.8% Female 34.0% 16.3% 14.1% 3.6% Male 27.2% 11.9% 15.1% 0.2% Graubünden Total 37.8% 18.6% 17.0% 2.2% Female 41.7% 20.9% 16.9% 3.9% Male 34.1% 16.5% 17.1% 0.6% Aargau Total 34.2% 15.8% 15.7% 2.8% Female 38.9% 19.7% 14.4% 4.8% Male 30.0% 12.3% 16.9% 0.8% Thurgau Total 29.8% 13.2% 14.7% 1.9% Female 34.9% 16.9% 14.3% 3.7% Male 25.1% 9.7% 15.1% 0.3% Ticino Total 50.5% 27.5% 20.8% 2.1% Female 55.6% 31.1% 21.2% 3.2% Male 45.6% 24.1% 20.4% 1.1% Vaud Total 36.8% 24.2% 9.8% 2.7% Female 41.3% 27.3% 9.4% 4.6% Male 32.4% 21.2% 10.2% 1.0% Valais Total 37.1% 16.1% 14.8% 6.2% Female 42.8% 18.8% 13.9% 10.1% Male 31.4% 13.6% 15.7% 2.1% Neuchâtel Total 46.3% 24.4% 19.5% 2.4% Female 52.8% 29.0% 20.2% 3.6% Male 40.2% 20.1% 18.7% 1.4% Geneva Total 45.8% 28.9% 10.6% 6.4% Female 50.6% 33.1% 8.6% 8.9% Male 41.2% 24.9% 12.5% 3.9% Jura Total 39.3% 22.2% 13.8% 3.3% Female 50.9% 29.0% 16.5% 5.4% Male 29.8% 16.8% 11.6% 1.4%
Separated model Pupils are allocated to institutionally separate school types, according to their performance levels. The structure is based on the principle of equal capacities among pupils. Generally, each school type has its own adapted curricula, teaching material, teachers and, in some cases, its own range of subjects. In general, there are 2 to 3 school types (4 in a minority of cantons), the names of which vary. In the structure with 2 school types, a distinction is made between the performance-based group at basic level (with the least demanding requirements), and the performance-based group at advanced level. In the structure with 3 school types, there is a performance-based group at basic level, a performance-based group at intermediate level and a performance-based group at advanced level. The requirements of the performance-based group at advanced level are the most demanding and this school type generally prepares pupils for transfer to the matura schools.Swiss education server - Lower secondary level: overview accessed 24 June 2010
Cooperative model The cooperative model is based on core classes with different performance requirements. Each pupil is assigned to a core class according to his or her performance level. The pupils attend lessons in certain subjects in differentiated requirement-based groups (whereby the core classes are mixed).
Integrated model The integrated model does not use different school types or core classes. Pupils with different performance levels attend the same class and mixing is maintained. In certain subjects, teaching occurs on differentiated requirement-based levels.
International education As of March 2016, the International Schools Consultancy (ISC) listed Switzerland as having 103 international schools. ISC defines an 'international school' in the following terms "ISC includes an international school if the school delivers a curriculum to any combination of pre-school, primary or secondary students, wholly or partly in English outside an English-speaking country, or if a school in a country where English is one of the official languages, offers an English-medium curriculum other than the country’s national curriculum and is international in its orientation." This definition is used by publications including The Economist.
Switzerland was the birthplace of the International Baccalaureate in 1968 and 50 schools in Switzerland offer one or more of the IB programmes (Primary, Middle Years, Diploma and Career-related Programmes).