HES-SO Competitors

ETH Zurich – Where the future begins Freedom and individual responsibility, entrepreneurial spirit and open-mindedness: ETH Zurich stands on a bedrock of true Swiss values. Our university for science and technology dates back to the year 1855, when the founders of modern-day Switzerland created it as a centre of innovation and knowledge. At ETH Zurich, students discover an ideal environment for independent thinking, researchers a climate which in-spires top performance. Situated in the heart of Europe, yet forging connections all over the world, ETH Zurich is pioneering effective solutions to the global challenges of today and tomorrow. Some 530 professors teach around 20,500 students – including 4,100 doctoral students – from over 120 countries. Their collective research embraces many disciplines: natural sciences and engineering scienc-es, architecture, mathematics, system-oriented natural sciences, as well as management and social sci-ences. The results and innovations produced by ETH researchers are channelled into some of Switzer-land’s most high-tech sectors: from computer science through to micro- and nanotechnology and cutting-edge medicine. Every year ETH registers around 90 patents and 200 inventions on average. Since 1996, the university has produced a total of 380 commercial spin-offs. ETH also has an excellent reputation in scientific circles: 21 Nobel laureates have studied, taught or researched here, and in international league tables ETH Zurich regularly ranks as one of the world’s top universities.

EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) is one of two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology. Its location on the shores of Lake Geneva, EPFL brings together a campus of more than 10,000 people. By its novel structure, the school stimulates collaboration between students, professors, researchers and entrepreneurs. These daily interactions give rise to new and groundbreaking work in science, technology and architecture.

The Academy of Geneva was officially founded in 1559 by two eminent Reformers, Jean Calvin and Théodore de Bèze, and was then renamed University of Geneva (UNIGE) in 1873. For the last four and a half centuries, the Alma mater has attracted students and researchers to Geneva from all over the world. Composed of nine faculties, – Science, Medicine, Humanities, Economics and Management, Social Sciences, Law, Theology, Psychology and Educational Sciences, and Translation and Interpreting –, the UNIGE also boasts several interfaculty centres, and offers a programme in Environmental Studies. Located at the heart of international Geneva, the UNIGE has woven a vast network with International and non-governmental organisations. These connections facilitate collaborations between scientists and researchers, including from the CERN (European Organisation for Nuclear Research), the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), and the WMO (World Meteorological Organisation).