Swiss Federal Scholarships

This is the Federal Commission for Foreign Students (ESKAS) programme for international students already holding a Bachelor's or Master's degree.

Switzerland offers university scholarships, arts scholarships and selected university of applied sciences scholarships to international students through the Federal Commission for Foreign Students (ESKAS).

Study tracks
Please refer to the information on the websites of Swiss universities or at the Rectors’ Conference of Swiss Universities – CRUS: www.crus.ch

Eligibility for scholarships
Swiss Federal Scholarships provide students of all fields of study with a Bachelor's or Master's degree from a university the opportunity to continue their studies or research at a public or state-accredited university in Switzerland.

Please see the website of the State Secretary for Education and Research (SBF) to determine whether scholarships are available for your home country: www.sbf.admin.ch

Application procedure
Please read the information on the SBF website and contact the Swiss Embassy in your home country regarding documents and deadlines.

Swiss Federal Scholarships and Master studies
The procedure for applying for a Swiss Federal Scholarship and the procedure for applying for a Master degree are two different and independent processes.

Enrollment deadline for Master's programmes beginning in fall is February 1 - April 30.
The federal scholarship selection meetings are held in April and May. It is therefore strongly recommended that you apply for admission to the Master's degree already before knowing if you have been selected for a scholarship. There will not be enough time between the scholarship decision and the admissions deadline for you to complete and mail in all required documents for admission to the Master's programme.
Please note that acceptance to one does not mean acceptance to the other. In other words, while the scholarship committee may select you for a federal scholarship, the University of St.Gallen may not accept you to the Master's programme or vice versa.

You must send your application for Swiss Federal scholarships to the Swiss Embassy in your home country.

Swiss Federal Scholarships and research stays
Please send us the following:

• Detailed research plan 
• CV 
• Copies of transcripts, marks, diplomas together with the translations into German or English
• Copies of previously completed language tests (for example: German, English, French)

Please send these documents by e-mail to Helen Obrist

Please see also our research website.