By Libing Gu, Head of Academic Relations

The academic landscape in Switzerland comprises twelve public universities awarding doctorate degrees and eight universities of applied science that offer a more practice-focused approach to studying. According to the universitas21 ranking, Switzerland has the world’s second-best education system. The country is also an excellent hub for top universities, with outstanding Swiss universities regularly ranking among the top universities globally, especially for science and technology. In addition, Switzerland also hosts the headquarters of international organizations such as the United Nations and public research institutions such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Swissnex in China curated a Swiss Education Pavilion at China Education Expo (CEE) in Beijing (Oct 23-24) and Shanghai (Oct 30) to represent all the Swiss public universities and answer visitors’ questions about studying and living in Switzerland. The China Education Expo is an exhibition tour of the China Education Association for International Exchange. It is a leading event for foreign schools to expand their presence in what is potentially the world’s largest recruitment market. More than 20 national pavilions were actively represented at China Education Expo, including Switzerland. The exhibition tour attracted 12,000 visitors in Beijing and over 5,000 in Shanghai.

CEE Beijing with on-site support from Embassy of Switzerland in China

The onsite exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai were complemented with a virtual event on November 4. The Zoom webinar brought together high-level representatives and accomplished alumni of five top Swiss universities to share with Chinese top talents first-hand information about study programs and university choices. For EPFL, we invited the Vice President for Academic Affairs Prof. Jan Hesthaven and alumnus Prof. Jiandong Feng, Professor at Department of Chemistry at Zhejiang University. Vice Rector Prof. Jean-Marc Triscone represented University of Geneva, along with alumna Feng Lin, Protocol and Events Coordinator at Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai. For ETH Zurich, we had Anders Hagström, Head International Affairs as well as Xueying Mao, Chief Representative of rqmicro AG China Rep Office. For University of Basel there were Head of Research Group Nanobiology, Biozentrum, Prof. Roderick Lim and alumna Dr. Binlu Huang, Co-Founder & Tech Lead at CellX. Finally, Prof. Harald Gall, Dean of Faculty of Business, Economics and Information, represented University of Zurich, together with Sedef Biçer, International Scholars Advisor as well as alumna Caitlyn Li serving at Paypal as Enhanced Due Diligence Investigator.

The webinar started with an introduction to the Education, Research and Innovation (ERI) System of Switzerland by Mr. Danli Zhou, CEO ad interim of Swissnex in China. Then, each of the university representatives gave a short overview of their respective institution, including aspects such as its history, research focus and programs for international students. In the next session, the five alumni who have pursued a Master, PhD or Postdoctoral degree at these institutions shared their experience and gave advice to the audience regarding school choices and applications. The webinar was concluded with a dynamic Q&A session, where the university representatives addressed some of the frequently asked questions by the audience.

The webinar attracted a total number of 430 audience to register. Majority of them are current students, professors and administrative staff at top-tier Chinese universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Sciences and Technology of China.

Group participation organized by Chinese university

Both events were very successful, showcasing the variety and the quality of the curricula as well as the excellence of Swiss higher education and research and attracting top Chinese talents to study and conduct research in Switzerland.

We want to express our appreciation for all the Swiss public universities for their engagement, and in particular the university representatives and alumni for their informative presentations and thoughtful answers during virtual event. If you are interested in learning more about higher education opportunities in Switzerland, you can read more here or email us for information at academia.china@swissnex.org.

Please find a link to the webinar recording here.