Government Excellence Scholarships are given out annually by the Swiss Confederation to encourage worldwide travel and research collaboration between Switzerland and more than 180 other nations. The Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS), the organization that grants the scholarships, chooses the recipients.
Young international researchers who have achieved a master’s or doctoral degree, as well as foreign artists who possess a bachelor’s degree, are the target audience for the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships.
Research scholarships:
The research scholarship (research fellowship, PhD, Postdoc) is available to post-graduate researchers in any discipline (who hold a master’s degree is the minimum qualification required) who are planning to come to Switzerland to pursue research or further studies at doctoral or post-doctoral level.
Research scholarships are awarded for research or study at all Swiss cantonal universities, universities of applied sciences and the two federal institutes of technology, as well as the four research institutes. Only candidates nominated by an academic supervisor at one of these higher education institutions will be considered.
Art scholarships:
Art scholarships are open to art students wishing to pursue an initial arts master’s degree in Switzerland.
Art scholarships are awarded for study at any Swiss conservatory or university of the arts. This scholarship is available to students from a limited number of countries only.
Application:
Applications are subject to preliminary selection by the relevant national authorities and/or the Swiss diplomatic representation. The short-listed applications are then assessed by the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS), which takes the final decision.
The FCS assesses scholarship applications according to three criteria:
- Candidate profile
- Quality of the research project or artistic work
- Synergies and potential for future research cooperation
The FCS is composed of professors from Swiss public universities. Scholarship awards are decided on the basis of academic and scientific excellence.
