Status, recognition and qualifications: how to read what a Swiss school claims

A school can be entirely in order and award no recognised qualification at all. Another can call itself an Institute or a Business School with no accreditation whatsoever. Here is how to read what a school displays, and where to check it yourself.

Four words, four levels of scrutiny

Three designations are protected by federal law. Only three.

The Federal Act on Funding and Coordination of the Higher Education Sector reserves the designations "university", "university of applied sciences" and "university of teacher education" — together with compound and derived forms — to accredited institutions. The protection expressly extends to languages other than the national languages: the English word "university" is covered.

Misuse is a criminal offence: fines of up to CHF 200,000 where intentional, CHF 100,000 through negligence. Prosecution falls to the canton where the entity is based.

By contrast — and this is the decisive practical point for a family — "Business School", "Institute", "Academy", "College", or the words "higher education" on their own are not federally protected. An entity may use those names with no accreditation at all. That is not fraud; that is the law.

Where to check, register by register

There is no single register, but four authorities and four separate lists.

No school awards a federal qualification by itself

This principle explains everything else. There is always a third-party authority.

• The CFC and AFP vocational certificates are issued by the cantonal authority, never by the school or the training company.
• The federal certificate and federal diploma are issued by SERI, on passing an examination set by the industry body. Preparatory courses are neither regulated nor supervised by the state: the qualification comes from the examination, not the course.
• The gymnasial Matura requires recognition by the Swiss Maturity Commission, applied for through the canton. A private school can obtain it — it cannot award itself one.
• The ES/HF diploma is issued by the school, but only where SERI has recognised the programme.
• A bachelor's or master's degree presupposes that the institution is accredited.

Private does not mean unrecognised

Private institutions do appear among the accredited ones: Kalaidos, the only private university of applied sciences, along with IMD, HWZ, Franklin, Glion, Les Roches, César Ritz Colleges and Swiss Business School. The reverse holds too: the vast majority of Swiss private schools are not accredited, simply because accreditation applies only at higher-education level.

The three Maturas, not to be confused

The question to ask, and the only one that matters

Faced with a brochure claiming "recognised", "accredited" or "international qualification", always ask the same question, in writing:

"Recognised by which authority, for which qualification exactly, and under which decision?"

A school that has the answer gives it to you in one line, with the reference. A school that answers with a speech does not hold the recognition it implies. And check the relevant register yourself: these lists are public.