Elite Swiss university plans to limit places for foreign students

The federal technology institute EPFL in Lausanne is planning to introduce a limit of 3,000 places to first-year bachelor's degrees from 2025. Scheduled to last for four years and potentially renewable, it would affect students with foreign degrees. A consultation has been launched. “Thanks to its teaching and research excellence, EPFL has become a university of choice, especially for high-school graduates in other countries. However, the growing size of our student body is putting a strain on the quality of the education we can provide,” stated a press release on Monday. In concrete terms, all graduates with a Swiss school leaving certificate (Maturité) would be admitted without restriction, as required by law, as would those repeating their first year. Any places remaining would then be allocated to applicants with foreign diplomas, ranked in descending order of their secondary school leaving grades. In twelve years, the number of students has more than doubled. From 5,283...