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FOREIGN STUDENTS

Strong Swiss franc deters foreign students

Swiss universities are receiving significantly fewer applications from abroad due to the strength of the franc, according to reports.

Published: 16 July 2012 12:12 CEST

Several universities have reported a drop in the numbers of students applying from abroad, especially from countries within the eurozone, news site NZZ reports.

For example, the University of Basel recorded a reduction in German applicants from 521 last year to 375 this year,

HSG, ETH Zurich and the University of Lucerne have all reported a similar trend.

Tuition fees for foreign students have also risen at some institutions, such as HSG, where fees have increased from 4,400 francs ($4,481) to 7,400 francs ($7,535).

Furthermore, the intensity of the programmes now being taught under the Bologna Reform leave little time for students to work alongside their studies.

“The cost of living in Switzerland for many students is no longer manageable,” said Erich Aschwanden of the University of Lucerne.

With several German states having abolished university fees entirely, domestic alternatives have become more attractive for many.

Swiss People’s Party parliamentarian Christoph Mörgeli welcomed the fact that fewer foreign students were drawn to Swiss universities, arguing that this group made no contribution to the tax base, newspaper 20 Minuten reports.

While foreign students may be staying away, the strength of the franc against the euro means Switzerland remains extremely attractive as a place to work for nationals from neighbouring countries such as Austria, Germany and France, the newspaper said.

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FOREIGN STUDENTS

Foreign students worth €1.6 billion to France

The tens of thousands of international students who come to France each year are giving the country’s economy a healthy boost, a new study has revealed. It's partly in thanks to all the money they shell out just to be able to afford to live here.

Published: 26 November 2014 17:42 CET
Foreign students worth €1.6 billion to France
International students are worth a lot of money to France. Photo:Tulane Public Relations/Flickr

International students in France, particularly in Paris, often curse the cost of living, but they can console themselves with the fact they are worth hundreds of millions of euros to the country’s beleaguered economy.

According to a new survey carried out by the agency BVA on behalf of Campus France, the organisation whose job it is to try to attract young people from abroad, international students cost the French state €3 billion a year but on the upside they bring in €4.65 billion.

The study doesn’t specify how much those incomings are down to money shelled out in the student bars across Paris, but it does show that being an international student in France is not cheap.

When it comes to spends, a foreign student shells out on average €11,000 a year on costs such as food and rent and then there’s the extra cost, pointed out by the study, of having to buy flights home for the holidays.

Foreign students also earn money for French state coffers through tourism, when their families and friends come over to visit.

The state also benefits from the fact that 41 percent of international students work, therefore contribute to health and pension insurance funds, yet rarely benefit from them.

SEE ALSO: How to live on a student budget in Paris

Then there’s the fact 85 percent of those students return to France at some point for tourism reasons. That can in part be put down to the fact that international students are seven times more likely to end up with a positive image of France than a negative one.

According to Campus France there are now around 300,000 international students in France and those numbers have risen 11 percent over the last five years.

Most of them come from wealthy families living in countries where average wages are average or low. Of the 300,000 international students in France, some 43 percent are from Africa, 26 percent from Europe, 19 percent from Asia and 8 percent from the Middle East.

Unsurprisingly the highest concentration of those students are in Paris (28 percent) where an array of universities and a decent nightlife are the main pull for young people from abroad.

That’s followed by the south east, which is home to university towns like Grenoble – voted the best place to be a student in France last year.

The study also showed that nearly three out of four students are enrolled at French universities, where as those enrolled at business and engineering schools.

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