Switzerland’s universities have a long-standing global reputation for academic excellence. This success is driven by a strong innovation ecosystem, strategic investment in carefully chosen research fields and institutes, close collaboration between universities and industry, and favorable working conditions for academics. The Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zurich) is recognized as one of the world’s top universities. QS World University Ranking 2026 places it at spot seven globally and as the highest-ranked in Continental Europe. In addition, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the University of Zürich, the University of Geneva, and the University of Bern also rank highly in international rankings according to the QS World University Rankings 2026, the Shanghai Ranking 2025, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026. Accordingly, Swiss universities are sought after internationally as partners, particularly in the natural sciences.
Switzerland’s higher education system comprises twelve accredited universities and ten universities of applied sciences. Of the twelve universities, ten are cantonal institutions funded by their respective cantons, while the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Zurich and EPFL) are financed by the Swiss Confederation. The public universities of applied sciences are likewise organized and funded by one or more cantons. In addition, there are 19 pedagogical universities (universities of teacher education), and several specialized higher education institutions offering accredited programs; these are recognized within the system but are neither traditional universities nor universities of applied sciences.
Over the last ten years, the number of students entering higher education programs has steadily grown in Switzerland. In the winter semester 2025/26, a total of about 288,000 students were enrolled at public universities (including pedagogical universities and universities of applied sciences). Over a fourth are international students, with the majority usually coming from Germany, France, Italy, China (including Hong Kong and Macao), and Austria. Of the 3,599 Chinese students enrolled at the twelve public universities and five university institutes during the 2025/26 academic year, some 1,626 were pursuing a Master’s degree, and a significant number (1,463) a doctoral degree. The most prestigious universities, ETH Zurich and EFPL, are particularly popular among Chinese students, with 1,362 (including about 445 PhD students) and 598 students, respectively, in 2023.
Research Scope and Method
The research team sent out 20 Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) requests to major non-private Swiss universities and universities of applied sciences. All of them were adjusted to each specific cantonal context, since freedom of information regarding the canton-funded universities is regulated at the cantonal level in Switzerland. Therefore, we were only able to file for an official request for the two state-level universities.
The requests covered a comprehensive set of issues, including the scope and structure of institutional partnerships and their contractual basis, areas and outputs of cooperation, student and academic mobility exchange, financial and non-financial exchanges, governance and decision-making processes, as well as risk assessment procedures, training measures, and the potential influence of Chinese partners on research agendas and academic activities.
Of the nine responses we received, only five addressed the FoIA questions, and they did so with varying degrees of detail. The rest of the information for the project was collected from the universities’ open sources, Swiss ministries, the Federal Statistical Office and one interview we conducted with a representative from the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZhdK). Moreover, the websites of the Chinese counterparts were investigated for supplemental information. In addition, we used open source information (academic and newspaper articles, statistical databases).
The resulting dataset documents 102 cooperation links between Swiss and Chinese institutions, forming a broad but highly fragmented network with many one-off partnerships. Cooperation is dominated by student exchanges (making up around 82% of the cases), often complemented by formal agreements and joint research projects (making up around 16%), and spans a wide range of fields, with notable presence in engineering, business/management, and selected areas of medical and material sciences, while sectors such as agriculture and medtech remain more dispersed.
The dataset further includes risk-related indicators, showing that a significant share of partnerships (around 56%) are classified as high or very high risk by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s (ASPI) tracker, particularly those involving leading Chinese institutions such as Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Beihang University. In addition, 33% involve partners with elevated security classifications (“secret” or “top secret”), suggesting limited transparency within parts of the network. Furthermore, 38% are associated with institutions that have been linked to past misconduct or appear on relevant sanctions or end-user lists, indicating additional sensitivity concerns. These indicators are derived from the ASPI university defense tracker framework and capture different dimensions of risk, including overall institutional risk levels, security affiliations, and past involvement in misconduct or exposure to sanctions.
Therefore, based on FOIA requests, institutional data, and open-source analysis, this study identifies several core trends shaping Swiss–China academic relations. First, cooperation remains widespread and institutionalized across most Swiss universities, particularly in STEM fields and at the doctoral level. Second, Chinese students represent a significant share of international enrolment, with a strong concentration in advanced degrees. Third, since around 2018, a clear shift has emerged: while cooperation continues, universities are increasingly implementing risk-mitigation measures, especially in areas related to dual-use technologies. Finally, leading institutions such as ETH Zurich and the University of Basel are pioneering stricter screening and governance mechanisms, reflecting a broader transition from expansion to more cautious and selective engagement.
Institutionalized cooperation from the early 2000s on
Almost all Swiss universities maintain some kind of formal cooperation with Chinese universities. As in other European countries, the collaboration usually started as an individual initiative and was later formalized through Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) or other agreements. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the Swiss Federal government actively promoted closer collaboration with China. For instance, in 1993, the Swiss government, the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the University of St. Gallen (HSG) jointly launched the Sino‑Swiss Management Training Program to train senior Chinese executives.
China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 initiated a quite positive, economically focused relationship with Switzerland, which was also reflected in closer scientific collaboration. In 2003, the Sino‑Swiss Science and Technology Cooperation was established to strengthen bilateral academic and research ties. Administered by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the last call, which focused on natural sciences, was issued in 2021. Since 2003, the University of Zurich’s Leading House Asia Pacific has promoted research and mobility exchange with Asian partners, including China. It is a science and technology program mandated by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The program provides funding for small research projects (up to CHF 50,000 – roughly 55 000 €) and mobility (up to CHF 20,000 – roughly 22 000€). It evolved from a bilateral Switzerland–China initiative focused on workshops, symposia and ‘stepping‑stone’ projects, later expanding to Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea. For more than 20 years, the program was hosted by ETH Zurich; since 2025, the University of Zurich has taken over the responsibility.
Since 2013, HSG has run the China Competence Center (CCC), which is one of five specialized centers operated by the Institute for International Management and Diversity Management (IIDM-HSG). The CCC aims to conduct “groundbreaking research projects in management and economics featuring international collaborations with Chinese partners, and [to offer] premium Executive Education programs developed in partnership with China’s top universities and companies”.
Further, a MoU was signed in 2020 between the China Economics and Finance Center at the University of Lausanne and the SIX Swiss Exchange, the Swiss stock exchange. The goal of this was to further research collaboration in areas such as fintech, cryptocurrencies, distributed ledger technologies and AI-driven financial applications. As of yet, aside from co-organizing the Swiss Biotech Day 2023, there are few indicators of significant results from this agreement.
More direct cooperation takes place through the Swiss–Sino Innovation Center at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). Founded in 2017, the center primarily serves as a non-profit platform for information sharing and networking, for example, through summer schools. At this time, China was regarded by SERI as a priority country for academic cooperation. Between 2007 and 2017, collaboration with China—followed by Japan, Brazil, and Russia—increased particularly sharply in terms of the number of co-written publications. Swiss universities have also collaborated with Chinese partners through the EU’s Horizon Europe and its predecessor programs. Even though ETH Zurich was involved in four projects with Chinese partners between 2007 and 2023,(in total, Swiss and Chinese universities were partners in 119 projects) it was nevertheless among the leading participants working with top Chinese universities across multiple disciplines. (From 2021 to 2025, Switzerland was excluded from Horizon Europe, reducing available funding.)
More critical views on cooperation with China
Since about 2018, distrust of academic cooperation with China has grown across scientific, political, civil society, and media circles. Reasons for this are presumably multifaceted. Increased political concerns over China’s geopolitical ambitions, rising authoritarianism, its bleak human rights record, attempts to influence Swiss society, politics, and business, and the risk of collaboration on dual-use technologies are most often highlighted in public discourse on the topic. A mixture of public criticism, alternative offerings, and economic reasons led to the closure of the Confucius Institute at the University of Basel in 2020. It was established in 2013 in partnership with the East China Normal University in Shanghai. Since then, the University of Geneva has hosted the only active Confucius Institute in Switzerland. Established in 2011, it operates in collaboration with Beijing’s Renmin University.
Increasingly critical views on China in Switzerland directly affect bilateral academic cooperation. Several influential media outlets reported on a range of critical issues regarding Swiss-China academic relations. Key concerns center on the so-called “brain drain” and human capital loss; the risk of illegal knowledge transfer and scientific espionage, particularly regarding dual-use technologies; and the aforementioned freedom of speech and human rights issues. A recent issue, highlighted in the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung, is the concern that Chinese students might benefit from high-quality yet relatively affordable education, only to return to their home country after graduating and thus neither enter nor contribute to the Swiss labor market.
The principal concern, however, remains the possibility of involuntary contributions to the development of Chinese military technology. For instance, this is illustrated by a prominent case at ETH Zurich, where a doctoral student from the National University of Defense Technology—closely linked to the People’s Liberation Army—presumably contributed to China’s defense technology through research conducted in Switzerland.
In 2024, due to similar concerns, the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste put its cooperation with the Shenzhen International School of Design on hold due to differing academic regulations and operational risks. Ralph Weber, a leading China expert and a former member of the project’s ethics commission, emphasized the close ties between the Shenzhen campus and the Harbin Institute of Technology, which is closely associated with the Chinese military. He also highlighted that the decision to end the collaboration has been met with anger in China over the perceived loss of prestige. In contrast to the restrictions on its cooperation with mainland China, the ZHdK, like many other universities surveyed, including ETH Zurich, has consistently carried out joint projects with institutions in Hong Kong. These include, for instance, a shared campus project with City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University, the latter of which is also part of running the Immersive Arts Space and the Visualization Research Center together with ZHdK.
ZHdK’s decision to end cooperation with its partner in Shenzhen ties into the wider debate of China-related topics in the Swiss media, particularly regarding freedom of speech, both in China itself and within Swiss universities. The national broadcaster SRF recently reported on a case at the University of Geneva, in which professors allegedly self-censored China-critical content in their lectures, out of concern for the safety of the current Chinese students. The alleged concern was that Chinese students, who often rely on state-funded scholarships and, thus, must demonstrate alignment with the Chinese government, might be monitored and risk losing their funding if that alignment were questioned. However, China expert Ariane Knüsel has highlighted how self-censorship by Swiss professors would, in effect, result in a double censorship for the respective Chinese students, because the opportunity to study abroad allows them to learn beyond the Chinese government-set boundaries. Nevertheless, there is no official university directive to the staff to self-censor. Furthermore, even though Chinese cooperation requires special procedures on the Swiss side, there have been no reports of serious repercussions, even when sensitive human rights-related topics have been discussed in an academic setting. One reaction is that several universities are becoming increasingly aware of these risks and concerns and are therefore implementing intensified screening processes for prospective students from “high-risk countries”, including China. For example, the University of Basel employs intensive screening before collaborating and has generally reduced its cooperation with Chinese partners since the COVID-19 pandemic based on available data. Since Chinese delegations have become increasingly interested in cooperating with FHNW since the pandemic ended, the University of Applied Sciences is also conducting background checks to assess whether a potential collaboration would be beneficial for both parties.
The most significant measure, however, is implemented at the globally leading ETH Zurich. It has many subject areas that could potentially be applied in a military context (so-called dual-use technologies). It has participated in the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service’s awareness program Technopol and has also introduced an intensified screening process in recent years. The university introduced a program for students from countries under sanctions by the UN Security Council, the EU or the United States or deemed high risk for proliferation by the Swiss government. Because China and many Chinese universities fall under these categories, this ties in with a general shift in the extent and nature of Sino-Swiss collaboration that has taken place at ETH Zurich before.
ETH Zurich has outlined four main criteria that could lead to an application rejection, though the final decision remains on a case-by-case basis. The enhanced security checks focus on all aspects of applied science at Technology Readiness Level 4 and above. They are required for all applications to PhD and Master’s programs, as well as for employment positions and visiting stays for individuals from countries sanctioned by the UN Security Council, the EU or the United States. Further, the measures cover people from countries that Switzerland classifies as high risk for proliferation. This includes Russia and China. China accounts for 22 universities on the list of institutions subject to heightened security checks, notably including the Harbin Institute of Technology, surpassing the number of Russian, Iranian, and North Korean universities on the list. ETH Zurich also examines whether any funding is provided by those sanctioned states or if scholarship programs are problematic and from a dubious source. There have been reports that this is being taken very critically by aspiring students from China, who see it as unjust and as putting unnecessary barriers in the way of their aspirations to study in Switzerland.
Conclusion
Both Switzerland and EU member states stand to benefit from Switzerland’s return to the Horizon Europe funding program, which will deepen research collaboration. Thanks to their strong research performance, Swiss universities will remain attractive partners for institutions in China. Swiss science journalist Sven Titz captures a view common among academics and policymakers: given China’s emergence as a scientific superpower, the West, including Switzerland, should treat scientific cooperation with China as an opportunity, while staying vigilant about practical implementation. ETH Zurich and the University of Basel are pioneers in establishing screening mechanisms for higher‑risk partners; further developing these mechanisms reduces risk exposure. European governments and universities should study Switzerland’s approach in detail to capture similar benefits.
Explore more data on Switzerland-China academic engagements here.
