Incoming Students at the FHNW School of Education

• Let's Get Started! Collaborative and Intercultural Experience: beginning of September
• FHNW Welcome Days (Wednesday & Thursday): one week before the start of the semester courses
  
• Semester courses: mid-September – second to last week of December
• Examination week: Second week of January

• Let's get started! Collaborative and intercultural experience: beginning of February
• FHNW Welcome Days (Wednesday & Thursday): one week before the start of the semester courses
• Semester courses: mid-February – first week of June
  
• Examination week: Second week of June

More details (in German)

• We ask partner universities to nominate exchange students to the institutional coordinator by the dates listed below (international.ph@fhnw.ch)
• We send the partner universities a nomination link for the Mobility Online database.
• Nominated students will receive an application link and instructions. They must go through the registration process by the dates listed below:
• Incoming students can attend courses at all three campuses. We recommend Muttenz (near Basel), as most of the courses in English usually are held there.

• Nominated students will receive an application form that must be sent to the receiving institution by the dates listed below:

  • First term: nominations May 15; applications June 01; course booking June 15
  • Second term: nominations Oct 31; applications December 01; course booking, December 15

The PH FHNW will send its decision concerning acceptance within 10 days after the application has been submitted completely. On acceptance, incoming students will also be informed about registration.

Incoming students receive all course information and access to the internal sites upon completion of the application and acceptance procedure.

The PH FHNW welcomes students and staff members with disabilities. People with disabilities or documented health problems (physical or mental) can apply for additional funding  in order to cover extra costs arising during mobility in relation to their disability or illness. More information (in German)

The programme includes courses of the regular study programme and is open to students at the FHNW School of Education as well as to international exchange students.

More information

Courses

As most undergraduate courses are taught in German, the recommended minimum language competence level is generally B2 (according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). For participation in the English-language Programme courses, we recommend at last B2.

A transcript of records will be issued by the receiving institution no later than 5 weeks after the semester has ended.

In many courses, there is no grading system, but a pass/fail system.

If you need grades for the transcript of records, please ask whether it is possible to receive a grade at the beginning of the semester and have the decision confirmed in writing (email is sufficient).

The grading scale ranges from 6 (excellent) to 1 (insufficient), with 4 being the minimum score required to pass:

1 semester: 30 ECTS credits

1 full academic year: 60 ECTS credits

• Nationals of EU/EFTA-countries: No visa required to enter Switzerland.
• Nationals of non-EU/EFTA countries: Check visa requirements with the Swiss Embassy in your country of residence. The embassy site generally posts a list of documents to bring along to the visa appointment. Schedule visa appointments early.

The sending and receiving institutions will provide assistance, when required, in securing visas for exchange students, according to the requirements of the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education. See also the information on visa requirements by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Health and accident insurance is mandatory in Switzerland for stays longer than three months. A basic insurance plan covers medical care in the case of sickness or accident.

After arriving in Switzerland and registering with your municipality of residence, you have three months in which to take out health insurance. Provided you register within this time, you are insured from the time you enter Switzerland.

Students are responsible for taking out health insurance themselves. Learn more about the health insurance

Exemption from mandatory health insurance

Persons from the EU/EFTA area who have a European health insurance card can, on application, exempt themselves from the requirement to take out health insurance. This is also true of students from non-EU countries whose health insurance schemes are recognised by the Swiss authorities. Find out from your health insurance organisation whether your scheme covers you in Switzerland.

• University of Basel - classified ads
  
• Flat shares (WG Zimmer)
  
• University of Basel - matching service for housing
  
• University of Basel - student housing (Studentenheim)
  
• Borromaeum
  
• Student housing (Studentenhaus)
  
• Student housing (Alumneum)
  
• Student housing (Studienhaus)
  
• Pro Filia
  

• Association for Student Housing Brugg-Windisch Region
  
• I-Markt apartment search
  
• Association Housing for Students
  
• Maximilianeum - student dormitory in Zurich
  
• St-Justinus-Werke - a House in Zurich
  
• Student house Sonnegg in the middle of Zurich
  
• Youth Housing Network JUWO
  
• Student Village – where great minds live together
  
• Student living in Winterthur
  

All students (outgoing and incoming) who decide to travel round trip by train will receive a financial support.

All incoming students can apply for CHF 120 in financial support for the Half-Fare Card (Halbtax = 50% reduction in travel costs). Please contact: international.ph@fhnw.ch

The FHNW School of Education  provides every incoming student with a buddy from the European Student Network ESN. ESN organises activities for all incoming students at FHNW. More information

International Student Activities (ISA) for all FHNW schools take place during the semster.

See also experience reports

• The FHNW School of Education is one of nine schools of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). More information
  
• Studying in Switzerland+ – a website published by “swissuniversities” (swissuniversities works to strengthen and enhance collaboration among Swiss institutions of higher education and promotes a common voice on educational issues in Switzerland)

FHNW Sports offers an attractive and diverse programme of sporting activities for regular exercise as well as access to lesser-known sports and the opportunity to make new friends.

FHNW Sports includes regular training sessions during the semester, workshops, online training, a weight room and much more. In most cases, FHNW Sport is free of charge. For the weight room, you can pay a subscription for half a year or a whole year.

Unfortunately, the sports programme is only available in German.

The Language Centre offers a wide range of different languages and courses.

The International Office of the FHNW School of Education covers the costs of a German course for international exchange students. When registering, please state that you are an international exchange student at the FHNW School of Education.

Language Centre

How do incoming students experience their stay?

An outside view of FHNW School of Education

Check out the testimonials