Each year the Swiss Confederation awards Government Excellence Scholarships to encourage international exchange and research cooperation between Switzerland and over 180 other countries. Recipients are selected by the awarding body, the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS aka ESKAS).
Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships are mainly intended for talented early career researchers (ECRs) from abroad who have already completed their Master’s degree. The scholarship programme is currently open to applicants from 183 countries.
Scholarship Types Overview
(max. age: 35 / funding: CHF 2450.–/month)
| target group | main requirements | max. duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research | PhD Students(183 countries) | Master’s DegreeSupervisor | 12 months |
| PhD | PhD Students(183 countries) | Master’s DegreeSupervisor | 36 months |
| Art | Art Students(26 countries) | Bachelor’s DegreeAdmission or proof of application | 21 months |
Research scholarships
These scholarships are available to postgraduate researchers in any discipline wishing to pursue research at any Swiss cantonal university, university of applied sciences, either of Switzerland’s two federal institutes of technology (ETHZ or EPFL) or at one of the four research institutes within the ETH Domain (PSI, WSL, Empa, Eawag). Prerequisite: the scholarship application must be backed by an academic supervisor in Switzerland who is willing to direct and guide the applicant’s proposed research.
Art scholarships
Art scholarships are open to students wishing to pursue an initial Master’s degree in an artistic field in Switzerland. This scholarship is available to students from a limited number of countries only.
Applying for a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship
Information on application deadlines and scholarship available by country of origin will be published on the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI website soon.
Interested?
Applications are open starting 20 August 2026. Here you will find useful information on how to prepare your scholarship application.
After Applying
Selection
Applications are submitted to Swiss diplomatic representations. The FCS assesses scholarship applications according to three criteria.
- Candidate profile
- Quality of the research project or artistic work
- Synergies and potential for future research cooperation
Awards
By the end of May at the latest, the FCS will announce its decisions regarding the scholarship awards for the following academic year.