The tertiary level comprises higher vocational education and training, as well as universities.

 

 

 

The governing bodies in the tertiary sectors are the cantons as well as the Confederation and they are responsible for educational institutions. According to the Federal Constitution, the Confederation has regulatory powers over higher vocational education and training, the cantons organise the implementation of vocational education and training and alongside private providers are responsible for educational institutions in higher vocational education and training. In the university domain, both the cantons and the Confederation act partly in a legislative capacity and partly as the responsible body for the universities: the Confederation governs the ETH domain, operates the 2 Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) and is responsible for regulating them. In the area of the universities of applied sciences, the Confederation passed the Federal Law on Universities of Applied Sciences. The cantons, or groups of cantons, generally bear responsibility for the universities of applied sciences. The cantons are responsible for the cantonal universities and for the universities of teacher education and have regulatory powers over them.

Higher vocational education and training
Higher vocational education and training on the tertiary level outside the university system prepares students for responsible positions in specific occupational fields. This type of higher education is a Swiss specialty, which seldom appears in this form in other countries. It serves the purpose of senior staff training and specialisation of individuals who have completed a 3-to-4-year basic vocational education and training, or who have achieved an equivalent qualification.

The approximately 370 recognised federal PET diploma examinations and advanced federal PET diploma examinations are geared toward individuals with professional experience who wish to deepen their knowledge or to prepare themselves for a leadership role.
The colleges of higher vocational education and training offer federally recognised courses and post-diploma studies in the areas of engineering, catering and the hotel industry, tourism and domestic economy, economics, agriculture and forestry, health, social work and continuing education, art and design.

Universities
The cantonal universities offer a wide range of courses of study, in the following fields: theology and religious studies, law and criminology, economics and political science, medicine, pharmacy and health, social sciences and social work, linguistics and literature studies, communication and information, history and archaeology, humanities and art history, natural sciences and mathematics, computer science and telecommunication, sports sciences and human movement.
The Federal Institutes of Technology offer, among others, courses of study in mathematics and natural sciences, engineering and architecture, as well as computer science and telecommunication.

The universities of applied sciences provide more practice-oriented courses in the areas of engineering and information technology, architecture, building engineering and planning, chemistry and life sciences, agriculture and forestry, business, management and services, health, social work, design, arts, music, theatre, applied psychology and applied linguistics.

The universities of teacher education are responsible for initial and continuing education of teachers. The universities or other tertiary institutions provide the initial and continuing education of VET/PET professionals.

Reform of higher education
By 2012, the field of higher education (cantonal universities and Federal Institutes of Technology, universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education) is to undergo a reform: the cantons and the Confederation are working together to develop a high-quality, coordinated higher education system throughout all of Switzerland. This is based on the new university article in the Federal Constitution (Article 63a). According to this article, the Confederation and the cantons are to jointly provide for coordination and quality assurance in the Swiss higher education system. The Federal Law on the Advancement of Universities and Coordination in Swiss Higher Education is being developed as a uniform legal basis and to regulate the Confederation's financial support of universities and the coordination in the Swiss higher education system. This law will simplify the structures of political bodies on the federal and cantonal levels in the field of higher education (planned to come into effect in 2012). In parallel to this, the cantons are to establish a new inter-cantonal legal basis for regulation of the cooperation with the Confederation regarding coordination in the higher education system. In addition, the Confederation and the cantons, on their own legal bases, are to conclude an agreement on cooperation in higher education.

The Federal Law on the Advancement of Universities and Coordination in Swiss Higher Education has the following objectives:

 

 

Permeability
For better permeability between the different types of university, the 3 rectors' conferences - the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities (CRUS), the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH) and the Swiss Conference of Rectors of Universities of Teacher Education (COHEP) - passed regulations in a permeability agreement in 2007, under which conditions, direct transfer from a Bachelor course at one type of university to a Master course at another type of university is possible.
The Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences has issued recommendations on the admission of graduates of higher vocational education and training to Bachelor courses at universities of applied sciences. Similar to the Bologna Process for the universities, in the field of vocational education and training Switzerland is following the Copenhagen Process underway on the European level, whereby Switzerland's status is currently that of an observer. Permeability in vocational education and training is also aided by the possibility of accrediting skills acquired outside the usual educational courses.