The Swiss education system is organised in a decentralised manner. The primary responsibility for education lies with the cantons. They are responsible for the education system, except where the Federal Constitution (Article 61 ff.) declares the Confederation, or the Confederation and the cantons together, to be competent.

• In the compulsory education sector (primary level including pre-school or the first learning cycle, and lower secondary level) the cantons and their communes are responsible for regulation and enforcement.

• In the post-compulsory education sector (upper secondary level and tertiary sector) the regulatory competence lies both with the cantons and with the Confederation. Except for the universities of the Confederation, the cantons are responsible for enforcement.

• Vocational and professional education and training (vocational education and training, tertiary level professional education and continuing professional development) is regulated by the Confederation. Here, too, the cantons are responsible for enforcement.

In matters which require a joint solution, the cantons coordinate between each other. For some areas the Federal Constitution lays down an obligation for the cantons to coordinate (e.g. coordination of the cantons in the compulsory education sector, collaboration and cooperation between the Confederation and cantons in the higher education sector).

Administration and governance at cantonal level

Each canton (state) has its own legal provisions for the education sector. The cantonal education law of the 26 cantons generally rests on the same foundations and is geared to the same objectives.

In the education sector the cantonal parliament basically has the same role as in any other sector. Through legislation, decisions on government directives, contracts, financial plans, budgets etc. the cantonal parliament influences the education system.

The cantonal government is responsible for the overall supervision of the school and education system. It takes the basic decisions and represents the school as a whole. The government has the right to adopt implementing ordinances and takes decisions which have financial impacts. All tasks in the field of education are carried out by the cantonal education departments. In the cantons of Fribourg and Zug alone the cantonal directorate of economic affairs is responsible for the field of vocational and professional education and training.

In each canton a member of the cantonal government runs the department or directorate of education, The director of the education department is a member of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK), a national authority, which is active in the areas of education, culture, sport and youth promotion in a coordinating capacity (see chapter “Administration and Governance at National and Intercantonal Level”).


The cantonal education department directs, coordinates and supervises the education system in the canton. 
The cantonal education departments are often divided into sections or divisions by level of education (primary school office, upper secondary school office and VET office, office for higher education, primary education division, baccalaureate education division etc.).

The individual offices or services are responsible for all implementing measures which are not assigned to other bodies by law. They perform tasks relating to the running of the school, school development, school supervision, school evaluation, school advisory services and special education.

At cantonal level, 15 cantons also have an additional central advisory or decision-making body elected by the cantonal government or the cantonal parliament which is exclusively concerned with issues of education and schooling. The title (usually education council), function, powers and tasks of these bodies differ from canton to canton.

Compulsory education sector



The cantons and their communes are responsible for the compulsory education sector (primary level including pre-school or the first learning cycle, and lower secondary level). The communes are the maintaining bodies for the schools. The canton may be responsible for lower secondary level schools in some cases.

The cantonal education law governs the objectives, principals and structure of the education system. It lays down the terms of compulsory school attendance and free schooling, the status and organisation of the schools, provisions on the running of the school such as the start of the school year, the number of weeks of school per year, the weekly teaching hours for each subject and class, duration of lessons, teaching time, class size, support programmes, assessment and transfer to the next grade, the transfer procedure, special education opportunities, school services (e.g. school medical service, school psychology service), the legal status of school participants, absences and dispensations, special schooling, approval and supervision of private schools etc. The cantons are also responsible for laying down the curricula and the teaching materials. The cantons regulate the employment conditions for teaching staff. The competences of the canton and the communes or corresponding bodies, cooperation between the canton and the communes, and the financing of primary schools are also regulated.

The cantons can cede various powers to the communes, which have certain responsibilities and duties. Communal decisions often require approval by a cantonal body and must be guided by cantonal framework conditions.

From the end of the 1990s the first cantons began, as part of the process of increasing school autonomy, to establish school administrations in compulsory education. Within the legal and strategic framework, the schools are responsible for the specific implementation and structure. The schools are therefore acquiring partial autonomy, with the operational management increasingly transferred to the individual schools. The school administrations are responsible for the educational, staffing, organisational and administrative requirements of their school. Today almost all compulsory education schools have a school administration.

Post-compulsory education sector



At upper secondary level and at tertiary level both the cantons and the Confederation have partial legislative competence.  

Secondary sector: upper secondary level


At upper secondary level, which is divided into general education and vocational and professional education and training courses, regulatory responsibility lies with both the cantons and the Confederation.

• The general education schools incorporate baccalaureate schools and upper secondary specialised schools.

  Baccalaureate schools

  The Confederation and the cantons together ensure that the cantonal baccalaureates are equivalent and comply with the national and intercantonal minimum legal requirements. To this end they have each adopted their own, but identical, regulations on recognition: baccalaureates are recognised under the Verordnung über die Anerkennung von gymnasialen Maturitätsausweisen (MAV) [Ordinance on the recognition of baccalaureates ] or the Reglement der EDK über die Anerkennung von gymnasialen Maturitätsausweisen (MAR) [EDK regulation on the recognition of baccalaureates].

  The baccalaureate schools teach according to curricula adopted or approved by the canton and which are based on the national Rahmenlehrplan für die Maturitätsschulen  [EDK framework curriculum for baccalaureate schools].

  The cantons with their cantonal education laws are responsible for the organisation and control of the baccalaureate schools and of baccalaureate education.

  Upper secondary specialised schools

  The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) is responsible for the recognition of upper secondary specialised schools (gesamtschweizerische Annerkennung von Fachmittelschulen) throughout Switzerland. Recognition of upper secondary specialised schools and their leaving certificates is carried out on the basis of the intercantonal diploma recognition agreement (Interkantonale Vereinbarung über die Anerkennung von Ausbildungsabschlüssen [Intercantonal Agreement on the Recognition of Educational Qualifications]) and the Reglement über die Anerkennung der Abschlüsse von Fachmittelschulen [Regulation on the Recognition of Certificates from Upper Secondary Specialised Schools] which is based on that agreement, and the related guidelines. Each upper secondary specialised school has a regulation enacted or approved by the canton which contains in particular the arrangements for the issue of the upper secondary specialised school certificate and the specialised baccalaureate and the legal remedies.

The education is guided by a curriculum enacted or approved by the canton, which is based on the Rahmenlehrplan der EDK für Fachmittelschulen [EDK framework curriculum for upper secondary specialised schools].

The cantons with their cantonal education laws are responsible for the organisation and control of the upper secondary specialised schools.

 The Swiss conference of upper secondary school offices (Schweizerische Mittelschulämterkonferenz), of which the heads of the cantonal upper secondary school authorities are members, ensures the exchange of professional information between the baccalaureate schools and upper secondary specialised schools of the individual cantons.  

• Vocational education and training (VET), including the Federal Vocational Baccalaureate, is regulated by the Confederation. Vocational education and training (VET) is managed federally in partnership between the Confederation, the cantons and the professional organisations. The cantons are responsible for implementing vocational education and training on the basis of the federal legislation (enforcement of federal law). Please refer to the chapter Administration and Governance at Central and/or Regional Level.

Tertiary sector

At tertiary level, which is divided into a higher education sector and a tertiary level B professional education and training sector, both the cantons and the Confederation have legislative powers.

Higher education sector

Universities


The Confederation manages and operates the two Federal Institutes of Technology (FIT) and has the competence to regulate them. Please refer to the chapter Administration and Governance at Central and/or Regional Level.

The ten cantonal universities come within the competence of the canton in which each is located. They are the maintaining bodies for the universities, which they supervise. The cantonal universities are public-sector institutions with their own legal personality. Under the legal framework they have broad academic, financial and organisational autonomy. They regulate and administer their own affairs and have academic freedom and freedom of research. The university council is the strategic management body and exercises direct supervision over the university. The university council has legislative powers. It adopts the university statute, university-wide regulations and the mission statement. It also approves the multiannual planning. The operative management is carried out by the university administration or the rector’s office. Depending on the university the rector’s office is supported by a senate. The Confederation collaborates with the cantons in the field of university policy.


Universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher education


The Confederation and the cantons together regulate the universities of applied sciences in their sphere of competence. The universities of applied sciences come within the regulatory competence of the Confederation. The cantons are responsible for enforcement and supervision.

The universities of teacher education fall within the regulatory competence of the cantons and are subject to cantonal and intercantonal regulations. The maintaining bodies for the universities of applied sciences and the universities of teacher education are the cantons or groups of cantons.

Tertiary level professional education sector


Tertiary level professional education covers the non-university sector of the tertiary level. It is regulated by the Confederation. Please refer to the chapter Administration and Governance at Central and/or Regional Level.

Administration and governance at communal level

The cantons and their communes are responsible for the compulsory education sector (primary level including pre-school or the first learning cycle, and lower secondary level). The communes are the maintaining bodies for the schools. The canton may be responsible for lower secondary level schools in some cases.

At the level of the commune the administrative structures are heterogeneous. The members of the communal executive power head administrative units which are structured by subject area. In towns/cities these are organised in a similar way to the cantonal administrations. Here a member of the communal or town/city council may preside over a communal directorate of education.

Compulsory education sector


The Communal Council is responsible for the strategic management and supervision of the school. It manages the school and regulates the organisation of communal school provision in the compulsory education sector (primary level including pre-school or the first learning cycle, and lower secondary level).

Taking into account cantonal requirements, the communes lay down the communal school provision, issue the multiannual materials and financial planning, and take care of the construction, operation, equipment and maintenance of buildings, equipment and facilities. They decide on the number of classes and teaching posts. They supervise compliance with the compulsory school attendance requirement and allocate learners to school buildings and classes. They adopt the school and holiday arrangements and approve the mission statement, the school programme and the timetables. They are the appointing authority for teaching and school administration staff and supervise the discharge of their office.

Depending on the cantonal regulation a local school authority (school committee, school council, school board etc.) can perform tasks in the educational sector. The name, competences, tasks, selection or appointment of the school authorities varies in the cantons and communes. The local school authority carries out the tasks assigned to it by the Communal Council. The local school authority exercises direct supervision over the schools managed by the school maintaining bodies. The local school authority can be responsible for the strategic requirements of the school and represent it externally. Subject to the competence of the local school authority, the school administration is responsible for operational matters. It directs and manages the schools pedagogically, administratively and in staffing terms.