Every year, the Swiss Confederation awards Government Excellence Scholarships to encourage international exchange and research cooperation between Switzerland and over 180 other countries. The awarding body selects the recipients for the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students (FCS).
Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships are mainly intended for talented early career researchers (ECRs) from abroad who have already completed their Master’s degree or PhD. The scholarship programme is currently open to applicants from 183 countries.
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).
As one of the pre-requisite, the scholarship application must be backed by an academic supervisor in Switzerland who is willing to direct and guide the applicant’s proposed research.
There are three types of scholarships available to foreign students – Research fellowships, PhD scholarships and Postdoctoral scholarships.
For Research fellowships, PhD scholarships and art scholarships, the grant is CHF 1,920 per month ( Rs 2 lakh approx.) to cover basic living expenses of one person. Postdoctoral scholarship will grant CHF 3,500 per month to cover the living expenses of one person.
Scholarships Selections
Applications are to be submitted to Swiss diplomatic representations. The FCS assesses scholarship applications according to three criteria – Candidate profile, Quality of the research project or artistic work and Synergies and potential for future research cooperation.
Timeline
Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships applications are open starting August 4, 2025. By the end of May 2026 at the latest, the FCS will announce its decisions regarding the scholarship awards for the following academic year.