Job Description

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).

What it’s all about

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.

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.

• Research fellowship
• PhD scholarship
• PostDoc scholarship

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.

• Art scholarship

Applying for a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship

The types of scholarships available and application deadlines depend on the country of origin.

A-Z list of all countries and territoriesPDF640.44 kB30 September 2025AfricaPDF262.27 kB4 August 2025AsiaPDF81.64 kB15 September 2025Australia and OceaniaPDF128.99 kB4 August 2025EuropePDF226.43 kB4 August 2025North AmericaPDF151.37 kB27 August 2025

• South AmericaPDF149.73 kB30 September 2025

Interested?

Applications are open starting August 4, 2025. 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.