Überwiegend Postgraduierte, also ältere Studierende, kürzere Aufenthalte und jeden September viel Konkurrenz um dieselben Wohnungen.
Der angespannteste Markt des Landes. Eine Leerstandsquote nahe einem Drittel Prozent heisst, dass Verwaltungen wählen können — und ein internationaler Studierender ohne Schweizer Dossier ist selten die Wahl. Wer hier Erfolg hat, beginnt fast immer in einer WG und zieht später um.
Apply to Cité Universitaire the day you are admitted — the list runs 5 to 9 months, so it rarely helps for your first semester, but it costs nothing and it helps for your second. Everything else means the private market.
File your residence permit dossier about three months before you arrive; processing runs eight to twelve weeks and nothing downstream starts until it is in. Register at your commune within fourteen days of landing, and sort health insurance within three months. The full timeline.
Campus is at Maison de la Paix. Choose your neighbourhood by commute rather than by postcode — a cheaper room forty minutes away costs you two hours a day for a year.
Most Graduate Institute applicants get stuck on the same thing: an agency that wants someone resident in Switzerland to co-sign. We do that, for 3 months' rent — after we have read your file, and we do decline some.