What is the baccalaureate and what is it good for?

What?

The gymnasiale Matura is a federally recognized qualification that confirms a broad general education and general university entrance qualification. The general higher education entrance qualification includes various skills such as abstract thinking, the ability to gather information and form an independent judgment.

What for?

The baccalaureate enables access to all Bachelor's degree programs at Swiss universities (university, ETH and teacher training colleges PH).

Combined with (usually practical) additional qualifications, the baccalaureate also enables access to universities of applied sciences FH and universities of applied sciences HF.

When?

The baccalaureate is obtained either during adolescence via a long or short-term baccalaureate at the end of upper secondary school or afterwards: Adults can catch up on the Matura through secondary education and prepare for the Matura examination independently or in private and public Matura schools.

AttentionThere are various Matura qualifications - in addition to the baccalaureate, there are also the vocational Matura and the specialized Matura. The latter two also entitle students to study, but not at universities, but at universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher education, and there are restrictions on the choice of possible courses.

Who are baccalaureate schools for adults suitable for?

The courses offered by Matura schools for adults are aimed at

• Adults who want to receive a broad and well-founded general education
• Adults who wish to obtain a general higher education entrance qualification and study at a university without subject restrictions

Indispensable personal requirements:

• High motivation
• Learning ability
• Perseverance and determination

Requirements for admission to Matura schools for adults

The requirements for admission to Matura courses for adults depend on the provider:

• The requirements for public Matura schools are regulated at cantonal level.
• Private baccalaureate schools usually have different conditions for admission to baccalaureate courses that conclude with an internal, federally recognized baccalaureate and those that prepare students for the external Swiss baccalaureate examination, which is held twice a year.

Private baccalaureate schools require:

• Completed 18th year of age
• Completed compulsory schooling or equivalent knowledge including French and English
• Good knowledge of German
• Interest in a broad general education
• partly: Entrance examination

In some cantons there are public baccalaureate schools for adults. These require:

• Age of majority in the year before entry. In some cases there are age limits (e.g. Canton of Zurich: 40 years)
• Secondary school leaving certificate
• Completed apprenticeship or at least 2-3 years of professional activity. Apprenticeships, internships, proven unemployment, housework and childcare are partially counted as professional activity.
• Good knowledge of German
• partly: Entrance examination

Course content: Subject matter and skills

The gymnasiale Matura is made up of basic subjects, core subjects and supplementary subjects. The individual baccalaureate profile results from the 10 basic subjects plus 1 specialization subject and 1 supplementary subject of (partly limited) choice. This model replaced the prescribed Matura types in 2007.

The basic subjects in German-speaking Switzerland are:

• German or Romansh (or generally: first language)
• French (or generally: second national language)
• Italian (or generally: third national language) or English or Latin or Greek
• Mathematics
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• History
• Geography
• Visual arts and/or music

The main subjects are:

• Ancient languages (Latin, Greek)
• modern languages (e.g. English, Spanish, Russian)
• Physics and applications of mathematics
• Biology and chemistry
• Economy and law
• Philosophy/Pedagogy/Psychology
• Creative design
• Music

Supplementary subjects are:

• Physics
• Chemistry
• Biology
• Applications of mathematics
• History
• Geography
• Philosophy
• Economy and law
• Education/Psychology
• Creative design
• Music
• Sport
• Computer science

ExampleIf you are linguistically gifted and want to work internationally, e.g. for UNESCO, you can opt for a Matura with a focus on modern languages. Then choose English as a third language alongside German and French for the foundation subjects and Spanish or Russian as a specialization subject (you cannot take English again). In addition to all the desk work and studying, sport might be a good choice as a supplementary subject.

Not all specialization and supplementary subjects are offered at all Matura schools.

Costs

TheSchool costsdepend on the school and form of teaching and total around CHF 30,000-60,000 - depending on the proportion of face-to-face teaching, self-study and supervision. They are usually paid on a semester or monthly basis. Monthly fees range from just under CHF 500 (for a high proportion of self-study) to around CHF 2,500 (for the most intensive face-to-face teaching).

At some Matura schools, theTraining materialsincluded in the price. Others may incur additional costs of several hundred up to almost CHF 3,000 (for the entire course).

As a rule, no fees are charged for in-house baccalaureates.Examination feesare charged. For the external Swiss Matura examination, the fees for registration, assessment of the Matura paper and examination are around CHF 870-1,200 (some schools may charge slightly more).

Some cantons contribute to the school costs or pay them in full.

Course duration and time required

TheFull-time programsof most baccalaureate schools for adults last 6 semesters, thePart-time programsusually 7 semesters. Very compact courses last 2 semesters full-time and 4 semesters part-time.

Depending on the school and time model, the part-time programs can be combined with a 40-80% workload.

The full-time programs comprise 24-39 lessonsClassroom teachingper week plus (partially supervised)Self-study time. Part-time programs include 1-2 days of classroom instruction per week. They often start with less classroom teaching and more self-study time in the early semesters and increase the proportion of classroom teaching in the later semesters.

Degree and diploma

The federal baccalaureate comprisesWritten and oral examinationsin the twelve school subjects as well as the writing of aMatura thesis. There are two ways to take the baccalaureate examinations: Internal baccalaureates and external federal baccalaureate examinations (some schools refer to these as "external baccalaureates").

Grammar schools withIn-house baccalaureatemay take the examination at their own school and with their own teachers. The actual examination covers 6 of the 12 subjects and the preliminary grades are taken into account when calculating the Matura grade. In the remaining subjects, the preliminary grades from the semester reports count as Matura grades.

With theexternalAll subjects are examined in the Federal Matura examination; however, candidates are free to take the examination in one examination session or in two parts.

The first part of the examination covers the basic subjects:

• Biology (written)
• Chemistry (written)
• Physics (written)
• History (written)
• Geography (written)
• Visual arts or music (subject-specific)

The second part of the examination comprises:

• First language (written and oral)
• Second national language (written and oral)
• third language (written and oral)
• Mathematics (written and oral)
• Main subject (written and oral)
• Supplementary subject (oral)
• Presentation of the Matura thesis (oral)