Admissions to Bachelor programs will be limited starting in 2025
The restriction will apply to foreign students holding a certificate of higher education access issued abroad. © 2022 EPFL/Alain Herzog
EPFL has received approval from the ETH Board to cap the number of first-year bachelor’s students at 3,000. Swiss nationals and holders of Swiss diplomas will continue to be admitted without restrictions.
On one hand, increasing numbers of students are choosing EPFL for their university education, as the school has gained an international reputation for excellence. On the other hand, financial resources are shrinking, human resources are stretched thin, and infrastructure is nearing its limits. To manage the growing student population while maintaining high-quality education, EPFL will cap the number of first-year bachelor’s students at 3,000, for a four-year period starting in 2025. This measure may be extended if necessary. As requested by EPFL earlier this year, the ETH Board authorized the implementation of this measure after two consultation procedures, one internal to the ETH Domain and the other with federal administrative offices.
Thanks to this admission limitation, EPFL should be able to continue offering students optimal study conditions, with an adequate student-to-staff ratio, a commitment to promoting project-based learning, and lecture halls that are not overcrowded. “In this regard, 1,500 places are planned in the Double Deck project (a new building on the Esplanade), which should open in 2028,” says Pierre Dillenbourg, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Associate Vice President for Education. “But this is just one aspect of education quality. In the future, we will not be able to continue supporting students as we do now without an increase in EPFL’s budget.”
Implementation of the limitation
Concretely, how will the admissions limitation be applied? First, all Swiss nationals or holders of a Swiss matura diploma (allowing direct access to the first year of bachelor’s programs) will be admitted without limitation, as required by law. All students who pass the CMS or the entrance exam will also be admitted without restriction.
Next, the remaining places will be allocated to foreign students holding a certificate of higher education access issued abroad. Candidates will be selected based on their overall grade point average (or total number of points scored) during their secondary school studies. Note that students admitted to EPFL in 2024 who need to repeat the first year in 2025 will not be affected by this new measure.