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Cambridge Swiss Society

About Cambridge

The small and cosmopolitan city of Cambridge is dominated by the popular historic district, the eponymous river, the wonderful parks and gardens as well as the time-honored colleges. A significant number of the 130'000 residents are affiliated with the University of Cambridge and it is likely to bump into students, postdocs and professors in various places. Because the city is rather small but heavily trafficked, cycling is the means of transportation for most students. Cambridge is located northeast of London which can be reached by train within 50 minutes.

The University of Cambridge offers a wide range of world-class educational programmes, both at the undergraduate as well as the graduate level. Besides being part of the wider university, each student is additionally a member of one of the 31 colleges. Colleges differ greatly in terms of location, size, formality, wealth and student body. All of them provide a place for cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary interaction and most of them provide student accommodation. There are three women-only colleges and two colleges are restricted to graduate students.

University and College fees

Swiss nationals are eligible to pay the "EU-fee" rates instead of the "Overseas-fee" rates given that they come into residence one month before their start of studies. Scholarships and bursaries for Swiss nationals provided by the University of Cambridge can be found here.

About the Cambridge Swiss Society

The fact that Switzerland is a small country is reflected in a small number of Swiss nationals studying at the University of Cambridge. Over the past ten years, on average, only 9 undergraduate and 20 graduate students have had Swiss roots. 2010 marked a new record with exactly 50 Swiss students being enrolled at the University. The Swiss are now representing around 1% of the foreign student population. The graph below shows the trend over the last ten years.

Chart: swiss student numbers

However, there are many more academics in Cambridge having a connection to Switzerland. Exchange students, postdocs, research group leaders, visiting scientists and alumni staying in Cambridge add to the diverse pool of Swiss nationals. There are also non-Swiss who are interested in Swiss culture or want to life and work in Switzerland. For all those people the Cambridge Swiss Society provides a platform and gives advises. The society represents the interests of Swiss nationals and focuses on the unique values of Swiss culture.

The Cambridge Swiss Society was founded on the 7th of May 2010 at Trinity College, Cambridge, with participation of 22 guests including the Swiss Embassy.