Where Study Philosophy?

Choosing a Swiss university to study philosophy could be a big deal: many factors play a role, and there is a lot of competition from abroad.

We recommend that you specifically consider three factors:

1) the support that philosophy departments give to this website - in our (not disinterested) opinion, a good measure of an institution's willingness to engage in outreach and philosophy as a whole;

2) the quality of research, according to the SNSF funds raised by institute staff;

3) Institute-specific advertising initiatives, which (in the best case) show that they care about an attractive range of courses and make an effort in student support.

Our association aims to represent academic philosophy in Switzerland to the public and to inform them about the activities of Swiss philosophers, both inside and outside the academy. It is therefore important for us to be supported ideally and materially by the Swiss philosophy institutes.

In the past, the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Zurich and the Département de philosophie at the University of Geneva have proved to be by far the most generous. The philosophical institutes of the Universities of Fribourg, Lausanne, and the ETH have supported us in the past, but no longer in recent years. The philosophical institutes of the University of Neuchâtel and the USI regularly make a small contribution:

Federal support for the cantonal universities is based on teaching and research, with the SNSF grants received in recent years serving as an indicator of the latter (in project and personal funding). This makes particular sense for the funding of individuals (SNSF professorships, Eccellenza, Prima, Ambizione, Doc.ch): according to the SNSF's "money follows researcher" principle, grantees can choose the institution receiving the grant themselves as long as they are employed there for at least 50% of the project duration.

In June 2024, the distribution of SNSF funding among the universities is as follows:

1. Geneva: 3 ERC, 1 Prima, 3 Eccellenza, 5 Ambizione, 3 Doc.ch
2. Zurich: 2 SNSF Prof, 1 Eccellenza, 2 Ambizione, 3 Doc.ch
3. Bern: 1 ERC, 1 Prima, 1 SNSF Prof, 1 Eccellenza, 1 Ambizione, 1 Doc.ch
4. Fribourg: 1 Prima, 1 SNSF postdoc, 4 Doc.ch
5. Basel: 1 ERC, 1 Prima, 1, Ambizione, 2 Doc.ch
6. USI: 1 ERC, 1 SNSF postdoc, 1 Ambizione
7. Lausanne: 1 Doc.ch
8. Neuchâtel: 1 Doc.ch
9. Lucerne: no SNSF person funding
10. St. Gallen: no SNSF person funding
11. ETH: no SNSF person funding

The University of Geneva is also far ahead in terms of the total amount of funding for ongoing SNSF projects:

1. Geneva: CHF 17 million
2. Zurich: CHF 10.7 million
3. Basel: CHF 7.7 million
4. Bern: CHF 6.1 million
5. Fribourg: CHF 5 million
6. USI: CHF 3.6 million
7. Neuchâtel: CHF 2.2 million
8. Lausanne: CHF 1.8 million
9. Lucerne: CHF 0.97 million
10. ETH: CHF 0.83 million
11. St. Gallen: 0 CHF

The University of Bern's website lists "five reasons for the Bernese Master's": research-based teaching, research projects, good supervision, flexibility in study design, BeNeFri.