Switzerland has four official languages including German which is spoken in North, Central and Eastern Switzerland, French spoken in Western Switzerland, Italian spoken in Southern Switzerland and Romansh which is spoken in South Eastern Switzerland.
Plurilingualism is an important value in Switzerland and the Swiss school system provides a solid multi-lingual education reflective of the country’s cultural diversity. In Primary school, students will learn their regional language as well as English. Through middle school, students will learn a second national language and often transfer for a short time to another school in a neighbouring region to be fully immersed in that language. Swiss students also often study overseas to really perfect a foreign language and about 40,000 Swiss students go abroad every year.
Due to the high academic standards of the Swiss education system, most students are well placed to pursue a career path either through the efficient Swiss apprenticeship scheme or further study. There are many institutions that support the Swiss economy in fields like technology, financial and hotel services, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and electronics to name a few, and the strong command of multiple languages and good academics mean there are always plenty of well qualified Swiss candidates.
