I am graduating high school this year in the US and I applied to some universities in Europe. I immediately fell in love with the Economics bachelor program in the University of Geneva (UNIGE) but I also got accepted to the Economics and Business bachelor's degree in the University of Amsterdam. As I am not from CH, I am having trouble comparing the two universities in academic quality, reputation, job opportunities and etc. It seems to me that Uni of Amsterdam is more well-known but I might be completely wrong. If someone could share their experiences or what they heard about UNIGE that would be great (:
Both universities have similar global ranking. But Amsterdam is well-known for drugs and Geneva is well-known for politics(international organization). Reputation-wise, I would go for UniGe.
depends on the kind of finance/banking we're talking about. Geneva has the largest concentration of trading companies in the world, especially for commodities...so much that UNIGE has a specialized masters degree to commodity trading. Amsterdam on the other hand is one of the financial capitals of Europe and might take over after brexit...if you look at university of amsterdam's alumni, most of them are working in banking. I think this post by The Guardian really sums it up, if you're interested (:
All state universities in Switzerland are of good quality (Zurich, Bern, Basel, Geneva, Fribourg, St Gallen, Lausanne) with only minor differences.
ETH/EPFL are top-notch for technical and scientific degrees.
St Gallen is slightly more known for everything business related in their MS/MA degrees (NOT the MBA which is just ok).
No one cares that much about university reputation, this ain't the US
The only thing no one takes seriously are the wannabe "universities" that keep popping up left and right.
I have never heard that the Uni of Amsterdam would be strong for Finance & Banking. Amsterdam is neither a finance center, nor is the university extraordinarily relevant. It is not better known or less known than Uni Geneva or any other uni in Switzerland. Again, not the US.
If you are dead-set on the finance stuff in Switzerland, Uni St Gallen (HSG) is your best bet, but as you don't speak German, Geneva is just as good an option as anything else here.
Thanks a lot for the comprehensive answer! Sorry for the ignorance, but if universities' reps don't matter in ch, how do companies decide which graduates to hire? are all state universities regarded as equally prestigious?
fortunately I applied to an english program at st. gallen (: would probably have some difficulty in everyday life though
I wrongly believed that Swiss universities were similar in reputation and didn't even applied for St Gallen because of its poor general ranking.
However, I regretted a lot.
Check the below St Gallen career fair - you would never find such "Luxury" companies (e.g. big 3 consulting firms MBB) to show up at Uni Geneva/Zurich/Basel career fair.
Their degree is also duel accredited, US/Swiss and they have a great academic travel program. The courses are all in English with the possibility to learn Italian if you wish.
And even if I do say it myself, Lugano is a great place to be and very close to Italy, with Milan airport about 50 minutes away.
The reason that in the US people ask what university you did is that many universities are so poor that they're not really worthy of the title. So people who did them don't really have very much to stand on.
In CH, all, except mabye the new wannabe ones, have a reputation for being OK. Employers thus assume your degree as a given and will look at other qualities.
Not so, many US companies and those in the Middle East want a graduate with a US degree. The dual accreditation is a big plus. Franklin has been going just under 50 years and is highly respected. In fact it was the first university to be established in Ticino.
And why not Lugano for finance? It's Switzerland's third financial capital and the home to many funds.
Well, I grew up here and have worked with educational institutions yet have simply absolutely never heard of this "university". I don't know where it is respected, but it isn't in Switzerland. Ex-Switzerland, that may well be different - granted, no one has a clue about the educational landscape anymore anyway.
Again, different system here, also see the other thread on this very topic. A "private" university here is usually simply shady. Tuition for (excellent) public universities is some 700-1000/semester. Who in their right mind would pay 25k (!!) a semester for a private "university" except those who simply didn't fulfill the requirements to get into real universities? This is just some wannabe adaptation of the US system and most definitely not geared towards locals or (Western) Europeans, but people from elsewhere who buy into the "US/CH dual degree" sham.
Sorry, I don't mean to offend you as I'm guessing you went there, but it's simply neither a reputable nor respected nor even well-known institution.
the franklin college was recently accredited in Switzerland too and now accepts swiss students. But I've always seen it as a college for the children of very rich american expats and recently arabs, few of which end up working locally or have family business/connections anyway which means reputation is secondary. I assume they don't cultivate connections to the local job market.
But it's stupid to come from the US to study at a small american college anyway so it's not really relevant.
Personally for economics I would stick to Geneva, Zürich, St. Gallen and maybe Basel and Lausanne, to be on the safe side. For employability experience (internships) is more important. I would take advantage of C1 in french and take it to a better level, I think in general you would have a better experience on all fronts (finding internships and life experience) and more opportunities in the future.
IMD is a business school that offers no undergraduate degrees (that I know of), and even their MBA degree doesn't accept anyone that doesn't have significant professional experience.
HEC is the economics/business faculty of the Uni Lausanne - i.e. state uni mentioned above Might be slightly ahead of Geneva, but not to an extent that it would really matter much.