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Geneva

Switzerland · Europe

The world's densest concentration of international organisations: the UN, the WHO, the Red Cross, the trade and health bodies. With the universities and NGOs that feed them.

Who this suits, and who it doesn’t

Suits you if international law, diplomacy or global health is the goal and you can fund an expensive, low-paid start. Look elsewhere if money is the binding constraint, or if you want a technical career. Zurich and Lausanne are where that work actually is.

The catch, and the way in

The catch

Entry to that world runs through unpaid or barely-paid internships in the most expensive city on this map, which quietly selects for students whose families can fund it.

The way in

Public university tuition is modest by Swiss standards and the master's degrees in international affairs, law and global health are the recognised door; French carries daily life.

Living there

What living here is actually like

Small, orderly and expensive, wrapped around a lake with the Alps behind it. Everything works and everything closes early, and Sunday is genuinely quiet. The population is unusually international, which makes it easy to arrive and slow to feel local; France is a tram ride away and many people live on that side for the rent.

How the money works

Tuition at the public university is low relative to the country's wealth, and the real cost is existing here: rent, food and insurance are the heaviest in this guide, and permit rules limit how much a non-EU student can work. The internships that lead into the organisations often pay little or nothing, so plan the funding for that stage before you plan the degree.Described in shape rather than figures on purpose: rents and salaries move every year and we cannot keep numbers true, but what is expensive and what quietly eats income stays true for far longer.

The language you actually need

The organisations and the research groups work in English, and master's degrees are commonly taught in it. Administration, housing, healthcare and daily life run in French, and most Swiss employers outside the international bubble expect it. This is a bilingual life, not an English-speaking one.

The work that clusters here

The kinds of work Geneva is a route into, each with what it actually involves, and what the catch is.

Who is named here

Not a ranking and not in order of merit. These are the places a subject is actually studied and taught at in this city, so you have something to search for.

  • University of Geneva

    • Humanities & Social Sciences
    • Law
    • Natural Sciences
    • Medicine & Health

    Some English-taught programmes

Language of teaching moves within a cycle, so check it on the university’s own page for your own entry year.