How a top Swiss university is screening Chinese students

The federal technology institute ETH Zurich has revealed security screening measures it routinely carries out on applications from foreign students from certain countries – provoking fear and anger from the Chinese academic community in particular. Will these screenings change the landscape of studying abroad for Chinese students? "Why is ETH Zurich taking such harsh decisions and extreme measures against foreign applicants from certain countries? I don't understand at all," said Huang Xiaoyu*, his voice filled with anxiety as he spoke to SWI swissinfo.ch on the phone from China. Currently a biotechnology student at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Chengdu, he has been preparing for more than a year to apply to study at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich, beginning in the autumn of 2025. He has been learning German and has submitted a self-designed programme compatible with the master's courses in computational biology and bioinformatics that ...