What the Swiss Matura actually is
The Matura is Switzerland’s equivalent of A-Levels, the French baccalauréat or the IB diploma. It is a broad qualification rather than a specialised one: students cover a wide base spanning languages, mathematics, experimental sciences, humanities and the arts.
That breadth is deliberate. Where other systems ask a sixteen-year-old to pick three subjects and drop the rest, the Matura keeps the full range open to the end. A student still weighing medicine against economics closes no doors.
Two routes lead to the same diploma
The first route is a cantonal gymnasium, state or private, recognised by the Confederation. The student completes their schooling there and the canton issues the maturity certificate.
The second is the Swiss Matura examination, administered by the Swiss Matura Commission, the CSM. The student prepares at the school of their choice, then sits the papers before a federal board, independently of their school. This is the route Chantemerle prepares.
Both carry exactly the same rights. The difference is who marks the work: in the second case the examination is entirely external, which makes the preparation more demanding and the result impossible to dispute.
The structure, year by year
Chantemerle prepares the Matura over three years, with a four-year option for students who need an extra year of consolidation, usually in French.
| Year | Content | Examinations |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Core programme: mathematics, French, German or Italian, English, experimental sciences and humanities | None |
| Year 2 | Experimental sciences and humanities | First session: 6 subjects, written papers |
| Year 3 | Languages, mathematics, specific option, complementary option | Second session: written and oral, plus the Matura project |
Splitting the examinations across two sessions matters more than it sounds. A student is not staking three years on a single week of papers: six subjects are banked for good in year two, leaving year three to concentrate on what remains.
The examinations: twelve subjects across two sessions
The Swiss Matura examination covers twelve subjects, split between written and oral papers, with the Matura research project on top.
The first session, in year two, covers six subjects in writing: biology, chemistry, physics, geography, history and arts. The second session, in year three, covers French, the second national language, English, mathematics, the specific option and the complementary option.
At Chantemerle the preparation is built entirely around those papers: weekly and termly mock examinations from the first year, and systematic work on past papers. The aim is not to cover a syllabus. It is to walk into the examination room on familiar ground.
Choosing the specific option
This is the one real choice of direction in the whole programme, and it shapes what follows. The specific option is the subject a student takes further, and it carries weight in a university file.
- Mathematics and physics, for EPFL, ETH Zurich or an engineering school.
- Biology and chemistry, for medicine, pharmacy and life sciences.
- Economics and law, for HEC Lausanne, the University of St Gallen (HSG) or business schools.
- Languages, Russian or Chinese for example, for international profiles.
A complementary option is added on top, chosen from a shorter list, with philosophy the most common.
The Matura project
The diploma also requires a personal research project. The student picks a subject, carries out the research, writes a dissertation and defends it orally.
Families routinely underestimate it, because it resembles nothing they have seen at school before. It is in fact the single best preparation for university: framing a question, building a method, holding a schedule across several months. Chantemerle supervises the Matura project as part of the course, and it is included in tuition.
How grading works
Swiss grades run from 1 to 6, with 4 as the pass mark. A 6 is excellent, a 5 solid, a 3 a fail. Families arriving from a system marked out of 20 or in letters usually need a term to recalibrate how they read a report.
The diploma is not decided subject by subject. It rests on a compensation rule: marks above 4 partly offset those below, within a defined limit and with only a small number of failing grades tolerated. A student can therefore pass the Matura carrying a weak mark in one subject, provided they have built a margin elsewhere. The exact conditions are set and published by the Swiss Matura Commission.
The practical consequence is strategic. From year one it pays to push the subjects where a student can score high rather than pouring everything into rescuing their weakest. That is exactly the kind of call individual monitoring is there to make.
When to start
Students enter the first Matura year at around 15 or 16, on leaving middle school. Two things need planning ahead: the level of French and the level of mathematics.
For a student who does not speak French, allow one to two years of language integration beforehand depending on the starting point. For a French-speaking student whose mathematics is shaky, targeted preparation before entry avoids two painful years. We run that advanced preparation for high school admission in mathematics, French and German.
Either way the rule is the same: a consolidation year before entry costs less, in time and in confidence, than repeating a year mid-course.
What the Matura actually opens
The Matura gives automatic access to Switzerland’s public universities: EPFL and ETH Zurich for engineering, HEC Lausanne and the University of St Gallen for management, and the universities of Lausanne, Geneva, Fribourg and Neuchâtel. No entrance examination, no selection file. Human medicine is the exception everywhere in Switzerland: places are capped and allocated by aptitude test or first-year selection depending on the canton, and that applies to every candidate.
The second effect is financial and rarely advertised. An international student holding the Swiss Matura is treated exactly as a Swiss student, including on university tuition fees, which are among the lowest in Europe. Across a five-year degree the gap against a British or American university runs into tens of thousands of francs.
Internationally the diploma is recognised across Europe and North America. Foreign universities accept it without particular difficulty. We have handled the point-by-point comparison with the IB separately.
For a student who does not speak French
The Matura is prepared in French, and this is the obstacle most international families raise. It is real, and it is surmountable.
Entry requires a B1 level. Students who are not there yet go through our French integration programme before joining the course. There is also a bilingual French-English Matura: history, geography and the complementary option are taken in English, and the Matura dissertation may be written in English. For an English-speaking teenager that format changes the equation considerably.
A student who arrives without a word of French and leaves three years later with a Federal Matura has not just earned a diploma. They have proved something about themselves that no report card measures.
Who the Matura suits
It suits the student who wants to study in Switzerland, the one who has not settled on a direction and wants to keep the range open, and the one who works better towards a clear examination than under diffuse continuous assessment.
It is less suited to the student who is already certain they want to specialise early in three subjects, or who cannot picture studying in French at all. For those profiles the Cambridge IGCSE and A-Level pathway usually answers the question better.
The Matura at Chantemerle
Our Matura classes are based at LémanMaturité, our Vevey site, a ten-minute walk from the station. Around thirty students study there, in deliberately small classes. The original Blonay campus houses the primary school, the middle school and the boarding house.
Alongside the course, advanced preparation in mathematics and physics targets the first year at EPFL, ETH Zurich and medical school, where attrition is high and rarely for reasons of ability. Elite athletes follow adapted timetables.
In the 2025 session, the pass rate in the federal Matura examinations was 95%, with several international students among the graduates.
For the full programme, options and admission requirements, see our Swiss Federal Matura page. And if you are still weighing the Matura against the IB, our article on four common misconceptions about the Swiss Matura and the IB tackles the points that come up most. Tell us about your situation and we will say plainly whether this is the right route for your child.
Frequently asked questions
The school management answers the questions families ask most often.
What is the Swiss Federal Matura?
It is the Swiss secondary school leaving diploma, equivalent to A-Levels, the French baccalauréat or the IB. It is broad rather than specialised: students validate twelve subjects covering languages, mathematics, experimental sciences, humanities and the arts, plus a personal research project. It is the only qualification that confers a right of admission to Switzerland’s public universities, with no entrance exam and no selection file. Human medicine, capped nationwide, is the exception.
How long does the Swiss Matura take?
Three years at Chantemerle, with a four-year option for students needing a consolidation year, usually in French. Students enter at around 15 or 16, on leaving middle school. The first year has no examinations, the second banks six subjects in written papers, and the third covers the remaining subjects and the Matura project.
What is the difference between a cantonal Matura and the Swiss Matura examination?
Two routes lead to the same diploma and the same rights. A cantonal gymnasium issues a maturity certificate recognised by the Confederation. The Swiss Matura examination is sat before a federal board under the Swiss Matura Commission, independently of the school that prepared the student. Chantemerle prepares this second, fully external route.
Can an international student take the Swiss Matura?
Yes, and they receive exactly the same rights as a Swiss student, including automatic university admission and the same registration fees, among the lowest in Europe. The course is taught in French and entry requires a B1 level. Students not yet at that level go through our French integration programme. A bilingual French-English Matura is also available.
What is the difference between the specific option and the complementary option?
The specific option is the subject a student takes further: mathematics and physics, biology and chemistry, economics and law, or a language such as Russian or Chinese. It is the real choice of direction in the programme and it carries weight in a university file. The complementary option is chosen from a shorter list, philosophy being the most common, and cannot be the same discipline as the specific option.
How many subjects are in the Matura examination?
Twelve subjects, plus the Matura research project. They are split across two sessions: six written papers in year two (biology, chemistry, physics, geography, history, arts), then in year three French, the second national language, English, mathematics, the specific option and the complementary option, in both written and oral form.
