The number of students at Swiss universities increased by 5% in the year 2020/1 to 164,575 – despite the coronavirus pandemic. There was an above-average rise in foreign students. The most affected was the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI)...

The number of Covid-19 vaccines administered in Switzerland from March has risen to an average of 23,807 a day, according to the latest figures. That’s up 17% on last week. Some 166,650 vaccine doses were given between March 18 and 24, according t...

The Swiss National Yodelling Festival, scheduled for June, will not take place due to the coronavirus pandemic. It had already been postponed by a year. Until recently the organisers thought the vaccination strategy as set out by the government woul...

University and student representatives, as well as the thinktank Reatch, have called on the Swiss government to ensure that key scientific and research exchange with the European Union continues. The move comes as Switzerland tries to work out its f...

Most Swiss who are working from home miss personal contact with their colleagues – but not working from home at all would be out of the question, according to a study. Whether it’s brainstorming around a flipchart or gossiping around the coffee ...

Health regulator Swissmedic has so far received 862 reports of suspected adverse reactions following a Covid-19 vaccination in Switzerland. This corresponds to around one case per 1,000 vaccine doses administered. “There is no evidence to date of ...

Credit Suisse says it will give more junior members of its capital markets and deal businesses a $20,000 (CHF18,800) “lifestyle” allowance as it tries to maintain morale among staff feeling the strain from heavy workloads and remote working. Str...

The government has confirmed that it will receive another 8.1 million doses from April to July, enabling anyone who wants to get inoculated to receive a first dose by the end of July. In a press conference on Thursday, the government sought to reass...

The average Swiss went through 189 eggs last year, the highest amount this century. Covid-19 certainly played a role, forcing people to stay at home and cook for themselves, but there were other factors. With Swiss restaurants shut for much of the y...

The Covid-19 crisis has revealed how much Switzerland is lagging behind when it comes to digitalisation in politics and everyday life, according to Martin Vetterli, President of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). In an interv...

Cities and individuals around the world are being called upon to turn off their lights on Saturday to draw attention to the climate emergency. Many towns and cities in Switzerland will be taking part in the annual Earth Hour event, the world’s lar...

A third of the Swiss population say they feel disturbed by people perceived as “different”, with a fifth mentioning Muslims in particular, according to a government study. The Federal Statistical Office said on Thursday that tolerance had increa...

The Zurich fashion designer and winner of the 2009 Swiss Grand Prix for Design died in a hospital on March 5. The news was announced last week in an obituary in the Tages Anzeiger paper. Rodel started out as a fashion designer in the 1970s and in 19...

An investigation into the incident which occurred last year has concluded that the keeper had not closed all the protective barriers. The fatal attack by a Siberian tiger at Zurich Zoo last July was the result of a mistake by the 55-year-old zookeep...

The Swiss health authorities say they plan to roll out a certificate for people who have been vaccinated against coronavirus by summer. Anne Lévy, director of the Federal Office for Public Health, said the document – both on paper and online – ...

Swiss bank UBS must wait until December to hear the verdict of its appeal against a €4.5 billion (CHF4.9 billion) tax evasion penalty imposed in 2019. Prosecutors and the French state are now demanding a minimum €2 billion fine plus €1 billi...

The independent ethics committee of world football’s governing body FIFA has suspended former bigwigs Sepp Blatter and Jérôme Valcke for almost seven years from the game and fined them CHF1 million ($1.07 million) each. Zurich-based FIFA commun...

The price of holiday homes in the Swiss Alps increased last year as travel restrictions and work-from-home rules introduced to contain the Covid pandemic supported the upswing according to a survey by the UBS bank. On average, the price of a holiday...

The Swiss justice minister, Karin Keller-Sutter, has praised a migration accord with Nigeria and discussed future projects. During a visit to the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday, Keller-Sutter held talks with Nigerian government representatives and membe...

Swiss law enforcement agencies were granted 9,085 warrants to conduct covert electronic surveillance on suspected criminals last year – up from 8,666 operations in 2019. There was a rise in the number of retrospective surveillance approvals (findi...

In 1995, there were 87 mammal species in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Today there are 99. However, many species are far from being out of the woods. Published on Tuesday, the largest regional survey of mammals to date describes the return of large...

Tibetan organisations in Switzerland are disillusioned with the recently announced Swiss government strategy towards China. According to four Tibetan organisations, the Swiss policy does not provide for concrete action despite references to human ...

The Zurich Böögg snowman will be set aflame in a gorge in another part of Switzerland to prevent people from breaking Covid restrictions. The traditional spring festival, which has been running since 1892, sees the immolation of the effigy whose ...

The global trade in counterfeit “Made in Switzerland” goods cheated the Swiss economy out of 10,000 jobs and CHF4.5 billion ($4.9 billion) in one year alone, says an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) study. “In 2018...

A voluntary electronic vaccination record platform is being investigated for data protection violations following a complaint. On Tuesday, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) announced that it has opened proceedings aga...

Ticket sales at Swiss cinemas plummeted by two-thirds last year as venues were forced to close their doors. Of the films that could be shown, Swiss movies made up a greater share of the total offering. Official statistics out on Tuesday revealed the...

Mark Branson, the head of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma), is due to become president of the German finance regulator BaFin. On Monday Finma issued a statement confirming earlier news reports that Branson, 52, who has led Fi...

Health regulator Swissmedic has given the green light for the use of the vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson (J&J). This is the third vaccine to be approved in Switzerland. However, Switzerland has not yet ordered any doses of J&J's one-shot vaccin...

China’s ambassador to Switzerland has strongly rejected Swiss criticism of the human rights situation in the Asian country. Wang Shihting said the Swiss government’s first ever China foreign policy strategy, which was unveiled last week, was sen...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) spent CHF110 billion ($118 billion) on the foreign currency markets last year as it battled to apply the brakes on the franc’s rising value during the pandemic. The level of interventions was up from CHF13.2 billion i...