For partners
College Champittet (Switzerland)
In the process of preparing the material, we referenced the following sources: Wikipedia
Programs and prices, tuition fees in College Champittet (Switzerland)
Preschool program (from 3 to 4 years old), Preschool age
- Age of students: 3-4 years old.
- Full-time tuition only, no accommodation.
Champittet College strives to create a warm, cozy, friendly atmosphere so that children love going to school from an early age: both campuses accept children from the age of 3.
The bilingual curriculum fosters curiosity through fun activities and games, creative practices. Children grow independent, self-confident, develop motor, counting, language skills (English and French). Small classes allow attention to be given to everyone, so that children's academic and social abilities develop very harmoniously and freely.
Forest School
Since 2020, outdoor activities have become an important part of the preschool and primary school curriculum thanks to the Forest School. This is a great opportunity to stimulate both the mind and the body. Children learn to identify colors and shapes, observe the weather and the change of seasons, play sports and play, explore and dream, learn to listen, observe and concentrate.
Primary School (Grades 1-4, Ages 6-11)
Only full-time education (from 3 years old), living in a boarding school is possible from the age of 11 .
Younger students are taught classical, basic language skills: writing, arithmetic, the development of communication skills, a sense of community and belonging to a single school brotherhood. The curriculum combines traditional, classical teaching methods and modern approaches (for example, Montessori), electronic and interactive teaching tools are also involved.
For the youngest children (4-6 years old) there is a preparatory group and a kindergarten.
Secondary School I (12-15 years old)
Education at this age is bilingual, includes lessons in both French and English (the division by languages is in accordance with the subjects taught).
Secondary School II (Grades 9-10, 16-18 years old)
At this stage of study, students choose one of the three offered programs, each of which can serve as an excellent basis for admission to any world university: this is a Swiss diploma (matura), French or the International Baccalaureate.
International Baccalaureate
The program is designed for two years, during which not only academic knowledge is deepened, but also the ability to critical and analytical thinking is cultivated, and a steady incentive for self-education and research activities is created. The course program is as detailed and in-depth as possible, the subjects are studied almost at a professional level, which helps when entering any, even the most prestigious and advanced university in the world.
To study in the program, each student chooses one subject from various blocks:
-
- Social: History, Business, Geography, Fundamentals of Management, Economics
- Experimental: Physics, Chemistry, Biology
- Math: Regular and Advanced
- Language: two foreign languages
- Art history: visual mastery, theater and dramatic art, music (if desired, the subject from this block can be replaced by another of the previous directions).
In addition, participants in the International Baccalaureate program learn 3 important skills that help them in further education, expand their experience:
-
- Writing a detailed essay: an extensive, detailed, reasoned discussion of the subject;
- Theory of knowledge: the nature of knowledge, consideration of various methods from a critical point of view (perception, reason, language and emotion), features of different types of knowledge (historical, scientific, mathematical, creative);
- Creativity, mutual assistance, joint activities outside the classroom and the educational process.
French as a Foreign Language Programme: Studied as a supplement to the main course.
This program is designed for a year and is aimed at international students for whom French is not their native language. In total, about 80 students enter the program: each of them is completely immersed in the language and educational environment, lives on a full-board system, and constantly communicates with students from other countries in French. After graduating from this program, the student gets the opportunity to enter any world university — for example, at universities in Switzerland and Germany, education in English will be free (only accommodation and semester fees are charged).
Secondary School II (16-18 years old)
At this stage of study, students choose one of the three offered programs, each of which can serve as an excellent basis for admission to any world university: this is a Swiss diploma (matura), French or the International Baccalaureate.
French Baccalaureate
This is an excellent support for admission to any university in the world. The educational program is divided into 3 separate sections, so the student can pay maximum attention to the most necessary and interesting subjects. Exams will require the student to confirm a high level of proficiency in French (written and oral), as well as the ability to think analytically and synthesize information. Bachelor's programs are:
- Literary (L)
These are philosophy, literature, foreign languages - most often it is chosen by students who plan to study at the faculties of law, linguistics and other humanities.
- Scientific (S)
Natural Science Block. Most often, it is chosen by students who want to improve their knowledge of mathematics and physics, become a professional in engineering or business, enter medical school, or find themselves in science.
- Economic, Social (ES)
This is a balanced program at the intersection of humanities and mathematical disciplines; It is especially recommended for applicants to economic and law faculties.
French as a Foreign Language Programme: Studied as a supplement to the main course.
This program is designed for a year and is aimed at international students for whom French is not their native language. In total, about 80 students enter the program: each of them is completely immersed in the language and educational environment, lives on a full-board system, and constantly communicates with students from other countries in French. After graduating from this program, the student gets the opportunity to enter any world university — for example, at universities in Switzerland and Germany, education in English will be free (only accommodation and semester fees are charged).
High school: Swiss Maturite
- Age of students: 16-18 years old (Grades 9-14).
The stage of high school is a time of important decisions concerning your own future. Students are supported at each stage, strengthening their knowledge and skills necessary to achieve individual goals.
The Swiss Maturite bilingual certificate is a rigorous and rich curriculum based on Swiss quality standards, instilling discipline and curiosity, leadership qualities and teamwork in children.
The language opportunities of the course are additional study of the German language at the standard/advanced level up to grades 11-14; Italian is available instead of German from the 9th grade. If a student needs help improving their French, they can attend the French as a Foreign Language (FLE) programme.
From the 9th grade, students undergo a cycle of consultations, useful recommendations for further educational path: admission to university (Switzerland and the world) and career.
Description of College Champittet (Switzerland)
Collège Champittet private school is located on the banks of Lake Geneva. With an all-ages day and boarding school in Lausanne and a preschool and primary school in Nyon (between Geneva and Lausanne). Both sites offer close contact with nature and a serene learning environment. Its privileged location gives students year-round access to outdoor sports such as sailing and skiing, while the nearby Olympic city of Lausanne provides cultural stimulation and inspiration.
The College accepts international children from 3 to 18 years old.
Collège Champittet private school was founded in 1903 by the Dominican monks as Catholic school exclusively for boys. Since 1984, the school became mixed and welcomed girls. Nowadays , it is a progressive international educational institution, which accepts every year about 800 pupils of all nationalities, religions and cultures. The school became completely secular in 1998 and expanded so much that a new campus was opened in the city of Nyon in 2004.
Collège Champittet has gained a well-deserved reputation as one of the best Swiss private schools. The educational institution is accredited by the European Council of International Schools and the Association of New England Schools and Colleges; it is also member of the Association of Private Swiss Schools (Fédération suisse des écoles privées - FSEP) and the Private School’s Association of the local canton of Vaud (l'Association vaudoise des écoles privées - AVDEP).
Private schools are very popular among foreign students from all over the world: that's why the application for schooling should be submitted approximately one year before the planned start of the educational program, as the number of places is extremely limited and the competition for a place is very high.
How are Swiss school rankings determined, and how reliable are they?
There aren't any official, uniform rankings. At Collège Champittet, we take pride in our 100% exam pass rate for all diploma programs, with an average IB score of 35.
Accommodation, meals, prices
All students are accommodated in the beautiful historical building of the school’s campus with incredible architectural composition, the bedrooms of which are at the same time furnished with a proper level of comfort and convenience.
Each of four residential floors has a shared living room for socialising and entertainment. There is a cozy living room with all the necessary furniture and appliances on each floor: students often come together to chat, watch films, play games and have a snack. There is also a dining room and a library. Facilities and bathrooms can be in a private room or on the floor - there are enough sanitary zones and toilets for comfortable use, they are all maintained in perfect cleanliness. Each room is locked. There are personal safes in rooms, in which students store personal valuables and documents. Laptops should be stored into separate safes at special room.
Girls and boys live on separate floors and nearly all boarders share a room with another student to enhance cross-cultural learning.
College Champittet has organized an incredibly varied, delicious food: the chefs were awarded a special prize - the Green Label, which proves the quality.
The cost of studying (full board) is the following:
- From CHF 74’500 CHF per year - five-day boarding school
- From CHF 91'100 per year - seven-day boarding school
Subjects and sports
Activities College Champittet (Switzerland)
Champittet College students have plenty of opportunities for extracurricular activities. There are more than 30 hobby communities:
- music,
- theatre,
- dance,
- art studio and visual arts,
- running YouTube channels,
- coding,
- yoga,
- taekwondo,
- basketball,
- kayaking, etc.
Organised for each age group, the guided after-school programmes encourage students to explore their artistic, intellectual and athletic interests while discovering and building new talents. Fun and interesting weekend activities are organized for the students of boarding schools in Switzerland. Activities vary significantly from week to week and according to the time of year.
Examples include:
- Water sports on Lake Geneva (sailing, paddleboarding, waterskiing)
- Cultural visits to different parts of Switzerland, Italy or France
- Climbing
- Hiking
- Mountain biking
- Shopping trips (such as to the Christmas markets)
- Skiing (every weekend from January, throughout the ski season)
- Visits to local restaurants
Travelling is essential in the cultural education of children. It can be a short weekend trip through Switzerland and Europe, or longer holiday tours - to European countries through Asia or Africa, up to historical explorations of ancient Greece or climbing Mt Kilimanjaro.
Advantages
1. A Swiss school, open to the world
Students of 50 different nationalities study here. The school offers bilingual education (English, French or both) and an adaptation programme of French as a Foreign Language (FLE). Multilingualism and multiculturalism are key to the development of students' language skills.
2.The best of Switzerland
Lausanne is considered as one of the 20 best cities for study in the world (QS ranking 2022), and was named best small city in the world by Monocle magazine. It is the cultural capital of the French-speaking Switzerland, offering access to cultural, sporting and creative opportunities all year round. And all this is combined with breathtaking views.
3. Academic excellence
Its 3 internationally recognised diploma programmes – bilingual Swiss Maturité, French Baccalaureate and International Baccalaureate in English – enable students follow the best pathway for their interests and goals. The school also provides a personalised university and career guidance starting from Grade 11 (age 14/15). Collège Champittet students consistently achieve high academic results, and they go on to study at some of the world’s most competitive universities. 100% of them receive offers from the five universities of their initial choice. Over the past 3 years Champittet students have been accepted to top-tier universities such as:
- University of Oxford
- King’s College
- EPFL
- University of Lausanne
- University of Geneva
- Queen Mary University of London
- University of Virginia
- University of Toronto
- École Hotelière de Lausanne
- Hult Business School
- McGill University
- University of Exeter
4. Family values
The Collège Champittet promotes family values, Catholic heritage and fosters important personal qualities such as courage, openness, honesty, respect for yourself and others, ambition, humanity.
5. Outstanding learning experiences
The Collège Champittet successfully collaborates with many prestigious educational centres - The Juilliard School, MIT, UNICEF - providing students with impressive prospects. It is a perfect combination of traditional Swiss academic rigor and modern learning technology. Children are encouraged to explore art, science and the world as a whole, exchanging ideas with peers from around the world.
Facilities and equipment at College Champittet (Switzerland)
All the classrooms are fully equipped with the necessary furniture, appliances, teaching materials and computers. A large-scale modernization of "e-learning" was carried out in 2012 in partnership with Apple, and now every classroom has iPads and other technical equipment, modern laptops are available for self-study and information retrieval on the Internet. In addition, students are granted access to the library's rich resources.
Sports competitions are arranged on the playing fields and grounds for football, volleyball, athletics, basketball and tennis. Experienced and qualified masters and trainers are engaged with the students in the sports sections.
Admission dates and extra charges
The academic year is divided into terms: autumn (September 1 - December 31), winter (January 1 - March 31) and summer (April 31 - June 30). The academic year usually begins in September and ends in July. Students have weekends and holidays to rest.
Additional fees and charges for boarding include:
- Registration fee is 2’500 CHF,
- Air tickets;
- Transfer in both directions;
- Visa fees and services;
- Supervisory support for the student;
- Medical insurance – 2’700 CHF / year;
- Optional trips;
- Additional cultural, sports, leisure activities (optional),
- Private lessons with the teacher (optional) - 105 CHF / 55 minutes (per lesson).
Extras:
Refundable deposit for the boarding house – 10,000 CHF.
Enrolment process
Private schools are very popular with international students from all over the world: that is why you should apply for studies about a year before the planned start of the study program, since the number of places is extremely limited, and the competition for a place is very high.
Literature and references
Institution on the map
Residence permits, citizenship and other services
- Guardianship services during the studies
- Student supervision
Review about College Champittet (Switzerland)
Luxury boarding school with huge queues for admission. Do not repeat our mistakes: the daughter entered at the second time.
When choosing a school abroad, we chose studying in Switzerland. It’s fabulously expensive, but the level is beyond education, and equipment, and technical capabilities (well, very nice, well-groomed, near the mountains and a lot of other subjective amenities). However, while the court is on the case, while we lazily chose - when sending documents, we received a polite letter that the places on the course ended.
Not expected, of course. It would seem that pay the money - and you get the place. Then, the documents were straightened out as clearly as possible. Here, thanks to the consultant Alexandra: she, too, was divided up from our "return", so we developed a whole plan for the date of the new reception. Two weeks before the start of the collection of applications, we did all the docks (translated into English, certified by a notary, etc.), prepared a full package - and in the morning (Alexandra clarified the first day of submission) sent all to the school. Accepted! Quickly (until they changed their minds :)) we paid the receipt for the first year (they decided right away, but you could also pay for the semesters) and began to prepare for departure (the school sends an invitation for a visa for students, the ordinary Schengen will not work here).
We've got such an epic: we lost a year, but we tried to use it all the same, and learn from our mistakes. How will the first year come to an end? Let's add a review: the daughter likes it, but it’s not enough time for an objective assessment whether it was all worth it.
Recommendations on when to apply
| Language courses, schools and children's language camps | Primary and secondary education - private schools | Preparation programmes for entering universities - higher education | Higher education (after completing accredited programs A-level, IB, High School) - Bachelor, Master, MBA |
| - we recommend to apply 6-9 months before the start of the course (some camps and schools offer discounts for early booking or for lengthy study programs) - there are some very popular and high demand children's camps, where the applications need to be submitted 1 year in advance (in particular Switzerland , Great Britain , USA , Canada , Austria) | - we recommend to apply one year before the start of the training program, - some schools have a specific time frame (September-November - please specify an individual school) - some schools require tests in several stages (UKISET, internal tests of the school: English, mathematics, logics, subjects, interview, some require a personal visit) | - we recommend to apply one year before the start of the program, - for Foundation and Pathway programs, IELTS and TOEFL certificates are usually required, respectively | - recommended submission one year before the start of the program, - the deadline normally closes in January, for TOP HEIs and, as a rule, in March in other universities - for a bachelor, a Foundation or Pathway preparatory program a completed A-level, IB, High School + IELTS / TOEFL are required - for Masters you need a graduated higher education, in some cases you need a pre-Masters program - MBA requires completed higher education, work experience preferably at least 2-3 years, etc. |
