Public education expenditure

In Switzerland, the Confederation accounts for 17.3% funding for education, the cantons 51.2% and the communes 31.5%. However, education is not always funded directly, but also in the form of contributions to the expenditures of another administrative level.

If the administrative levels that make the expenditures are considered, cantons account for two thirds (63.2%) of educational expenditures, communes for a quarter (26.9%) and the Confederation for the rest (9.9%).

Direct educational expenditures account for 57.1% of the funds spent on education by the Confederation. 42.9% of the funds spent by the Confederation are disbursed to the cantons. The cantons, in contract, invest 94.7% of educational expenditures directly and the communes 76.7%.

^{*The public expenditures for research are included in the public expenditures for education.}

Public education expenditure by the administrative level making the expenditure and the educational level, 2015

in CHF millions	Confederation	Cantons	Communes	Total in %
Total 1)	3 643	23 223	9 862	100.0
of which salaries	1 962	16 727	5 691	66.4
Compulsory education and special schools	21	8 523	9 631	49.5
Sec II: Vocational education	90	3 245	179	9.6
Sec II: General education	2	2 337	2	6.4
Tertiary: Higher vocational education	52	364	0	1.1
Tertiary: Universities	1 109	6 914	7	21.9
Research	2 362	1 311	2	10.0
Other tasks	8	528	40	1.6

1) The FSO statistics on public education expenditure considers the amounts that a community receives and not the amounts that are paid.
Extraordinary amounts are excluded.
The educational levels are defined according to the harmonized accounting model (HRM2).

Sources: FSO - Public education expenditure (ÖBA); FFA - Financial Statistics