Despite its relatively small size (390,000 inhabitants), the city has an international metropolitan flair and offers an extensive range of leisure amenities. Its location on Lake Zurich and its proximity to the Alps and other places of scenic interest make Zurich a pleasant place to live.
During the summer, its lakeside offers a wide range of leisure activities. Numerous restaurants, cafés and bars satisfy every culinary taste. The surrounding area, featuring small lakes and hilly landscapes, offers ample opportunity for out-door activities such as hiking, climbing and cycling. During the winter and the cooler seasons the opera, theatres, cinemas, museums, clubs and bars present attractive alternatives. Those who enjoy skiing, snowboarding and other winter sports are also within an hour or two of beautiful snow-covered mountains.
Even though 64% of the population are still formal member of the state churches (Catholic or Reformed state church), these figures do not reflect the church attendance rate or the rate of believers. Only about 2-3% of the Swiss claim to follow Jesus. Most Swiss have never truly heard the gospel and had only a few encounters with born again Christians.
The current Cru ministry in Switzerland has a full-time team at the main universities. Studying here will provide you countless opportunities to start friendships with Swiss and international students. You could be the first Christian of your Swiss friends!
Currently, the campuses with Cru movements in Zurich are the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) and the University of Zurich.
The University of Zurich is one of the leading research universities in Europe and offers the widest range of study courses in Switzerland.
ETH Zurich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, is one of the world’s leading universities in science and technology.
You can come on an exchange program or you can come as a visiting student. Check with your home university if it has a bilateral exchange agreement with the ETH or the University of Zurich. In addition to this, there is the Swiss-European Mobility Program (Erasmus) and the ISEP (International Student Exchange Program).
In general you may come to a university for one to two semesters, and it is possible to start in either the fall or the spring semester. Fall terms typically run mid-September through mid-December, and spring terms late February through late May.
You will be working with a local Swiss team of Cru staff members and key student volunteers to help grow and expand the ministry. A part of your ministry will be building intentional relationships, searching for key volunteers and weekly meetings/gatherings. There will also be opportunities to be involved in ministry training and personal development.
ETH Zurich provides a limited number of furnished single rooms for international Master’s (MSc) and exchange students. But usually campus housing is not available on Swiss universities. Have a look at living in Zurich for further information and additional links.
Your personal ministry will be in English as most students speak it well enough to have meaningful spiritual conversations. Most Master’s degree programs are in English. The Bachelor’s degree programs usually begin in German. In the second and third years of the Bachelor’s programs, some of the courses may take place in English.
The semester fees amount to CHF 600-800, but there are also living costs to consider too. It is estimated that students spend CHF 16,000 to CHF 26,000 on study and living costs each year.
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