Summary: Vaud is adding a year to the gymnase, moving from three years to four starting in 2032, two years ahead of the federal deadline of 2034. Entry conditions won’t change: a VP certificate for direct access, or an entrance exam and bridging year for students coming from the general stream. What’s new is that recognised private schools can now award the cantonal maturité themselves, a right the Grand Conseil confirmed in March 2026. Behind the reform sits an uncomfortable statistic: only 81% of Vaud gymnasiens go on to complete a bachelor’s degree, the lowest rate in the country, and the canton says the extra year exists to build the critical thinking, research skills and independent work that graduates are currently missing. The IB Diploma has been teaching exactly those skills throughout its programme for decades, not in a single added year, and it already opens the door to Swiss universities from 32 out of 42 points, with EPFL and ETHZ asking for more.
Vaud has fixed the date. From the start of the 2032-33 school year, the gymnase (the upper-secondary school that leads to the Swiss maturité) will take four years instead of three.¹ If your child is in primary school today, this is their pathway.
Gymnase access vs IB Diploma access
How the reformed Vaud maturité compares with the IB Diploma, at a glance.
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| Vaud maturité gymnasiale | IB Diploma | |
|---|---|---|
| Course length from 2032 | 4 years | 2 years (Grades 11–12) |
| Entry route | VP certificate, or exam/RAC2 bridging year for VG students | School admissions process |
| Independent research component | Introduced in the reformed 4th year | Extended Essay: a 4,000-word independent research project, built in from the start |
| Soft skills / transversal skills | Stated aim of the reformed 4th year: critical thinking, independent work, scientific method, academic writing | Built in from the start via the Approaches to Learning framework, across every subject and year |
| Bachelor completion after university entry | 81%, the lowest completion rate of any Swiss canton | No directly comparable Swiss figure available |
| Minimum score for Swiss university entry | Maturité certificate (pass/fail) | 32/42 points generally required (core bonus excluded); EPFL and ETHZ ask for more |
Sources: État de Vaud / MAT-EO (mat-eo.ch, vd.ch); 20 minutes, February 2026; International Baccalaureate Organization, ibo.org; University of Basel, IB admission requirements.
Why is Vaud moving to a four-year maturité?
The push came from Bern, not from the canton. Maturité certificates awarded after a three-year course will no longer be recognised in Switzerland from 2038.² The federal deadline for the switch is August 2034, and Vaud has chosen to move two years early.³
What actually changes at the gymnase in Vaud?
The canton is not simply bolting an extra year onto the existing course. The reform, known as MAT-EO, also reshapes the end of compulsory schooling around a mixed “10 or 11 + 4” model: strong students can enter the gymnase after Year 10, everyone else after Year 11.⁴ It will mean roughly a hundred new classes and 150 to 180 additional teachers.¹
Two figures explain the urgency. Vaud gymnasiens currently carry some of the heaviest timetables in the country, and the repeat-year rate sits at around 40%.¹
Who gets in, and who doesn’t?
Access conditions are unchanged. The École de maturité requires the leaving certificate from the voie prégymnasiale (VP, the pre-gymnasium stream).⁵ That certificate is awarded on a points total, with 46.5 points in the main subject group as the threshold.⁶
Students in the voie générale (VG, the general stream) have no automatic route. They either pass an entrance exam in French, mathematics and languages,⁷ or complete a bridging year, the raccordement (RAC2), to reach VP standard.⁶ Within the state system, the maturité gymnasiale remains the only direct door to university.⁸
Can private schools award the maturité now?
They can. On 17 March 2026, the Grand Conseil (the cantonal parliament) confirmed a change to the loi sur l’enseignement secondaire supérieur (LESS) allowing Vaud private schools to award cantonal maturité certificates, not only federal ones. The vote was 81 to 42, with two abstentions.⁹ A cantonal implementing regulation still has to set out exactly which schools qualify, and the state will keep close oversight of teaching standards and staff qualifications.¹⁰ The first private-sector cohort would start the four-year course in 2032, alongside the public system.
Why are Vaud students struggling at university?
This is the part parents rarely hear about. Lionel Eperon, Director General of post-compulsory education, points out that Vaud gymnasiens pass their exams and reach higher education much like everyone else. Once at university, though, only 81% go on to complete a bachelor’s degree, the lowest rate in Switzerland.¹¹
The canton’s own diagnosis is telling. MAT-EO states that the aim of the fourth year is to build transversal skills: independent intellectual work, critical thinking, the foundations of scientific method, confident writing and the ability to work across subjects.⁴
Where the IB Diploma has taken Haut-Lac graduates
Each of these alumni began with the IB Diploma at Haut-Lac, then built their own path through bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral study at Swiss and international institutions.
Swipe to follow each path →
How does the IB Diploma already answer that?
Those are precisely the habits the IB builds in from the start. The IB’s Approaches to Learning framework runs through every subject and covers five skill categories: thinking, communication, social skills, self-management and research.¹² Students practise them daily rather than meeting them in a final year.
The Extended Essay is a good example. A 4,000-word independent research project, supervised but self-directed, is close to a first-year university assignment.
What does an IB Diploma open in Switzerland?
Swiss universities generally ask for a minimum of 32 points out of 42, excluding the core bonus, with subject conditions attached.¹³ EPFL and ETH Zurich set a higher bar. And a practical point worth knowing: for restricted subjects such as medicine, what matters most is Swiss residency, since applicants without a Swiss passport or long-term legal domicile are effectively excluded from medical studies regardless of their qualification.¹⁴
Recent Haut-Lac leavers are keeping up the trend
From a 2014 graduate now working in international sport to the Class of 2026 leavers starting at Lausanne’s own universities, the IB Diploma keeps opening doors close to home and further afield.
Swipe to meet each graduate →
So which pathway?
Vaud is spending eight years and considerable money rebuilding its maturité around skills the IB has taught for decades. That is not an argument against the gymnase. It is a reason to look carefully at both, now rather than in 2032.
Book now to come and talk to us about the IB pathway at Haut-Lac International Bilingual SchoolTM.
Jean-Louis Dubler
Haut-Lac Managing Director
References
- RTS, Les élèves vaudois feront leur gymnase en quatre ans à partir de 2032, 5 March 2024. https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/vaud/2024/article/les-eleves-vaudois-feront-leur-gymnase-en-quatre-ans-a-partir-de-2032-28427090.html
- État de Vaud, Maturité en quatre ans: une véritable opportunité pour les élèves de l’école vaudoise. https://www.vd.ch/actualites/actualite/news/i-maturite-en-quatre-ans-une-veritable-opportunite-pour-les-eleves-de-lecole-vaudoise
- 24 heures, Le gymnase en quatre ans devrait démarrer en 2032, 5 March 2024. https://www.24heures.ch/vaud-le-gymnase-en-quatre-ans-devrait-demarrer-en-2032-876809004346
- MAT-EO, Foire aux questions. https://mat-eo.ch/faq
- État de Vaud, Ecole de maturité. https://www.vd.ch/formation/formations-gymnasiales/ecole-de-maturite
- État de Vaud (eduvd.ch), Évaluation — orientation en 9e année: 46.5 points in the main subject group and 15 in the restricted group required for orientation into the voie prégymnasiale. https://eduvd.ch/vie-scolaire/ecole-obligatoire/evaluation/
- État de Vaud, Examens d’admission au gymnase. https://www.vd.ch/formation/formations-gymnasiales/examens-dadmission-au-gymnase
- swissuniversities, Admission aux hautes écoles universitaires. https://www.swissuniversities.ch/fr/themes/admission/admission-hautes-ecoles-universitaires
- 24 heures, Maturité: les écoles privées vaudoises autorisées à délivrer le certificat cantonal, 18 March 2026. https://www.24heures.ch/maturite-les-ecoles-privees-vaudoises-autorisees-a-delivrer-le-certificat-cantonal-916752162521
- RTS, Les écoles privées vaudoises pourront délivrer des certificats de maturité, 18 March 2026. https://www.rts.ch/info/regions/vaud/2026/article/les-ecoles-privees-vaudoises-autorisees-a-delivrer-la-maturite-cantonale-29186276.html
- 20 minutes, Le gymnase en quatre ans se dessine sous pression, February 2026. https://www.20min.ch/fr/story/ecole-vaudoise-ils-planchent-pour-imaginer-le-gymnase-en-quatre-ans-103499944
- International Baccalaureate Organization, What is an IB education? — approaches to learning (ATL) skill categories: communication, social, self-management, research and thinking. https://ibo.org/professional-development/free-learning/what-is-an-ib-education/
- University of Basel, Admission with the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB/DP). https://www.unibas.ch/en/Studies/Before-My-Studies/Application-Admission/Admission/Admission-to-the-bachelor-s-degree-program/Admission-to-bachelor-s-studies-with-foreign-educational-qualifications/Admission-with-the-International-Baccalaureate-Diploma-IB.html
- swissuniversities, Admission aux études de médecine. https://www.swissuniversities.ch/fr/service/inscription-aux-etudes-de-medecine/admission-aux-etudes-de-medecine
