University student numbers increase by 5% Swissinfo.ch 03 April 2021 Swissinfo.ch. The most affected was the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) in Italian-speaking Ticino with a 12.8% rise. It was followed by the universities of Geneva and Lausanne and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), with increases of 6%-7.6%, according to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office. This confirms the trend reported by universities that fewer school leavers were going on gap years owing to travel and health restrictions. For those finishing their bachelor degrees, many students have decided to do a masters owing to the difficulty of job hunting in a pandemic.