The students enrolled at the University of St.Gallen come from 90 nations. Owing to its great international presence and the demand for places for foreign students generated by this, the HSG has had a quota for foreign students ever since 1963 for reasons of capacity.

The quota for foreign students is fixed by the University’s Board of Governors. The quota concerns students

• who come from a foreign country and do not have Swiss or Liechtenstein nationality,
• who are resident in a foreign country at the time when they obtain their university entrance qualification.

The quota for foreign students is calculated on the basis of a formula. For this purpose, all the students enrolled at the HSG are counted, with the exception of guest students. Also, doctoral students who are working on their thesis and therefore make fewer demands on the infrastructure only count a third.

Since the number of foreign applicants is higher than the number of students who can be admitted, a selection takes place on the basis of additional criteria: in the case of Assessment Year students, for instance, this includes an admission test, which is run once a year. With the help of such criteria, the best applicants for student places can be selected.