EPFL (Swiss Finance Institute @ EPFL) vs Université de Saint-Gall (HSG): which trading school is better?
As of November 5, 2026, EPFL (Swiss Finance Institute @ EPFL) leads Université de Saint-Gall (HSG) by 5.3 points in the 2027 trading and investing school ranking: #23 internationally against #106. The gap comes mainly from the Teaching and Student reviews pillars. Université de Saint-Gall (HSG) does better on Recognition and employability. On Trust, they are level.
2027 edition · updated November 5, 2026 · next updates planned for December 2026 and January 2027 · Ranking methodology
All 25 criteria, side by side
| Criterion | EPFL (Swiss Finance Institute @ EPFL)Programme rated: Master in Financial Engineering | Université de Saint-Gall (HSG)Programme rated: Master in Quantitative Economics and Finance |
|---|---|---|
| Score out of 100 | 85.0 | 79.7 |
| International rank | #23 | #106 |
| Rank in Switzerland | #1 of 29 | #3 of 29 |
| Trust · 10 % | 4.85/5 | 4.85/5 |
| 1. Regulator warningsscale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 2. Registered company and agescale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 3. Transparency: price, refunds, legal notice, contactscale | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| 4. Named, verifiable instructorsscale | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| 5. Honest marketing, no promise of profitscale | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| 6. Secure websitescale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 7. Protected domain (SPF, DMARC, headers)scale | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| Teaching · 20 % | 4.60/5 | 3.01/5 |
| 8. Curriculum qualityscale | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| 9. Real practicescale | 2/5 | 2/5 |
| 10. Mentoring and supportscale | 4/5 | 2/5 |
| 11. Cost per training hourscale | 5/5 | n/a |
| Student reviews · 20 % | 5.00/5 | 4.00/5 |
| 13. Student rating (Trustpilot and Google)scale | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| 14. Number of reviewsscale | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| 15. Suspicious review warningscale | n/a | n/a |
| 16. 12-month trendscale | n/a | n/a |
| Recognition and employability · 30 % | 3.27/5 | 4.66/5 |
| 12. Degree-granting programscale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 18. Degree recognized by a state or the professionscale | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| 25. Employability and career outcomesscale | 3/5 | 4/5 |
| 17. Institutional accreditationscale | 3/5 | 4/5 |
| 19. Labels and awardsscale | 1/5 | 5/5 |
| 20. Official partnersscale | 3/5 | 5/5 |
| Visibility · 20 % | 4.33/5 | 3.50/5 |
| 21. Domain agescale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 22. Websites linking to itscale | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| 23. Press mentions, Wikipedia pagescale | – | 2/5 |
| 24. Audience: social media and newsletterscale | 3/5 | 3/5 |
In green, the better of the two scores. “n/a”: not applicable, the criterion is left out of its pillar. “–”: criterion not yet assessed. The evidence and source for each score are on each school's listing.
EPFL (Swiss Finance Institute @ EPFL): full listingUniversité de Saint-Gall (HSG): full listing