Université de Saint-Gall (HSG) vs EPFL (Swiss Finance Institute @ EPFL): which trading school is better?
As of November 2, 2026, Université de Saint-Gall (HSG) leads EPFL (Swiss Finance Institute @ EPFL) by 8.3 points in the 2027 trading and investing school ranking: #102 internationally against #251. The gap comes mainly from the Recognition and employability and Trust pillars. EPFL (Swiss Finance Institute @ EPFL) does better on Student reviews and Visibility.
2027 edition · updated November 2, 2026 · next updates planned for December 2026 and January 2027 · Ranking methodology
All 25 criteria, side by side
| Criterion | Université de Saint-Gall (HSG)Programme rated: Master in Quantitative Economics and Finance | EPFL (Swiss Finance Institute @ EPFL)Programme rated: Master in Financial Engineering |
|---|---|---|
| Score out of 100 | 79.7 | 71.4 |
| International rank | #102 | #251 |
| Rank in Switzerland | #2 of 29 | #4 of 29 |
| Trust · 10 % | 4.85/5 | 3.92/5 |
| 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 | 2/5 |
| 4. Named, verifiable instructorsscale | 4/5 | 1/5 |
| 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 | 5/5 | 4/5 |
| Teaching · 20 % | 3.01/5 | 2.20/5 |
| 8. Curriculum qualityscale | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| 9. Real practicescale | 2/5 | 1/5 |
| 10. Mentoring and supportscale | 2/5 | 1/5 |
| 11. Cost per training hourscale | n/a | 1/5 |
| Student reviews · 20 % | 4.00/5 | 5.00/5 |
| 13. Student rating (Trustpilot and Google)scale | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| 14. Number of reviewsscale | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| 15. Suspicious review warningscale | n/a | n/a |
| 16. 12-month trendscale | n/a | n/a |
| Recognition and employability · 30 % | 4.66/5 | 2.91/5 |
| 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 | 4/5 | 3/5 |
| 17. Institutional accreditationscale | 4/5 | 3/5 |
| 19. Labels and awardsscale | 5/5 | 1/5 |
| 20. Official partnersscale | 5/5 | 1/5 |
| Visibility · 20 % | 3.50/5 | 4.33/5 |
| 21. Domain agescale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 22. Websites linking to itscale | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| 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.
Université de Saint-Gall (HSG): full listingEPFL (Swiss Finance Institute @ EPFL): full listing