Private schools

Besides state schools, there are privately run schools domiciled in Winterthur that often have distinctive features such as a specific educational concept or a bilingual approach. These schools are recognized by the state, but the costs must be borne by the parents.

Location Promotion Winterthur Region (formerly City Marketing Winterthur) was one of the initiators of the International School Winterthur (ISW), which opened in 2001. The International

School Winterthur (ISW) is a full-day school with lunch-time supervision for students from 3 to 18 years old. The school offers courses from Pre-Kindergarden up to and including 12th grade. Currently 185 students represent 34 nations. In addition, Winterthur has a bilingual full-day school, the Swiss International School SIS (öffnet neues Fenster), which takes children from the age of 3 up to the final exam at 18. As of February 2013 the school will be moving into the building “Drehscheibe” located in the old Sulzer industrial area “Sulzerareal Winterthur Stadt”.

Vocational training and further education

With its numerous vocational and technical schools and colleges, Winterthur is a center of vocational training and provides a wide range of practice-oriented and further education opportunities. 
 
The Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW (öffnet neues Fenster) in Winterthur counts more than 9,000 students and is one of the largest multi-faculty colleges in Switzerland. Looking at the larger Zurich area, it represents an ideal supplement to the University of Zurich and the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). ZHAW in Winterthur is divided into eight departments:  School of Management & Law, School of Engineering, Architecture, Design & Civil Engineering, Applied Linguistics, Life Sciences & Facility Management, Applied Psychology, Social Work & Health Studies. It also offers a wide range of extension studies and post-graduate courses.
Winterthur is at the forefront in areas such as computer science and healthcare with its computer science oriented high school (Informatikmittelschule) (öffnet neues Fenster), training center for healthcare related professions (Bildungszentrum für Gesundheitsberufe) (öffnet neues Fenster) and Swiss Red Cross training center (Bildungszentrum des Schweizerischen Roten Kreuzes des Kantons Zürich) (öffnet neues Fenster).
The  Ausbildungszentrum Winterthur (AZW) (öffnet neues Fenster), the Canton of Zurich’s leading institution for general and advanced training in industrial professions, was inaugurated in 2002. 

The renowned universities of Zurich and St. Gallen can be reached by train in 20 or 40 minutes, respectively.
 

Courses and libraries

A wide variety of adult education courses are also available in Winterthur and range from Chinese medicine to dance therapy,
from marimbaphone lessons to computer courses for senior citizen. Winterthur’s eight public libraries are situated in the city
center and all the main districts. They provide information, literature and other cultural material in print form, on electronic
data carriers and online. The library for integration (“Integrationsbibliothek”) contains reading and learning material in 12
languages. A special library for studying (“Studienbibliothek”) offers media and picture material on Winterthur as well as quiet work places. Overall, there are over 1 million media items available
that can be borrowed by holders of a Winterthur library card. The range of services is supplemented by special events for children,
adults and families at these attractive places of encounter.