Inside Institut Auf Dem Rosenberg, ‘Possibly’ the World’s Most Expensive School

The city of St. Gallen, located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, has an estimated population of 70,000 residents.

The school was founded by Elrich Schmidt in 1889 and was known as Institut Dr Schmidt until the 1930s, when it was renamed following the death of its founder.

Rosenberg is located between Lake Constance and Alpstein in the Swiss Alps, and the area surrounding the school offers stunning views of the Alps as well as all the conveniences of city life.

“Clean air, temperate climate, and healthy natural conditions are ideal for studying and comprehensive development of the students,” the school previously wrote on its website.

The school is now owned and managed by the Gademann family, with fourth-generation Bernhard Gademann serving as the current headmaster and director of Rosenberg.

Elite Traveler reported that Gademann, who attended the school himself and went on to attend university in the UK before moving to New York, where he worked in the finance and technology space, took on the position after his father, the previous headmaster, died in 2009.

The school costs an average of 165,000 CHF, or about $200,000, to attend each year.

“We work hard to be the best boarding school in Switzerland and the world, rather than the most expensive one,” the school wrote on its website in response to a frequently asked question about whether Rosenberg is the most expensive school in the world.

“Our award-winning care, school facilities, enrichment offerings, and the unmatched choice of academic options are very costly to maintain, but we have a deep commitment to provide the very best education for all the students in our care,” it continues. 

The school also mentions that it receives no government subsidies and does not accept donations, so it has a very limited number of scholarship opportunities.

Rosenberg’s strict student-privacy rules mean that the school can neither confirm nor deny the names of past alumni, though it has been shared that Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern, and Mario J. Molina, a Nobel Prize winner, were former students.

The offspring of oligarchs and German billionaires are also believed to have attended Rosenberg, per previous reporting by Business Insider.

The campus sits on 24 acres of private parkland and “carefully manicured gardens” surrounded by century-old nut trees.

Located in the heart of campus is Rosenberg’s golf training ground, which features a professional multi-hole putting green, hitting mats, and obstacles, including a sand bunker.

Female and male students live separately, though they share dorms with other students in the same age group. They also participate in on-campus activities and weekend trips. 

This policy allows students to change their living arrangements in order to live with friends.

The school also provides professional guidance on health, fitness, and nutrition courtesy of the school’s “team of expert trainers.”

The center features “purpose-built workspaces” for research and self-study and allows students to access physical books, thousands of e-books, and online publications, including university-grade academic journals and primary sources through JSTOR.

The science center features a professional laboratory and is “well equipped beyond regular school standards,” the school says. 

Molina, who grew up in Mexico City, began attending Rosenberg at age 11. He explained to the Nobel Foundation that he chose the school because “German was an important language for a future chemist to learn,” and he believed that a European education would advance his scientific career.

The Academy of Achievement reported that Molina went on to receive the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize in chemistry for his research concerning the decomposition of the ozone layer, which protects Earth from the harmful effects of solar radiation.

The school said its dining staff doesn’t use artificial colors, taste intensifiers, or thickening agents such as wheat flour in its dishes whenever possible.

“Ingredients are sourced locally as well as seasonally, and the production of a vast majority of the dishes is truly fresh, including bases for soups and sauces, so that processed food is reduced to an absolute minimum,” the website states.

Rosenberg students collaborated with SAGA Space Architects in July 2022 to create a life-size, 3D printed “space habitat” that allows students to simulate extraterrestrial environments and living on Earth, per a press release.

The workshop even includes a charging station for the Spot robot dog. Rosenberg said in a press release that it was the first and only school in Switzerland to own one.