Study planning

• Your study plan is the list of courses you plan to take at ETH. It must adhere to the rules on this website.
• Your study plan determines the ETH department you are applying to. The departmental exchange coordinators review your application and decide on acceptance or rejection. Approval of the study plan does not guarantee later enrolment on the courses (e.g. if a course has a limited number of places). You will be asked to finalise your study plan after the start of the semester.
• To ensure that your credits can be transferred, your home university must approve your study plan.

As an exchange student, you have to set up your study plan twice:

• When you apply at ETH: This study plan is temporary. The study plan is reviewed and signed by the ETH department and it is then sealed.
• After week 1 into the semester: Your study plan is opened again. You can now make your changes, i.e. you may add and drop courses, until Sunday of the second week of the semester. 
• The department checks the study plan again, signs and seals it. This is your definite study plan; it must match with course registration and exam registration in Download myStudies (PDF, 135 KB). Course registration in myStudies opens approximately two months before the semester begins. Exam registration occurs only after the semester has started. You will be notified by email for both registrations.

• The definitive courses for the semester(s) are not online yet by the time of your application. Use the Course Catalogue from the previous year (e.g. the previous Autumn Semester for the upcoming Autumn Semester). The catalogue remains relatively steady from one year to another.
• Search the Course Catalogue. Use various criteria such as department, level of study, or language of instruction. Do not select "Mobility Students" in your search. Read the detailed description of each course on content, performance assessment, prerequisites, restrictions or lecture times.
• The semester dates are published online. Your study plan must be well coordinated with the schedule at your home university.
• Important: Familiarize yourself with performance assessments. The timeline might be different from that of your home university. In case you need to leave ETH before session examinations end, you choose a course that allows for distance examinations. See the ¡°Performance assessments / examinations¡± section below.
• Courses at ETH take place in person.
• Avoid course overlaps and consider the varying lecture times depending on the venue. ETH¡¯s two main sites in Zurich, Zentrum and H?nggerberg, are connected by a free shuttle bus. The weekday and time indicated in the tab "Courses" often remain the same from year to year.
• Courses that are open to regular ETH students are usually open to exchange students, too. See the detailed course description and the chapter on course restrictions below.
• You can combine courses from Bachelor¡¯s and Master¡¯s levels. Use your department¡¯s study guide(s) to determine whether you have the required background for the study programme.

• Check the conditions set by the departments You cannot register for any courses ending with ¨CAAL, as these are self-study units.
• Restrictions are indicated in the course description (tab ¡°Restriction¡± in the Course Catalogue). Follow the instructions and ask your departmental exchange coordinator if you wish to participate in such a course. Note: Mobility students are not enrolled in a specific BSc or MSc programme and are thus not included in the primary target group of some courses.

• Two-thirds of your ETCS must be offered by the department you are applying to. One-third of your credits can be taken from other departments and/or the University of Zurich. Exceptions are possible for interdisciplinary study programmes (e.g. Earth Sciences, Health Sciences and Technology) when approved by the departmental exchange coordinator.
• You must earn a minimum of 20 ECTS credits per semester (passing the exam, not just attending the course). Language courses do not count towards this total. Taking between 20 to 26 ECTS per semester is thus recommended. If you wish to take more than 30 ECTS, you must discuss it with your departmental exchange coordinator.
• Choose courses according to your language skills, at least a B2 level in the language of instruction.
• Language Courses of the University of Zurich must be added manually.

Look at the first three digits of its course number (xxx-xxxx-xxx) in the course catalogue:

• 051-, 052-, 063- & 066-xxxx-xxx: Architecture (D-ARCH)
• 101-xxxx-xxx: Civil Engineering (D-BAUG)
• 102-xxxx-xxx: Environmental Engineering (D-BAUG)
• 103-xxxx-xxx: Geospatial Engineering (D-BAUG)
• 151-xxxx-xxx: Mechanical Engineering (D-MAVT)
• 227-xxxx-xxx: Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (D-ITET)
• 252-, 261- & 263-xxxx-xxx: Computer Science (D-INFK)
• 327-xxxx-xxx: Materials Science (D-MATL)
• 351- & 363-xxxx-xxx: Management, Technology and Economics (D-MTEC)
• 376-xxxx-xxx: Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST). Courses from the Human Medicine Bachelor 377-xxxx-xxx are not open.
• 401-xxxx-xxx: Mathematics (D-MATH)
• 402-xxxx-xxx: Physics (D-PHYS)
• 511- & 535-xxxx-xxx: Pharmaceutical Sciences (D-CHAB)
• 529-xxxx-xxx: Chemistry (D-CHAB)
• 551-xxxx-xxx: Biology (D-BIOL)
• 262- & 636-00xx-xx: Biosystems Science and Engineering (D-BSSE). D-BSSE is in Basel. (636-05xx-xx are offered by the University of Basel.)
• 651-xxxx-xxx: Earth and Climate Sciences (D-EAPS)
• 701-xxxx-xxx: Environmental Sciences (D-USYS)
• 751-xxxx-xxx: Agricultural Sciences (D-USYS)
• 752-xxxx-xxx: Food Science and Nutrition (D-HEST)
• 851-, 853-, 857-, 860- & 862-xxxx-xxx: Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (D-GESS). Electives only (max. 1/3 of chosen courses), no enrolment in this department possible

You can take courses at the external page University of Zurich (UZH) in addition to those at ETH Zurich. To do so, you must apply online for module mobility (studying at more than one university) through UZH.

• Application deadlines: Ensure you meet the deadlines for both module mobility applications and module enrolment at UZH. Deadlines vary by department and module, so check them carefully. In most cases, the application deadline is the last Friday before the semester starts.
• Course conditions: UZH¡¯s regulations apply. For example, you can only take Master¡¯s level courses if you hold a Bachelor's degree and are registered in a Master¡¯s programme, ideally in the department offering the module. Bachelor¡¯s students cannot enrol in Master¡¯s courses.
• Documents: Upload the "ConfirmationOfAcceptanceIncomings.pdf" document, which ETH will send to you via email.
• Approval & registration at ETH: You must obtain approval from your departmental exchange coordinator and register the UZH courses in Mobility-Online, just as you would for ETH courses. Enter the courses manually with the course title specified by UZH and the correct credit points.
• Transcript of records: Once enrolled, your UZH courses will automatically appear on your ETH transcript of records, so you do not need to enter them in myStudies.
• ETH-UZH courses: If a course is jointly offered by ETH and UZH, follow the instructions provided in ETH¡¯s Course Catalogue.

You are responsible for finding a project supervisor. Check the FAQ on how to find a supervisor. Once you have found a supervisor, have the form "Supervisor confirmation for incoming mobility student undertaking a project at ETH Zurich" filled in and signed by your supervising ETH professor. You may use the unpersonalised version, or the personalised version, which you will download as a part of the application process. No other confirmations will be accepted.

Register your project:

• If you already have secured a supervisor at the time of application (and can upload the supervisor confirmation form): elect ¡°Project¡± when applying
• If you do not yet have a supervisor at the time of application: Put together a study plan which includes at least 20 ECTS worth of courses. By the second week of the semester at the latest, you must have secured a supervisor and inform the Student Exchange Office accordingly. We will activate the project tab in Mobility-Online and you will have to modify your study plan. Make sure you have the "Supervisor confirmation for incoming mobility student undertaking a projectat ETH Zurich" form signed to complete your application.

Enter the details of your projects:

• Add the project data in your workflow/project tab. Upload the confirmation of your ETH supervisor in your workflow. Enter the project in your study plan.
• One month of full-time project work corresponds to 5 ECTS credits. If you are unsure about the credits, discuss the workload with your supervisor. To search the project course units in the Course Catalogue, enter the desired project credits under "course unit" (e.g. "30 Credit Project"). Then add the course number from the Course Catalogue in your study plan.
• There are special project course units for exchange students for 5/10/15/20/25/30/60 ECTS available, which you can combine and you must use. These units start with a ¡°900-¡° code. 
• Architecture: Design courses do not count as projects, they are courses

There are three types of performance assessments. Under "Performance assessment" in the Course Catalogue, you can see the type of assessment for the courses.

• End-of-semester examinations take place during and directly after the end of a semester.
• Session examinations begin a few weeks after a semester ends and continue until the beginning of the following semester.
• Semester performances mostly take the form of integrated performance assessments during the semester or performance assessments which take place outside of the normal semester schedule (e.g. block courses).

• Exchange students may shift exams through preponement or distance examination only for academic reasons (e.g. semester start of home university)!
• The lecturers must approve any shifting of exams and you must also submit an official request to the Examinations Office.
• Some exams cannot be taken as distance exams, (tab ¡°Performance assessment¡±). Only take the course if you can be present at ETH during the relevant exam period.
• Project mobility students are not allowed to shift their examinations. Neither preponement nor distance examinations are allowed.

Failing an exam is a real possibility. It happens to regular students as well.

• If you fail an exam, you will usually not be able to retake it, especially if it is a session exam. You may only sit exams while still enrolled as a mobility student at ETH.
• If you stay at ETH for two semesters, you might be able to retake a failed exam once in the second semester.
• If you miss an exam (e.g. because of illness), retaking is usually only possible during the next exam period (a semester or year later). Exception: Oral exams might be rescheduled during the same exam period. Contact the Examinations Office immediately!