Student Exchange

Your first point of contact is the website of the ETH Student Exchange Office.

If you are a physics student at ETH and wish to spend part of your studies at another university, then you find all the information you need on the Study abroad page on the ETH Student portal.

For the application process, please have a look at this detailed Download checklist. (PDF, 59 KB)

The Student Exchange Office team and your contact persons at the department are happy to assist.

The departmental exchange coordinators organise the exchange programmes at the departmental level and work closely with the Student Exchange Office. The departmental exchange coordinators maintain contact with departments and lecturers at partner universities, arrange new mobility and exchange agreements and advise students (incoming as well as outgoing) on these programmes.

The Student Exchange Office regularly informs the departmental exchange coordinators about the students participating in exchange programmes.

Your departmental exchange coordinator helps preparing your study plan.

You are expected to be well prepared when arranging a consultation appointment with the departmental exchange coordinator.

Exchange coordinators at the Department of Physics

It is your responsibility to get detailled information about the courses offered at the partner universities. Please do not ask the exchange coordinator which university you should go to, which general requirements you have to meet for studying at another university or what you have to do for spending part of your ETH studies at another university. Please ask your exchange coordinator specific questions about your planned stay, and only questions that are not answered on the website of the Student Exchange Office.

The exchange coordinators are regularly asked which host universities they recommend. Please note that all partner universities chosen and recommended by ETH have been evaluated and fulfil the high quality requirements of ETH.

It is recommended to start by visiting the two online information events, organized by the Student Exchange Office and the D-PHYS. Immediately thereafter preparing the necessary documents: Required language certificate, CV, transcript of records, study plan, etc.

Please check first if your average grades are sufficiently high for participating in a given mobility programme. Please note that the average grade requirements differ from university to university. Minimum requirement is an average grade of 4.5, some universities require a 5.0. This minimum requirement is also valid for self-organised stays abroad.

These reports are an important source of information. Please read them carefully. The reports may be found in the International Knowledge Base (IKB). Contact and meet former exchange students; they know best what a specific host university can offer and they will tell you about it.

Application deadlines for the upcoming academic year the application deadline for all programmes is 01 December 2025. Detailed information can be on the website of the Student Exchange Office.

The D-PHYS has no preselection for the application.

Language courses: Please find out in good time which language skills and certificates are required for your planned exchange stay. You can find the deadlines and the necessary information on the required language certificates on the website of the Student Exchange Office. The external page Language Center of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich assists with certifying your language skills. Language confirmations can be either issued by the Registrar's Office or the Study Administration upon an administrative fee of CHF 10 .

Coordinate well in advance your exam dates during the exchange stay. In the case of overlaps, the Student Services Office will advise on how to proceed.

After you have received the transcript of records from your host university or from the Student Exchange Office, please arrange a meeting with your departmental exchange coordinator. She or he will be interested to hear about your experience during the exchange stay. This information is most valuable for the work of your departmental exchange coordinator.

At the same time, the departmental exchange coordinator will convert the acquired credits.

Your exchange report will be as valuable to future exchange students as the reports of former exchange students have been to you. Please support the Student Exchange Office and the departmental exchange coordinators by actively contributing to the next Infomarkt.