Vocational Training

As well as training students, ETH also trains apprentices. The Department of Physics plays a key role in this, primarily in the training of polymechanics, electronics technicians, physics laboratory technicians and design engineers.

The Department of Physics is currently training and supervising around 70 apprentices in the following vocational specialisms: Electronics Technician EFZ*, Physics Laboratory Technician EFZ*, Polymechanic EFZ* and Design Engineer EFZ*. To deliver the full basic training programme, the department operates the following training facilities: a mechanical training workshop, an electronics training laboratory and a physics laboratory technician training laboratory. In addition, D-PHYS offers a small number of training places each year for apprentices in their second and third years of training as Business Administrators EFZ* and IT Specialists EFZ*. However, these apprentices are not supervised by D-PHYS’s in-house team of vocational trainers, but by their respective line managers and the relevant ETH teaching laboratories (Business Administration Teaching Laboratory, IT Teaching Laboratory).

_{*EFZ - Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis}

Enlarged view: Gruppenbild Lernende — The D-PHYS trainees with their vocational trainers, 2025 (Kilian Kessler / ETH Zürich)

Enlarged view: Berufsbildner des D-PHYS 2025 — The vocational trainers at D-PHYS (Kilian Kessler / ETH Zürich)

Programmes offered at D-PHYS

Summary: Development, assembly and testing of electronic devices.
Duration: 4 years.

For more detailed information, please visit this page on the German version of this website.

Summary: Setting-up, testing, programming and operating computer systems.
Duration: 4 years.

For detailed information, contact details of the responsible persons and of current apprentices, please visit this page on the German version of this website.

Summary: Design and production of equipment used in research.
Duration: 4 years.

For detailed information, contact details of the responsible persons and of current apprentices, please visit this page on the German version of this website.

Summary: Science of the structure and motion of non-living matter.
Duration: 4 years.

For detailed information, contact details of the responsible persons and of current apprentices, please visit this page on the German version of this website.

Summary: Metalworking using the latest technologies.
Duration: 4 years.

For detailed information, contact details of the responsible persons and of current apprentices, please visit this page on the German version of this website.

Interdisciplinary project Physics4mation

Physics4mation was conceived to further develop vocational training in the Department of Physics and to enable interdisciplinary collaboration between trainees. Physics4mation specifically promotes the development of collaborative and project-orientated work. Apprentices are given the opportunity to step out of their professional area of training and acquire important teamwork skills.

What makes Physics4mation special is that productive failure within the project is accepted as part of the journey. This puts a successful learning outcome above a successful project. All trainees from the four professional career paths should take part in Physics4mation once during their training, preferably during their second or third year.

Following the project kick-off meeting, the teams chosen by the vocational trainers have two weeks to collect ideas and then present them. They have to make statements on feasibility, costs and time planning. Once the project has been approved, they have three months to realise it.

The acronym Physics4mation draws from key aspects of the project, such as the affiliation to the Department of Physics and the four professions for which vocational training is offered in the Department of Physics. Christian Richter is responsible for the Physics4mation project.