ETH Zurich

• Only Engineering, Science (incl. Forestry & LFS) are eligible to apply
• Undergraduate students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 75% at UBC to be considered for exchange at ETH Zurich
• Students in Computer Science should have a very strong computer science and math background (e.g. completed at least 30 credits in CPSC and 15 credits in MATH before going on exchange), Recommended to go in Term 2 of 3rd year or 1st term of 4th year.

Term dates

• UBC Term 1 (ETH Semester 1): Mid September to Late January
• UBC Term 2 (ETH Semester 2): Late February to Mid June

*Term 1 note: In some cases, students can return to UBC in January and complete ETH exams by distance back at UBC.

Areas of study available:

• Engineering
• Forestry
• Land and Food Systems
• Science

Course availability and restrictions

• Students going to ETH must take at least 2/3 of their course credits in the department where they are enrolled
• Undergraduate exchange students are allowed to choose courses of Master programmes (taught in English, as a rule) if they fulfill the prerequisites (usually only upper level students)
• To check their qualification for a Master programme course they should contact their Departmental Exchange Coordinator at ETH Zurich before registering for the course
• The Department of Management, Technology and Economics (D-MTEC) only accepts students with a technical background
• The Department of Mathematics only accepts students who are majoring in Mathematics at their home university

Partner Course Information

Course equivalency Formula

• ECTS credits divided by 2 = UBC credits

Course load Information

• No maximum number of courses
• Minimum: 20 ECTS per semester (excluding language courses)

Transfer credit

The transfer credit process takes approximately 16 weeks following each submission deadline. You should allow sufficient time to meet important deadlines that may affect you (e.g. application for graduation, registration in courses that require prerequisites that you took on exchange, entry to a major/honours program, etc.)

Search for previously approved courses

Additional note for language of instruction

• Bachelor programmes are mainly in German
• Master programmes are mainly in English
• While undergraduate courses at 1st and 2nd year level are normally taught in German, many courses at 3rd year level are taught in English
• Students must have at least a B2 (C1 preferred) level to study in German (self-assess with: European Language Portfolio Global Scale)
• There is an offer by the language learning center for intensive German courses and semester German courses