Engineering increasingly popular

This year, 1,939 men and 866 women have accepted places in the 23 undergraduate programmes at ETH Zurich. These preliminary figures represent a 3.7% jump over last year and a new record. The proportion of female students, at 30.8%, is almost unchanged from last year’s share of 30.4%. The highest proportion of female students is found in food sciences (74%), pharmaceutical sciences (70.6%) and health sciences and technology (58%). The share of international students in the incoming class of Bachelor’s students has risen slightly to 19.5%.

Computer science is back among the most popular programmes

With 477 students in the incoming class, mechanical engineering remains by far the most popular course of study this year, despite a slight drop from last year’s peak. Architecture is again the second most popular programme, with 279 incoming students. Behind the front-runners, another trend is emerging in both computer science and electrical engineering and information technology: these disciplines faded after their initial boom in the 1980s and 1990s, but they have once again grown in popularity among first-semester students. With 238 incoming students, computer science has joined health sciences and technology, which was formed in 2011, as the third most popular programme for new students, followed by electrical engineering and information technology with 205 new students. “Student numbers in the engineering subjects have been rising for years,” explains Dieter Wüest, head of the Rectorate. In light of the current and future labour market demand for qualified graduates, he notes, this is a positive development. Wüest adds that the more balanced distribution of students among the different disciplines is also positive in terms of staff/student ratios in the various departments.

Applications and admissions to Master's programmes on the rise

ETH Zurich is prominent at the Master's level, too – not only among internal graduates but also with graduates from other universities. Generally, about two thirds of Master’s students have received their first degree from ETH Zurich. This year some 1,400 ETH Bachelor’s graduates will continue on to a Master’s programme at the university. Precise figures are not yet available since Bachelor’s students can also transfer to the consecutive level of their programmes, i.e. the Master's level, after the start of the semester.

ETH Zurich also received 2,489 Master’s applications from holders of external Bachelor’s degrees, another record. Admission was granted to 1,066 applicants, and some two thirds of that number, about 700, will take up their places at the university – also a new high. As in previous years, most incoming students from external undergraduate programmes will join the architecture, computer science, and electrical engineering and information technology Master’s programmes. Due to the high numbers of undergraduates moving up from ETH’s ranks, mechanical engineering is the largest programme overall at the Master’s level.

Integrated building systems is being offered for the first time as a Master’s programme. The four-semester programme for architects and engineers aims to train specialists in the design of more energy- and resource-efficient buildings and cities.

The total number of students at ETH Zurich continues to rise, as the influx of new students outpaces withdrawals and degree completions. Together with doctoral students, of which there are now more than 4,000, some 18,500 people will be studying at ETH Zurich this semester.