ETH continues to grow – healthcare professions are particularly popular
Next Monday, some 4,300 new Bachelor’s and Master’s students will embark on the autumn semester at ETH Zurich. This represents a continuation of last year’s growth at both levels.
Interest in ETH programmes remains high in 2019. With 4,300 new students at the Bachelor’s and Master’s level, the number of students has risen to more than 22,000 – compared with 21,400 last year. “I am delighted at the high level of interest in ETH Zurich,” says ETH Rector Sarah Springman. “This shows that ETH Zurich remains at the cutting edge with its range of courses on offer.”
Health Sciences and Technology now in third place
At Bachelor level, ETH will welcome 3,162 new students across its 23 study programmes. This is roughly a 2.7 percent increase over the previous year and represents a new record. Mechanical Engineering remains by far the most popular study programme with 459 admissions (*). Computer Science continues to occupy second place with 388 admissions, followed by Health Sciences and Technology, which recorded particularly strong growth with 300 admissions (compared with 225 in the previous year), and Architecture with 276 admissions.
The proportion of foreign students – i.e. those who completed secondary school outside Switzerland – grows by half a percent to 14.5 percent. The proportion of women, which reached a record high in the previous year, stands at 34.1 percent, about 2 percent below the previous year’s level. Sarah Springman comments: “For us, this means that we must continue to increase our commitment and the information available. Young women should perceive ETH as an attractive place to study.”
Two new Master’s programmes off to a good start
Although the exact figures for the Master’s programmes will only be determined at the end of the second week of term when admissions are completed, there are signs of an increase here too. More than 96 percent of ETH Bachelor’s graduates opt to continue their studies at ETH. In addition, some students obtained their Bachelor’s degree at another university in Switzerland or abroad. In recent years, this figure has risen to 1,118 people. This number is expected to rise slightly further. New courses include the Quantum Engineering and Cyber Security Master’s programmes – the latter as a joint degree with EPFL. Both are off to a good start with about 20 admissions each, but there is still room for additional students in the coming years.
Exchanges with other universities are thriving
In addition to these new entrants who aspire to complete a full degree at ETH Zurich, some 400 exchange students and visiting students will visit ETH Zurich in the autumn for one or two semesters. Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden are among the most frequent countries of origin besides Switzerland. Canada, the US, Singapore and Japan are the most strongly represented countries outside Europe. In turn, approximately the same number of ETH students complete a semester at a host university abroad as part of exchange programmes.
(*) In an earlier version, there was mistaken mention of a decline of five percent. In fact, the number of new entrants has increased slightly in this programme.