Language requirements
Most Master’s degree programmes at ETH Zurich are taught in English; some require knowledge of both English and German; and some are taught in German.
The language skills required for each Master’s degree programme are listed in the section on application documents. A recognised language certificate (see list below) must be submitted by the application deadline at the latest.
Applications with an invalid, insufficient, or missing language certificate will not be evaluated by the department and will be rejected on formal grounds.
Recognised language certificates
The following lists contain all recognised certificates required for admission to Master’s degree studies. Other certificates cannot be recognised.
Exemptions
Please note that this lists are conclusive. No other certificates or circumstances can be considered. If none of the below listed criteria applies to you, you will have to provide one of the recognized language certificates with your application.
The following candidates are not required to provide proof of English language proficiency:
- Holders of the Swiss Matura
- Holders of a Bachelor’s degree from ETH Zurich
- Holders of a Bachelor’s degree from EPF Lausanne
- Applicants who completed a Bachelor’s degree programme completely taught in English. The language of instruction must be officially confirmed by the university. No confirmations are required for Bachelor's degrees from Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Requirements for the confirmation on the language of instruction
Academic documents (transcript of records, enrolment confirmation, Diploma Supplement) can also be accepted as confirmations on the language of instruction if they explicitly specify English as only teaching language of the entire Bachelor's degree programme. However, if your academic documents do not mention the programme’s language of instruction, you need to submit a separate official confirmation on the language of instruction of your programme issued by your university.
The confirmation must:
- confirm that the language of instruction of your entire Bachelor's degree programme is/was only English
- be issued by the central administration of your university e.g. Registrar’s Office
(confirmations issued by teachers or professors are not accepted) - bear official stamp and signature or contain a certified electronic signature of the issuing office
Important
Confirmations on the language of instruction which do not fulfill the exemption reasons will lead to a direct rejection of the application, since it is not possible to submit a language certificate after the application deadline.
Therefore, if you have doubts on whether you still need a language certificate, for example in case English was not the only language of instruction during your studies, we strongly recommend to take a language test and to submit a valid language certificate with your application.
The following candidates are not required to provide proof of German language proficiency:
- Holders of the Swiss Matura
- Holders of a Bachelor’s degree from ETH Zurich
- Candidates who completed a Bachelor’s degree programme exclusively taught in German. The language of instruction must be officially confirmed by the university.
- Applicants who meet one of the requirements mentioned below:
- German Zeugnis der allgemeinen Hochschulreife. School and matriculation certificates which document German language skills (even Level C 2) and supplementary examinations in German to obtain the German Abitur are not accepted in place of a language certificate.
- Austrian Reifeprüfungszeugnis. School and matriculation certificates which document German language skills (even Level C 2) and supplementary examinations in German to obtain the Austrian Reifeprüfungszeugnis are not accepted in place of a language certificate.
- Luxembourgian Certificat de fin d'études secondaires.
- Diplom über die bestandene staatliche Abschlussprüfung an der Oberschule at a school located in South Tyrol and where German is the main medium of instruction.
- Abschlusszeugnis der Oberstufe des Sekundarunterrichts of the 'Deutsche Gemeinschaft' in Belgium.
Requirements for the confirmation on the language of instruction
Academic documents (transcript of records, enrolment confirmation, Diploma Supplement) can also be accepted as confirmations on the language of instruction if they explicitly specify German as only teaching language of the entire programme. However, if your academic documents do not mention the programme’s language of instruction, you need to submit a separate official confirmation on the language of instruction of your programme issued by your university.
The confirmation must:
- confirm that the language of instruction of your entire Bachelor's degree programme is/was only German
- be issued by the central administration of your university e.g. Registrar’s Office
(confirmations issued by teachers or professors are not accepted) - bear official stamp and signature or contain a certified electronic signature of the issuing office
Important
Confirmations on the language of instruction which do not fulfill the exemption reasons will lead to a direct rejection of the application, since it is not possible to submit a language certificate after the application deadline.
Therefore, if you have doubts on whether you still need a language certificate, for example because German was not the only language of instruction during your studies, we strongly recommend to take a language test and to submit a valid language certificate with your application.