Socioeconomic Background
The term ‘socioeconomic background’ generally refers to the various scholastic, social and economic origins of an individual, such as the level of education of their parents or the type of university entrance qualification they have. ETH Zurich welcomes people from different socioeconomic backgrounds to study and work.
First-Generation at ETH Zurich
Almost half of the students at ETH Zurich are so-called ‘first-generation students’. The parents or legal guardians of first-generation students or academics have not obtained a bachelor's degree or equivalent qualification from a Swiss-recognised university, which means that these students or academics are the first generation of their family to attend university.
First-generation students and graduates are diverse and often highly motivated and keen to prove themselves in a university environment. However, they may face challenges. For this reason, ETH Diversity aims to contribute to effective approaches to supporting first-generation students and graduates in order to promote their acceptance at the university, their academic success, and their chances of pursuing a successful academic career.
“Having equal access to educational opportunities means that people bring their own skills and their own vision. And then they can choose what they want to do.”Julia Dannath, ETH VP for Human Resources Development and Leadership
What are the key requirements of an education system that ensures that everybody has the same opportunities?
A conversation about social mobility in Switzerland, with an ETH doctoral student, ETH Vice-President for Human Resources Development and Leadership, and an ETH professor.
Projects and Initiatives at ETH Zurich
ETH Diversity has supported the creation of the FirstGen-ZRH network and works closely with its members. The network was founded by first-generation academics and supports people who are the first in their family to study or pursue an academic career. It is open to anyone interested in attending from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and neighbouring institutions.
FirstGen-ZRH organises regular get-togethers and a book club, supports initiatives by and for first-generation people, career workshops, and much more. external page To the First Gen Network website.
On the annual national ‘Future Day’ (Zukunftstag), schoolchildren from the age 10 to 13 are given practical insights into a range of different professions. Various departments and units of ETH Zurich offer a range of special projects designed to spark the children's curiosity about different scientific fields.
Children of ETH members as well as children with no connection to the university are welcome. In order to promote social mobility, quotas have been created: One-third of the places are allocated to children of ETH members, one-third to children of non-ETH members and one-third to children from families with KulturLegi.
A report on the Zukunftstag 2022 at ETH Zurich
A report on the Zukunftstag 2024 at ETH Zurich
external page Website of the Nationaler Zukunftstag (German)
ETH Zurich offers praxis-oriented pre-apprenticeships for young refugees. These apprenticenships facilitate their way to aquiring professional training. With this programme, ETH contributes to the fast and sustainable integration of regocnised refugees and temporarily admitted refugees in the job market and society in general. More Information on pre-apprenticeships (German).
The project "external page Social selectivity by social origin" was conducted in the realm of the federal program P7 Equal opportunities (equity) and development at universities 2021-2024. University of Fribourg is the leading house on this cooperation project, which is also supported by the Universities of Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich.
In the course of this project a national conference on first generation students and educational equity took place in 2023 (nationale Tagung "First-Generation Students: Bildungsgerechtigkeit und soziale Herkunft an Schweizer Hochschulen").
ETH Diversity is in close contact with the project team, which at the moment is deciding on how to make the insights and contents collected during the project available to a wider audience.
Offers and Counseling at ETH Zurich
There are numerous options for securing funding as a researcher employed at or wishing to join ETH Zurich: Overview of options for research funding.
This page offers an overview of support for young reseracher at ETH Zurich with information on the most important career and project funding instruments (scholarships, fellowships, project funding).
ETH Career Center is the central platform on the topic of starting a career. Numerous activities connect companies with ETH students, doctoral students and postdocs. The Career Center is therefore a helpful point of contact for First Generation Students and Academics.
The team of the Financial Aid Office advises students on issues relating to financing their studies. This includes the semester invoice, scholarships, loans, funding for foreign students, financial hardship due to illness, travel expense contributions, as well as information on other funding opportunities.
Find information on funding your studies, scholarships and fees on the page 'Financial'.
The Counselling & Coaching Centre offers a wide range of counselling services and various support offers for prospective students and students. Counsellors offer assistance in the face of challenges such as crisis, low motivation, study management, or exam stress. They can also be reached for situations that require additional coordination, and offer workshops, e.g. on study strategies or oral exams. This service is free and confidential.
The ETH Zurich Study Advisory Service provides advice on Bachelor’s degree programmes and supports prospective students.
For questions concerning ETH Master's degree programmes, please contact the person responsible for the respective programme directly .
The Housing Office arranges accommodation between private individuals and members of university and ETH Zurich by providing a search portal and by delivering several information about (affordable) living in Zurich.
Further Helpful Links and Resources
The initiative external page ArbeiterKind.de, active in German-speaking countries, is committed to promoting university studies for the children of non-academics with the aim of increasing the proportion of children of non-academics at universities and supporting them on their way to successfully completing their studies. Many of the resources are also of interest to first-generation ETH students, such as the external page ArbeiterKind-Podcast (German) for anyone who is the first in their family to study, has studied or wants to study.
With a focus on improving equal opportunities in adolescence, external page Allianz Chance + is pursuing the vision of a Switzerland in which individual educational success is determined by performance and not by socioeconomic background.
Since 1996, the external page KulturLegi has been giving people living on a low budget access to discounted cultural, sports and education offers, thus allowing them to have an active social life and facilitating pro-active integration. The eligibility criteria for a KulturLegi vary depending on the canton of residence. These may include people who receive scholarships, who are on social assistance or who have an income that is demonstrably at the subsistence level.
On the Zukunftstag (Future Day) of ETH Zurich a section of places are reserved for children from families with KulturLegi.