Supervision of project mobility students (incoming)
You are supervising Bachelor's and Master's degree students from other universities who conduct a research project or thesis at ETH Zurich under the project mobility status. The registration can take place via the Student Exchange Office.
This website is for supervisors. If you are a student, click here for the Project Mobility website for students.
Application deadline
- 2 months before the planned start
- 3 months before the planned start is strongly recommended if the student requires a visa. Find out if they need a visa on the external page Overview of ID and visa provisions according to nationality website of the State Secretariat of Migration.
- Retroactive applications will not be processed.
Late application
If an application is delayed, we cannot guarantee that the visa will be issued from the respective Embassy/Consulate in time or that the student will be matriculated and provided with the respective documents in time.
We reserve the right not to process very late applications.
Prerequisites and admission requirements
- The student is enrolled as a Bachelor’s or Master’s level (no doctoral student).
- The student is enrolled at a university with the right to award doctorates (no universities of applied sciences).
- The student has English language skills of B2 or higher.
- The student is committed to organising their project work and stay independently.
- The student is able to provide proof of sufficient financial means that satisfies the authorities' requirements.
- It lasts a minimum of 91 days and up to a maximum of 365 days.
- It is an integral part of their studies and will be recognised towards their degree. Confirmation of home university is required through the confirmation ofrecognition form.
- It does not correspond to any employment (neither paid nor unpaid). For any questions, please contact Human Resources. An employment as a teaching assistant must be outside the project and as such may be possible; please note the regulations for international students.
- It takes place with physical presence at ETH. Remote supervision is not possible.
- It is usually full-time except temporary absences for the project, e.g. field trips or field work. Absences for any other purpose must be approved and reported beforehand as stated in the FAQ.
- Architecture students who want to take design studios: These are courses and not open to project mobility students.
- Doctoral / PhD students: not eligible. You may register the student as an academic guest via HR instead.
- Students who intend to do a project for a duration of less than 91 days are not eligible.
What you need to do
- Ensure that the ETH export control rules are complied with and make any necessary enquiries before issuing the invitation.
- It is not necessary to register the student with Human Resources. Exception: Teaching assistants ("Hilfsassistenz").
- Inform invited students about the guidelines and provided information on the official project mobility website and advise them to apply as soon as possible (deadlines in mind) via the website.
- Confirmation of the supervising professor: Fill in and sign the form Confirmation of Thesis / Research Project Supervisor for Incoming Mobility Project Student (the form is usually sent to the professor by the student)
- For any questions regarding agreements/contracts in connection with student projects/theses or internships which are conducted at another university, please consult the student agreement information sheet (PDF, 142 KB).
- If you want award a scholarship: Read the guidelines for supervisors' scholarships for mobility students (PDF, 70 KB). You can read more about scholarships below.
Services for students
- Students staying in Switzerland for more than 90 days require a residence permit. Students can find the appropriate information directly on the Project Mobility website and receive the necessary confirmations from the Student Exchange Office after the application was reviewed and accepted.
- All information provided by the Student Exchange Office refers to stays at ETH Zurich and in the cantons of Zurich or Basel-Stadt. The student status entitles the student to carry out the project or the student research project and stay at a location of ETH Zurich.
- If the project is conducted outside of ETH Zurich, e.g. at a research institute of the ETH domain, it is the sole responsibility of the supervising ETH professorship in cooperation with the Human Resources department of the research institute to make all necessary inquiries regarding the admission status and any labour market regulations and to obtain the necessary permits. Formal supervision of the student research project or thesis must be carried out by an ETH professorship.
The Student Exchange Office does not provide student accommodation. Mobility students are informed about their options on our website and receive tips on finding accommodation there.
The website of the Housing Office of University Zurich and ETH offers further helpful information.
Mobility students are matriculated at ETH for the entire project period and receive an ETH student card, ETH e-mail account and the myStudies login from the Student Exchange Office.
The ETH student card must be picked up by the student themselves:
- Students on the Zurich campus: At Campus Info Reception (HG E 30.6) in the entrance hall of the main building after the official start date of the project.
- Students on the Basel campus : At the Student Administration Office of D-BSSE. We will sent the card after we have accepted the application. This usually takes a few days.
The students get informed about the processes via email by the Student Exchange Office in due time.
Mobility students are not insured by ETH (same as regular ETH students). Students who stay in Switzerland for longer than three months must prove to the authorities that they have health and accident insurance or take out such insurance in Switzerland.
ETH recommends that all students take out private liability insurance.
Project mobility students do not receive scholarships from the Student Exchange Office.
There is the possibility that you award a small "Supervisors’ scholarship for mobility students (incoming)" from your institute's own funds (if desired). The amount of the scholarship must be chosen in such a way that it does not constitute compensation but only enables a stay that would otherwise not be affordable for the student. Bear in mind that regular ETH students do not receive compensation either (e.g. for the Master's thesis).
Project mobility students can find all the information on the registration process and their stay at ETH on the Project Mobility website, during the application process and upon registration after they have arrived in Zurich. Additionally to the above mentioned topics (visa, accommodation, insurance), students will receive information on the registration procedure at the residents’ registration office ("Personalmeldeamt"), the residence permit, IT Services, as well as general information about ETH and Switzerland.
Alternative registration (without the Student Exchange Office)
According to the public authorities, internships may require an internship contract, a salary and a work permit. These are not organised through the Student Exchange Office, but rather through Human Resources and possibly external page IAESTE.
In some cases, registration as a visitor may be appropriate or mandatory. Please consult the Human Resources website and address any further enquiries directly to them.
Doctoral students must be registered with Human Resources as academic guests. Exception: Swiss government excellence scholarship holders.
If the guidelines do not apply to the student, there are a few tracks to conduct a research project or thesis at ETH apart from the status of a project mobility student. Learn more about this guest status here.