Doctoral examination
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Please register at least 15 working days (Monday to Friday, public holidays excluded) before the date of the examination for the doctoral exam. Please check with your department whether they have an earlier deadline.
To register for the doctoral exam you have to send the following documents to doktorat@ethz.ch:
- A completed copy of the form Registration for the doctoral examination
- A copy of your thesis title page (PDF) as described in the Download Template of doctoral thesis title page (PDF, 121 KB).
Note: List your thesis supervisor and all co-examiners
The registration confirmation and thesis number will be directly sent to you AND the department after processing.
The tuition fee of CHF 1'500.00 will be invoiced after registration for your doctoral examination.
IMPORTANT:
Before registering for your doctoral exam check with the doctoral administration of your department that all your co-examiners who require approval have been confirmed. For further information check the tab "Supervisors" on our homepage.
Before registering for the doctoral examination, please contact the doctoral administration of your department and clarify whether you have to submit a bound, physical copy of your dissertation to them or whether an electronic version is sufficient. This is handled differently from department to department.
Please follow the current instructions for the implementation of the doctoral exam.
Information on what needs to be taken into account at your department when organising the doctoral examination can be obtained from the doctoral administration at your department.
The examination committee is composed of the following persons:
- A chairperson
- The doctoral thesis supervisor as examiner
- At least one co-examiner
- A further independent expert if there is any relationship of dependence between the thesis supervisor and the co-examiner(s)
The Head of the responsible department names the chairperson. The chairperson must be a member of the Professors’ Conference of an ETH Zurich department.
The doctoral committee names the co-examiner(s) at the request of the doctoral thesis supervisor, subject to the following points:
- If the doctoral thesis supervisor is not a professor, at least one co-examiner must be an ETH Zurich professor.
Mandatory for doctoral exams as of January 1, 2024:
- At least one co-examiner must come from outside ETH Zurich and be a proven expert in the area of the doctoral thesis.
The following are eligible for election as external co-examiners:
- Active professors from other universities
- Persons who are proven experts in the area of the doctoral thesis and are equivalent to professors in this
(example: a research director from a research institution in the ETH domain, a Max-Planck institute or a Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique).
Not included are persons from universities of applied sciences or private industry with the corresponding expertise. They may, however, be appointed as additional members of the examination committee.
If you have questions concerning administrative issues related to the final part of your doctorate (e.g., doctoral exam, confirmation of the doctoral degree, submission of the deposit copies, doctoral awards ceremony) visit our Q&A webinar on 4 June 2025.