Study abroad

To apply for the ETH exchange programme, applicants must:

• be currently enrolled at D-MAVT;
• be in the normal cycle/standard period of their study programme;
• meet the requirements of ETH and the selected partner universities;
• have a GPA of ≥ 5.60 (no rounding) from the Bachelor’s degree for MIT, Northwestern, Penn, and UT Austin;
• have an average grade of ≥ 5.00 (no rounding) in the first-year examinations for exchange in the 3rd year of the Bachelor’s programme.

From the third semester of Bachelor's study, you can apply for one exchange semester and go on exchange during the third year of Bachelor’s study or the first year of Master’s study at D-MAVT. However, D-MAVT recommends going during the 1st year of your Master’s programme, as it generally offers better opportunities for credit recognition.

Before applying for an exchange place via Mobility-Online, please make sure you are well informed about the exchange semester. The application deadline for an exchange place in the following academic year is 1 December at 13.00.

A maximum of 30 ECTS credit points may be recognised from the exchange study toward your Bachelor’s or Master’s study programme at D-MAVT.

1. Preparing a preliminary course list for you application to an ETH exchange programme

If you go on an exchange through an ETH exchange programme, you need to earn at least 20 ECTS credits and plan your courses and credit recognition in advance.

To do this, check the course catalogue of each partner university and see if they offer enough suitable courses. This will help you decide which universities to prioritise. To help with your planning, you can refer to the following information:

• Download D-MAVT credit conversion table (PDF, 127 KB)
• Download D-MAVT list of previous recognitions for BSc in ME (PDF, 216 KB)
• The International Knowledge Base (IKB): reports from former exchange students

Once you have done your research, make a preliminary course list of each university you are applying to. This is a required part of your application.

Important information:

Bachelor's programme: If you plan to complete a Focus Project or will already have earned most of the required credits in the “Electives” or “Focus Specialisation” categories of your Bachelor's degree before your exchange semester, you should consider applying for an exchange at the Master’s level instead. This is because Bachelor’s students can only use credits from the exchange in those categories. Specifically, you should not apply for the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) through the "worldwide departmental programme", as Penn only accepts a Bachelor’s student who will use the credits from the exchange toward their Bachelor’s degree.

Master's programme: If you intend to pursue a Master's degree in a different department, you should apply for the "worldwide ETH-wide programme" as the "worldwide departmental programme" and the SEMP are only available to MAVT students who remain in the department. 

2. Submitting a detailed course list (study plan) after receiving an exchange place 

Once you have been allocated an exchange place, you must draw up a detailed course list (study plan) by 10 January in Mobility-Online, considering credit recognition for your studies at D-MAVT. For more information, see the section “Credit transfer and recognition” below.

3. Updating your study plan

At the beginning of your exchange semester, you will have the chance to update your study plan in Mobility-Online, if necessary. You will be notified by email as soon as this Mobility-Online function is open.

You may update your study plan in Mobility-Online, for example, after you have:

• received feedback on your submitted “D-MAVT credit recognition form for BSc in ME";
• obtained confirmation from the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (D-GESS) regarding credit recognition for the "Science in Perspective" category;
• discussed your study plan with your tutor; and/or
• found an alternative course to replace one that is either not offered by the partner university or not approved of by the responsible person at ETH.

You must obtain the official transcript of records from your partner university and submit it to D-MAVT Student Exchange. The credits acquired from your exchange will be converted according to the credit conversion table of D-MAVT and the grades according to the grading table of ETH Zurich.  

Bachelor's programme

Bachelor’s students at D-MAVT can use credits from their exchange semester in the following categories: 

• Electives
• Focus Specialisation

A maximum of 12 ECTS for the “Electives” category and 10 ECTS for the “Focus Specialisation” category can be obtained through courses completed during the exchange semester, provided they are approved by the respective Electives lecturer or the respective Focus Coordinator.

You can check previously recognised courses in the "Download D-MAVT list of previous recognitions for BSc in ME (PDF, 216 KB)". This list helps you review past course equivalency and recognition decisions for D-MAVT and partner universities. Courses on this list can be transferred directly by D-MAVT Student Exchange. If the course is not listed, you may apply for recognition by submitting the completed "Download D-MAVT credit recognition form for BSc in ME (PDF, 642 KB)" to D-MAVT Student Exchange. D-MAVT Student Exchange will notify you once your request has been reviewed.

Master's programme

Master’s students in Mechanical Engineering (ME), Process Engineering (PE), Micro and Nanosystems (MNS) or Robotics, Systems and Control (RSC) can use credits from their exchange semester in the following categories:  

• Core Courses
• Multidisciplinary Courses

A maximum of 18 ECTS for the “Core Courses” category can be obtained through courses taken during the exchange semester, provided this is agreed upon with your tutor and listed in the Learning Agreement in myStudies. See details on how to enter a course unit from another university into your Learning Agreement in myStudies.

For the “Multidisciplinary Courses” category, language courses cannot be recognised. Master’s students in RSC or MNS must include the course in their Learning Agreement in myStudies. Master’s students in ME or PE can share their plan directly with D-MAVT Student Exchange.

According to the ETH study regulations, 90 credits are required, and a maximum of 100 credits can be recognised towards the Master’s degree programme in ME, PE, RSC, or MNS. If you wish to count credits from your exchange studies towards the categories “Core Courses”, “Multidisciplinary Courses” or “Science in Perspective”, you must ensure that the total number of extra credits across all categories does not exceed 10 ECTS.

Please note that these are two different things:

• The study plan in Mobility-Online is specific to your exchange semester at the partner university and forms part of your Master’s studies.
• The Learning Agreement (LA) in myStudies covers your entire Master’s programme at D-MAVT.

Science in Perspective (SiP)

If you wish to transfer credits from the exchange toward the the “Science in Perspective” category of your Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree, you must obtain approval from the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences (D-GESS) before the exchange semester. For approval inquiries, please contact Caroline Holck at D-GESS. Once approved, forward the confirmation to D-MAVT Student Exchange.

Otherwise, courses will be listed without a category on your ETH transcript and will not count toward your degree. Missing information or incomplete steps will delay the credit transfer process.

The exchange reports of former ETH Zurich exchange students are found in the International Knowledge Base (IKB). After registering via your nethz login you may conduct searches according to university location or name. Select the university name and scroll to the bottom to find the respective student exchange reports.

Information about scholarships for exchange programmes is given on the main ETH exchange website.

Furthermore the external page Heyning-Roelli Foundation grants scholarships to students.

Students who participate in an exchange programme offered by ETH remain matriculated during their absence and continue to pay the ETH tuition fee. Freemovers who organise an exchange independent of ETH can apply for a leave of absence.