Grants and Writing Resources for ETH Zurich

At ISC 2026 in Hamburg, a team of ETH students had to design, build and optimise a high-performance computing cluster while running scientific and AI workloads on it under strict power limits. They came first. Facing ten teams in the in-person finals, the ETH team RACKlette won the 15th ISC Student Cluster Competition, finishing ahead of Tsinghua University and Nanyang Technological University. It was the team's second win in the competition.

Funding a Master's Degree

The Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme (ESOP) covers study and living costs for excellent Master's applicants. The scholarship is CHF 12,000 per semester, rising to CHF 13,500 from HS27, plus a tuition fee waiver for the regular length of the Master's programme. Applicants need a Bachelor's result in the top 10 percent and upload a pre-proposal for the Master's thesis. ETH Bachelor students moving on to a consecutive Master's can apply; students already enrolled in an ETH Master's cannot. ETH plans about 60 awards for the 2027/28 academic year, and holders also get mentorship and the network of the ETH Foundation.

Medals and Prizes for Theses

Outstanding Master's and doctoral theses earn an ETH Medal, the Silver Medal of ETH Zurich, together with a sum of money. The Willi Studer Prize, paid from the bequest of entrepreneur Willi Studer, has gone since 1993 to the best student in each ETH Master's degree programme.

The Doctorate and the Thesis

About 4,500 of ETH's more than 25,000 students are working on a doctorate. Apart from a few exceptional cases, they are employed as scientific assistants, take part in their department's teaching, and keep up coursework in and beyond their field. The Doctoral Administration in Academic Services handles the paperwork.

The doctoral thesis can be a monograph or, with the supervisor's consent and where the department allows it, a cumulative thesis. It must be written in a consistent style and carry an abstract in English and in one official Swiss language. After the department conference, candidates upload the thesis to the Research Collection and then hand in two bound deposit copies. Once released, the file can no longer be changed. An embargo of 12, 24 or 36 months is possible, and the abstract is always published.

Writing Advice and the Declaration of Originality

The ETH Library offers individual scientific writing advice to Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral students, in German or English, by Zoom or Teams, at a library location, or at a workplace on the Zentrum or Hönggerberg campus. Sessions cover getting into a writing flow, writer's block, reading scientific texts, and aspects of scientific texts and language. Thesis writers can also take the Library's Moodle course, Ready for Take-off: How to write your thesis.

Every semester paper, Bachelor's thesis and Master's thesis written at ETH must include a signed declaration of originality, under the Rector's directive. On the Rectorate's declaration form, the author states that the work was written independently and that no one helped to author it. Suggestions from the supervisor on language and content are the stated exception. A second version of the form applies where generative AI is permitted, and there the use of aids is agreed with the supervisor.

For a paper or thesis covered by the declaration, ask your supervisor before bringing it to anyone else. Application essays, cover letters and other writing outside the declaration can come to our editors for a final check of grammar, consistency and format. See our ETH Zurich dissertation and thesis editing and ETH Zurich essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• How to Avoid Academic Dishonesty: Citing and Quoting Sources
• Methodology Chapter Secrets: Building the Architecture of Your Argument
• From Dissertation to Publication: The Final Scholarly Synthesis