Master’s thesis in a university abroad or in Switzerland

The Master thesis can take place in one of EPFL’s partner university or non-partner universities. You must have found a professor at EPFL and at the university of your choice who will supervise your project. No minimum grades are required to be able to do a master project in a university in Switzerland or abroad.

This does not apply for students in Architecture who are not authorized to do their project outside of EPFL.

Please take note of EPFL’s specific requirements for master thesis.

You are responsible to organize the administrative aspects related to your master project in another university in Switzerland or abroad.

The Student Exchange office intervenes in the process only if the master project takes place in a partner university in Europe, at ETHZ or in one of the 4 institutes of the ETH board, in order to pay out the funding that students are entitled to.

For all questions related to EPFL’s guidelines for a master project outside EPFL (the duration, the start and end dates, the credits, for a prolongation etc.), please refer to EPFL’s specific requirements or contact the student services desk if needed.

Once you have found a professor at the host university, inquire with this person or with the student exchange office about the registration procedure and the deadlines. Usually, students who undertake a project are registered as visiting or host students. The procedure is specific to each university.

It is also advised to inquire with the host university if any tuition fees or taxes have to be paid. It is possible that some universities will ask you to pay semester fees, which are at our own costs.

If your host university is one of EPFL’s partner universities and that it asks you to be nominated by EPFL (this is sometimes required by host universities in Japan), please contact the student services desk.

If your home university requires the signature of a convention, please contact your EPFL professor.

Tuition fees

Students who undertake a master thesis in another university remain registered at EPFL and pay EPFL’s tuition fees even if the host university charges tuition fees or taxes.

Funding

• If your master project takes place one of EPFL’s partner universities in Europe, you are entitled to the scholarship from the Swiss-European Mobility Programme (SEMP).The total amount equates to CHF 1900 for the whole project (4 or 6 months).
•  If your master project takes place at ETHZ or in one of the 4 research Institutes of the ETH Board (EAWAG, EMPA, PSI, WSL), you are entitled to an allowance of CHF 500 for the whole project, paid by EPFL.

In order to apply for this funding, please follow the registration procedure. The Student Exchange Office will then contact you and share with you the payment modalities.

Other grants (private foundations)

Please visit this webpage to see other scholarships that are offered. These scholarships are handled by the Student Affairs so please contact them directly if you have any questions. You can find more precisely on this webpage the various scholarship opportunities for studying abroad.

If your master project takes place in one of EPFL’s partner universities in Europe, at ETHZ or in one of the 4 research Institutes of the ETH Board (EAWAG, EMPA, PSI, WSL), please fill in the application form for a Master project in IS-Academia under tab Exchange application (to not mistaken with tab Master Project which needs to be fill out in any case).

The form must be signed by your EPFL Professor, by the Program Deputy of your section and by yourself.  Once the form is signed by the 3 parties, please upload it IS-Academia and validate the application form. This procedure will help you to verify that the form has been validated correctly.

The Student Exchange Office will then send you instructions regarding the payment of the scholarship or the allowance.

For general questions related to the organization of your master project in another university in Switzerland or abroad, you can find the answer on our page Frequently Asked Questions.

For questions related to EPFL’s guidelines for a master project outside EPFL (the duration, the start and end dates, the credits, for a prolongation etc.), please refer to EPFL’s specific requirements or contact the student services desk if needed.