Courses outside the study plan

You may opt to take courses that are not included in your Master’s study plan—that is, unlisted courses considered “outside the study plan”.

Maximum authorized credits: 15 ECTS

These credits will count toward your Group 2 – Options.

Important notes:

  • CS- and COM- coded courses that are included in IC Master’s study plans are not considered outside the study plan and may be taken without prior approval.
  • Students enrolled in a minor are not permitted to take additional courses outside the study plan, except for CS- and COM- coded courses offered by IC.
  • Generally, Bachelor’s level courses cannot be taken during the Master’s.
  • It is your responsibility to arrange your weekly schedule to attend all classes and exams. Schedule conflicts cannot be ruled out.
  • Courses taken at another university (UNIL, ETH ZĂŒrich) will be recorded as equivalents (R= rĂ©ussi) on your transcripts and will therefore not be included in the calculation of grade averages.
Procedure
  1. Check the list of authorized courses above.
  2. If the course you wish to register for appears on the list of authorized courses, you may register directly in IS-Academia by searching under “Other Subjects.”
  3. If the course is not on the list, you must submit a request using the authorization form. Once you receive authorization, you must register in IS-Academia under “Other Subjects.”
  4. Once the course is approved and you have registered in IS-Academia, it will be manually moved to your Group 2 – Options by the Section administration.
EPFL Courses from other Sections

Please note that some courses may have a limited number of seats and are reserved exclusively for students who have these courses in their study plan. Should this be case, registration for such a course is not possible.

EPFL Doctoral courses

A list of PhD-level courses, including descriptions and prerequisites, can be found here. It is strongly recommended that you complete all prerequisites before enrolling.

To register in IS-Academia:

  1. Obtain the professor’s consent to take the course.

  2. Send an email to [email protected].

If the course is not included in the authorized list, you must also obtain Section approval (see procedure above).

Courses offered by UNIL-HEC (Faculty of Business and Economics)

The procedure to register for a Master’s-level course at UNIL-HEC is available here. Further information about course and exams registration at UNIL-HEC can be found on this page.

To register in IS-Academia, you must select “Credits obtained at UNIL – Faculty of Business and Economics HEC” under “Other Subjects.”

If the course is not included in the authorized list, you must obtain Section approval beforehand (see procedure above).

ETH ZĂŒrich

You may take a maximum of two courses at ETH ZĂŒrich, provided they have no equivalent at EPFL. When submitting your request to the Section, include the course description or URL and explain your reasons for choosing the course.

Restrictions:

  • You may not take courses at ETH ZĂŒrich during your first semester of the Master’s program.

  • You may not complete an entire semester at ETH ZĂŒrich (unless you are enrolled in the Master’s in Cyber Security program and it is part of your mandatory exchange).

  • Students in the Cyber Security Master’s program may only take courses outside the study plan at ETH ZĂŒrich after completing the mandatory exchange semester.

For additional information, you may contact:
Antonella Veltro
Computer Science
📧 [email protected]
 
Carole Dauphin
Data Science, Communication Systems
📧 [email protected]
 
Jasmine Locatelli
Cyber Security
📧 [email protected]