Frequently Asked Questions

If you interrupt your studies for one or more semesters to fulfill your military service (supported by a copy of your marching orders), the maximum duration of your current cycle may be extended by the same period. During this semester(s), you will remain enrolled at EPFL with “on leave” status, which will be reflected on your enrollment certificate for the semester(s) in question.

For more information, please refer to these pages:

• Interruption of studies during the Master’s program
• Military duty

If you choose not to enroll in a Master’s program, you may interrupt your studies at EPFL for a year or more without providing a specific reason. However, since you will no longer be considered a Bachelor’s student and not yet a Master’s student, you cannot remain enrolled at EPFL during this period. For special cases, please consult this link.

If you have not enrolled in another study program during your break and wish to pursue a consecutive Master’s program in the same field as your Bachelor’s degree, simply contact [email protected] no later than June 30 for enrollment for the autumn semester or December 31 for the spring semester.

For more information, please refer to these pages:

• Interruption of studies between the Bachelor’s and Master’s programs
• End of studies and re-registration

During the Master’s cycle:

If you are unable to study for one or more semester due to valid reasons, such as medical issues supported by a medical certificate, the maximum duration of your Master’s cycle may be extended accordingly, and your status will be marked as “on leave.”

If you wish to take a break for a semester for personal reasons, you may request to be placed “on leave” for one semester. However, in this case, the maximum duration of six semesters for the Master’s cycle will not be extended.

Note: A six-month mandatory internship, carried out over one semester, is not counted toward the maximum duration of the Master’s cycle.

After completing the Master’s cycle and before starting the Master’s project:

You may request a one-semester leave of absence after completing the Master’s cycle (90 ECTS), provided you have not yet reached the six-semester limit. This leave may be extended by an additional semester, provided the same conditions are met. During this period, your matriculation status at EPFL is maintained. However, the Section will not issue or sign any documents (e.g., attestations, EPFL Internship Agreement, etc.) during the leave of absence.

The deadline for your Master’s project will be adjusted according to the leave period. However, no leave is permitted during the project or between project attempts.

For more information, please refer to this page: Interruption of studies during the Master’s program

Current EPFL students are automatically enrolled in the Master’s program in their field of study. They only need to confirm their registration in IS-Academia and do not need to go through the application process to continue their studies in the same field. If their Bachelor’s degree gives access to more than one consecutive Master’s program, students may request enrollment in one of these programs at the beginning of their first Master’s semester by submitting the FRAC form (Academic Registration Form).

Yes. Current EPFL students who wish to change their field of study or enroll in a specialized Master’s program must go through the full online application process and are subject to a dossier-based evaluation. An admission committee will assess the candidate’s academic performance in their Bachelor’s program, the relevance of their studies to the desired Master’s field, their motivation, and the overall quality of the application. Current EPFL students are exempt from providing referees’ contact information.

For more information, please refer to this page: Master admission criteria & application

You may enroll in a IC Master’s program if you are missing no more than 10 ECTS from the last year of your Bachelor’s degree. These missing credits must be completed during the first year of the Master’s program.

Students with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Communication Systems may begin their studies in a consecutive Master’s program in the spring semester. All other students may only start their studies in the autumn semester, following formal admission.

• The Master’s cycle, worth 90 ECTS, requires a minimum of three semesters of coursework and project work, with an average of 30 ECTS per semester, and must be completed within a maximum of six semesters. 
• A mandatory industry internship must also be completed, either as an 8-week summer internship or as a 6-month internship during a full semester. This internship may also be combined with the Master’s project at the end of the Master’s cycle.
• The Master’s project, worth 30 ECTS, is carried out after the completion of the Master’s cycle, or conditionally with no more than 8 ECTS remaining. It has a duration of 18 weeks (including one week of vacation) if completed at EPFL, or 26 weeks (including one week of vacation) if undertaken in industry or at another university, either in Switzerland or abroad. If the project is carried out at EPFL or another university, students must have completed and validated either an 8-week or 6-month internship in industry beforehand.

Holders of an HES Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Communication Systems (from a Swiss University of Applied Sciences) with a grade point average of at least 5.0.

You must submit an online application for one of the IC Master’s degree programs by the application deadline (December 15 or March 31).

Yes, the HES-IC Gateway credits (see HES Gateway requirements) must be completed before you can be formally admitted to the Master’s program you intend to pursue. However, it is possible (but not mandatory) to start the Master’s cycle once you have acquired 30 ECTS or more in the HES-IC Gateway.

When you start the HES-IC Gateway, you must choose the “orientation” based on the Master’s program you plan to pursue. This orientation will guide your course selection, which should remain consistent with the corresponding study plan.

The HES-IC Gateway is completed when you have acquired 57 to 60 ECTS, depending on the study plan. The courses are organized into two blocks: a block of fundamental subjects (branches de base) and a block of advanced subjects (branches d’approfondissement), each comprising of 25-35 ECTS. A block is passed (and thus all the credits associated with the block are acquired) if all subjects in the block have been examined at least once and the weighted average for the block is 4.00 or more.

The HES-IC Gateway must be completed within two years. You must acquire at least 30 ECTS by the end of the first year.

If you have been conditionally admitted, your admission letter will specify a number of additional credits that must be acquired during the first year of your Master’s program. These credits must be prioritized, as your admission to the Master’s program is conditional upon their successful completion. Please note that these credits do not count toward your Master’s degree.

The final list of required courses will be determined upon receipt of your official Bachelor’s transcripts, which must be submitted to the Registrar’s Office according to the instructions outlined in your admission letter. Once your documents have been reviewed, the Registrar’s Office will send you the official decision, titled “Supplement to the Decision Regarding Admission to the Master’s Program,” including all relevant details.

The procedure for registering for these courses will be communicated to you by the Registrar’s Office after you receive the official decision.

For external students (without an IC Bachelor’s degree):

You have been admitted to a specific Master’s program and are expected to remain enrolled in that program. External students (i.e., those without an IC Bachelor’s degree) who wish to change their field of study (e.g., IN => DS, Cyber => IN) must complete the full online application procedure and will be subject to a dossier-based evaluation by an admission committee.

This application must be submitted no later than the end of the first semester. Application deadlines are December 15 or March 31, for possible admission in the following academic year (September). Students must contact the Section no later than the start of the second semester and prior to submitting their online application documents.

For internal students (with an IC Bachelor’s degree):

Requests to change programs within IC (e.g., IN => DS, Cyber => IN) must be submitted to the Section no later than the end of the first semester of Master’s studies.

They can be found here (click on “IC”).

You must follow the study plan that was in force during the academic year in which you began your Master’s studies.

According to the Master’s regulations, it is not permitted to retroactively reassign a course from one group to another for students who have already begun their Master’s studies.

No. There is no retroactive adjustment for courses whose credit value has changed. If a course was successfully completed (grade of 4.0 or more) before the new study plan came into effect, the original credit value remains valid.

All our Master’s programs (i.e., Computer Science, Data Science, Cyber Security) consist of two components: the Master’s cycle (90 ECTS), followed by the Master’s project (30 ECTS), for a total of 120 ECTS. Coursework is organized into three groups: (i) core courses (Group 1), (ii) optional courses (Group 2), and (iii) a block consisting of a research project carried out in an EPFL lab (or an ETH Zürich lab during the mandatory exchange semester for Cyber Security students) and a course + project in the social and human science (SHS). Core courses form a defined menu from which students must earn a minimum number of credits, and students may choose any optional courses to round off their program.  

• 32 ECTS must be selected from a set of core courses (Group 1). Since each course in this group is weighed at 8 ECTS, students must select at least four to fulfill the 32 ECTS. 
• 40 ECTS must be chosen from a broad range of optional courses (Group 2), which can also be completed by extra credits from Group 1. 
• 12 ECTS must be completed as a mandatory research project. An optional second research project worth 8 ECTS may be undertaken and counts as part of the 40 ECTS of options (Group 2).
• 6 ECTS must be acquired through a course focusing on transversal competencies in the social and human sciences (SHS), which includes a project component.

Program-specific requirements:

• Master’s in Computer Science: Students starting the program in or after Autumn 2025 must complete at least four 8-credit core courses (Group 1) from four distinct IC research area (research domains).
• Master’s in Cyber Security: A key requirement is the completion of 30 ECTS in “depth” security courses, which may be taken at either EPFL or ETH Zürich. These courses may count toward either Group 1 or 2.

For more information regarding the structure and the requirements of the various programs, please refer to the following links:

• Computer Science
• Cyber Security
• Data Science

The SHS course and project span two consecutive semesters. The autumn semester consists of a preparatory course, followed by the project in the spring semester. Each component is worth 3 ECTS, for a total of 6 ECTS. We strongly recommend that you enroll starting in the autumn semester of your first year in the Master’s program. If you have difficulty finding an SHS course/project, especially one offered in English, you can contact the SHS administrative team for assistance at: [email protected]

You can find the courses relevant to your Master’s cycle on this page.

First, click on your “field of study”, then select the “course description”. In the upper right corner, under the “Exam” column, you will see whether the course is offered in the autumn or spring semester, as well as whether the exam takes place during the semester or in the winter or summer exam session.

The Registrar’s office typically publishes the study plans in July for the entire academic year. These plans indicate which semester each course is offered, but they do not include the course timetables. The dedicated timetables for each semester are published as follows: 

• end of July for the autumn semester
• mid-December for the spring semester

Before the start of the semester, you will receive an email sent to your EPFL email address announcing the opening of course registration. You will need to use your personal student login to access your EPFL student portal, IS-Academia, and register for courses. You must complete your course registrations in IS-Academia no later than the Friday of the second week of the semester.

You can withdraw from a course during the first two weeks of the semester, via the “course registration” tab in IS-Academia. After that, you can only withdraw from an exam until Friday of the 10th week of the semester, regardless of whether the course is assessed during the semester or in the exam session (except for courses marked “sans retrait” in the study plans, for which withdrawal is not permitted after the first two weeks).

To withdraw from an exam, go to the “Exam” tab in IS-Academia. Replace the mention “HIV / ETE” with a “-” for the corresponding course, then save your changes by clicking the floppy disk icon. 

While it is not possible to cancel your course enrollment, you may withdraw from the exam up to the 10th week of the semester. This can be done via the “Exams” tab in the IS-Academia portal.

If you withdraw by this deadline, any assessments completed up to that point will not be taken into account, and no grade will be awarded for the course.

Note: Withdrawal is not permitted after the first two weeks of the semester for courses marked “sans retrait” in the study plans.

Please visit this page for important semester dates.

Yes. Any excess credits acquired from Group 1 will count toward the Group 2 requirement. This means students may complete their Group 2 credits using additional courses from Group 1.

No. Credits from Group 2 cannot be counted toward the Group 1 requirement.

You must take courses from Group 1 to obtain the minimum 32 ECTS required for that group. However, if you choose to take additional optional courses from Group 2, the credits will not count toward your Master’s degree, as Group 2 is considered complete with a minimum of 40 ECTS.

Any additional Group 2 optional courses taken will be removed from your study plan. These courses and their associated credits will be listed separately in your academic record, will not count toward your GPA, and will not appear on the final official transcript of your Master’s degree.

At EPFL, courses fall into two main categories:

• Courses examined during the semester
  The final grade is based on continuous assessments such as quizzes, labs, projects, reports, presentations, posters, midterm, final exam, etc., conducted throughout the semester.
• Courses examined in the exam session (Winter or Summer)
  The final grade is based, at least in part, on a written or oral exam that takes place during the official exam session. For these courses, it is imperative to be physically present at EPFL during the exam session.

The final grade for a course reflects the performance across all assessments (e.g., graded homework, exercises, quizzes, midterm exam, final exam, etc.). If a student fails to complete one or more required assessments without providing a valid official justification (such as a medical certificate), a score of “0” will be recorded for each missed component. The final grade will be calculated as the weighted average of all assessments.

• If the final grade is below 1.00, the student receives an “NA” (Not Acquired).
• A grade of NA does not count toward the GPA.

Not necessarily. If the course is assessed solely through a final exam, you will receive an “NA” if you do not attend the exam. On the other hand, if the course includes one or more continuous assessments graded throughout the semester and you have completed them, you will receive a “0” for the final exam. Your final grade will then be calculated based on the weighted average of the continuous assessments and the “0” for the final exam. If your final grade is below “1”, you will receive an “NA”. Otherwise, you will receive a grade that reflects the weighted average of all assessment components in the course.

Yes, it is possible to fail more than one exam, whether in Group 1 (Core) or Group 2 (Options). Please note that grades below 4.0 are included in the calculation of your GPA.

For more information, please refer to this page: Requirements for passing the Master’s degree

If you fail an exam twice, you cannot repeat the course again. You must acquire the missing credits by successfully passing another course, within the six-semester limit for completing your Master’s cycle.

The failed course must be retaken in the academic year directly following the year of the first failure. After this period, the result of the first attempt becomes final.

The result of the second attempt replaces the result of the first attempt, even if it is lower. It is not possible to retain the result of the first attempt after the second attempt has been made.

If you are absent from any assessment—whether during the semester or the official exam session—you must provide official justification (e.g., a medical certificate, a birth or death certificate, or a training certificate for elite athletes).

• For continuous assessments during the semester (e.g., midterms, quizzes, homework, …): You must notify the teacher and submit your justification within three days. The teacher may offer a substitute assessment at their discretion, but this is not guaranteed.
• For exams during the official exam session: You must immediately inform your teacher and send your justification to [email protected] within three days of the exam date, copying your teacher. Deferred exams are not available, even in cases of justified absences.

In both cases and only if your absence is justified, you will receive a grade of “M”.  You will need to re-register for the course and retake the missed assessment the following academic year. The grading scheme cannot be adjusted, and the missed assessment cannot be excluded from the final grade. Important: If the course evaluation method changes, you will be required to complete all assessments, not just the one originally missed.

For more information, please refer to this page: Withdrawing from subjects and tests and missing tests

No, you cannot replace or remove a course for the calculation of your GPA. If you do not want a course to appear on your transcript, you must withdraw from the course/exam via the IS-Academia portal before the official withdrawal deadline. Please note that some courses are marked as “sans retrait” in the study plan. In such cases, withdrawal is not permitted after the initial two-week period at the start of the semester. 

For more information, please refer to this page: Withdrawing from subjects and tests and missing tests

No, you cannot choose which courses that are included in the GPA calculation. All completed courses, including those you failed or did not pass, are automatically included in the GPA—even if you did not earn credits for them. This also applies to courses that are part of a group or block, where the final grade is calculated as the average of all included courses, and a minimum average of 4.0 is required to pass. However, courses graded as R, E, D, or NA are excluded from the GPA calculation.

For more information, please refer to this page: Transcripts of records and grade sheets

It is recommended that you begin searching for a research project toward the end of the previous semester. The project lists available on lab websites are often not exhaustive, so you are encouraged to contact labs of interest directly to inquire about additional opportunities. Once you have identified a suitable project, reserve it as early as possible. Be sure to meet with the professor or assistant in charge to define the objectives and scope of the work to be carried out.

Important: The research project is carried out during the Master’s cycle, is worth 12 ECTS and must be carried out in an EPFL lab (or at ETH Zürich for Cyber Security students during their mandatory exchange semester). It must be supervised by an authorized professor. If the project is carried out at ETH Zürich for Cyber Security students, the supervision takes place at ETH Zürich.

Please read the dedicated page, where you will find all the relevant and detailed information.

Note: Only registration via IS-Academia is valid for the official registration in the research project. 

According to EPFL rules, ECTS credited research projects cannot be paid.

No. The rules do not allow both projects to be done in the same semester.

There is no required order for undertaking the two projects.

Yes, it is possible to complete all your projects (e.g., Bachelor’s research project, Master’s research project and optional Master’s research project) in the same lab. However, the Master’s research project and the optional Master’s research project cannot be carried out during the same semester.

Additionally, if you fail a project at the Master’s level, you will be required to choose a new project and a different lab for your second attempt.

No. In our School, the research project must be carried out during the autumn or spring semester.

Yes, a project can be carried out in pairs, with two students per project. This option may be offered directly by the labs, or you may request it yourself. For specific details, please contact the lab offering the project. At the administrative level, each student must register individually for the research project in IS-Academia.

Yes, it can be carried out as the mandatory research project (12 ECTS) or as an optional research project (8 ECTS), in which case it will count towards your Master’s cycle.

MAKE projects are available here.

The contact persons for each project are listed on the project website. However, the main contact person for the MAKE projects is Julien Delisle.

You can apply directly via the website of the project you are interested in. Once you have been accepted for a project, you must submit an abstract of your project to the Section. The abstract should include a general description of the project, the technical tasks and objectives you will undertake, as well as details about your supervisor and the lab.

If the project and the required work are clearly related to computer science, data science or cyber security, there is a good chance that your abstract will be accepted by the Section. The application for authorization must be sent to the Section’s administrative contacts within the deadlines indicated on the relevant webpage.

The project must be carried out during the autumn or the spring semester, but not during the summer. It must adhere to the same rules and deadlines that apply to research and optional projects, including those related to submission, supervision, grading, and other formalities.

More information available here.

To register for a minor, you must follow the procedure outlined on the website of the Master’s program offering the minor. Once the registration form has been completed and signed by the minor advisor, a copy—along with the list of approved courses—must be submitted to your Master’s administrative specialist (Antonella Veltro for Computer Science, Carole Dauphin for Data Science). 

You must also register for the minor in the “Course registration” tab of your IS-Academia portal by the beginning of the second semester (Friday of the second week of the semester), during the official course registration period.

The added value of a minor lies in the formal recognition that you have completed a set of courses, providing deeper knowledge in a specific field or an interdisciplinary area outside of your major. Upon successful completion, the minor will be officially recorded in the Diploma Supplement.

You should not select a minor simply because you wish to take a few courses in a particular area. Pursuing a minor represents a significant academic commitment and should be carefully planned.

If you are considering a minor, please ensure that it aligns with your long-term goals and workload. Dropping a minor later in your Master’s program—especially after having completed several of its courses—may result in a loss of credits. In such cases, only up to 15 ECTS from unlisted courses (i.e., those not included in your Master’s study plan) may be counted toward your degree requirements under Group 2, in accordance with the maximum allowed for courses “outside the study plan”.

Your minor should complement your major. We recommend selecting a minor that broadens or enhances your Master’s degree rather than one that closely aligns with its existing orientation.

At EPFL, some minors follow a predefined study plan, while others require students to select courses in consultation with the minor advisor, based on their academic background. Additionally, certain minors may require you to earn a minimum number of credits from a specific set of courses, complete a project, or meet other specific conditions. It is your responsibility to ensure that you fulfill all the requirements of the minor you choose.

• Computer Science students may choose to pursue either a specialization or a minor, but not both.
• Data Science students cannot enroll in a specialization; they may only pursue a minor.
• Cyber Security students cannot enroll in either a specialization or a minor.

• Computer Science students cannot enroll in any minors offered by IC. This includes the Computer Science, Data Science, and Cyber Security minors. However, they may opt to pursue either a specialization within the Computer Science Master’s study plan or a minor offered by another EPFL Master’s program.
• Data Science students cannot enroll in the Computer Science or Data Science minors offered by IC. However, they may choose to enroll in the Cyber Security minor. Important: To complete the Cyber Security minor, students must obtain at least 18 out of the required 30 ECTS from courses marked as “depth” in the Cyber Security minor study plan.
• Cyber Security students are not permitted to enroll in any minor, whether offered by IC or by any other EPFL Master’s program.

To successfully complete a minor, you must earn 30 ECTS, with no compensation allowed between courses. Each course within the minor must be passed individually. These credits replace 30 ECTS of optional courses in Group 2 of your Master’s study plan.

Once you have acquired 30 ECTS, your minor will be considered successfully completed, and you will no longer be able to enroll in additional courses under your minor.

No. Any credits earned beyond the 30 ECTS required for the minor will not count toward Group 1 or Group 2 of your Master’s study plan.

No, each course can only count once and in one place.

No, it is not possible to drop one or more courses for the calculation of your GPA.

If you do not want a course to appear on your transcript, you must withdraw from the course/exam via the IS-Academia portal before the official withdrawal deadline. Please note that some courses are marked as “sans retrait” in the study plan. In such cases, withdrawal is not permitted after the initial two-week period at the start of the semester. 

For more information, please refer to this page: Withdrawing from subjects and tests and missing tests

No, you cannot move courses—whether passed or failed—from your minor to exclude them from your final official Master’s transcript. Once you have enrolled in a course, it remains in the group to which it belongs. For more information, please refer to Article 5.D of the “Ordonnance sur le contrôle des études menant au bachelor et au master à l’École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne” (available only in French, German, and Italian): https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2015/476/fr  

Dropping a minor late in your studies—especially after having completed several of its courses—may result in a loss of credits. In such cases, only up to 15 ECTS from unlisted courses (i.e., those not included in your Master’s study plan) may be counted toward your degree requirements under Group 2, in accordance with the maximum allowed for courses “outside the study plan”.

If you are a Computer Science Master’s student starting in Autumn 2025, you must register for your chosen specialization by the beginning of the second semester. Registration is done via the “Registration for Courses” section in IS-Academia and is only possible during the official course registration period. Once this deadline has passed, please send an email to Antonella Veltro indicating the specialization you have chosen.

Important: With the upcoming reform of the Computer Science Master’s program, all specializations offered before Autumn 2025 will be discontinued as of July 31, 2025. If you began studies before that date, you may continue with your current specialization, but you will not be able to switch to another discontinued specialization. However, you may choose to drop your current specialization or replace it with one of the new specializations available starting from Autumn 2025 by contacting Antonella Veltro.

For more information about the specializations available to Computer Science Master’s students, please refer to this page.

You may opt to take up to a maximum of 15 ECTS from unlisted courses, that is, courses not included your Master’s study plan (“courses outside the study plan”). These courses must either be included on the list of pre-approved courses or be approved on a case-by-case basis. The credits will count under Group 2 (Options).

Please note that for EPFL courses with limited capacity, students who do not have the course listed in their study plan are not authorized to register.

Important: Computer Science and Data Science Master’s students pursuing a minor are not allowed to take unlisted courses “outside the study plan”, except for CS- and COM-coded courses offered by IC.

You can find all the relevant information on this page.

If the course you wish to register for appears on the list of authorized courses, you may register directly in IS-Academia at the start of the semester by searching for it under “Other Subjects”. If you click on the arrow, a window will open in which you can enter either the course title or the course code and select the correct course.

For all other courses not on the list, you must submit a request using this form at the start of the semester. Once you receive authorization, you can then register for the course in IS-Academia, under “Other Subjects”.

You can find all relevant information on this page.

While your first priority should be to complete the 90 ECTS required for the Master’s cycle, you may, under certain conditions, take a limited number of additional courses (typically one or two) outside your official study plan for personal interest.

First, you must obtain prior approval from the Section. These courses may only be taken before you have completed the 90 ECTS required for your Master’s cycle. Additionally, the courses must not already appear on your Master’s transcript—whether passed or failed.

These courses and their associated credits will be listed separately in your academic record, will not count toward your GPA, and will not appear on the final official transcript of your Master’s degree.

Important: Once you have informed the Section of the courses you intend to take outside your official academic plan, this decision is final. You cannot later request that these courses be counted toward your GPA or included in your official Master’s transcript.

No, Bachelor level courses cannot be taken during the Master’s program.

Credits acquired in language courses do not count towards your Master’s degree. However, you are free to take language courses in parallel with your studies by registering directly with the Language Centre.

Both EU/EFTA and non-EU/EFTA nationals may take on a paid part-time job of up to 15 hours per week during the semester, and full-time during university vacations. However, non-EU/EFTA nationals may only begin working six months after their arrival in Switzerland.

For more information and details, click here. 

 Validation procedures for internships in industry can be found here.

No. Your internship must have been validated before you can carry out a Master’s project in an academic institution (EPFL or another university). If you combine your internship and your Master’s project in a company, you do not need to have carried out an internship before you start your Master’s project.

Please note that the Master’s project in industry can only be carried out upon the successful completion of your Master’s cycle or conditionally if you have up to 8 ECTS missing course credits.

Each School or Master’s degree program has appointed an Internship Coordinator who is the main contact for all questions related to internships and their validation. For IC, please contact Patricia Genet at [email protected]

Yes, conditional admission to the Master’s project is possible under the following conditions:

• You are missing no more than 8 ECTS from your Master’s cycle (90 ECTS).
• You are not at the end of the maximum duration of the Master’s cycle (i.e., within the limit of 6 semesters).
• You have successfully completed the mandatory research project (12 ECTS).

If you plan to carry out your Master’s project outside EPFL or away from the Lausanne area, and need to take a course in parallel, you must first discuss the feasibility of remote participation with the Section.

Each School or Master’s degree program has an appointed Internship Coordinator as the main contact for all questions related to the Master’s Project. For IC, please contact Patricia Genet at [email protected].

Information about the Master’s project can be found on this page.

No, you cannot start your Master’s project before completing your internship. However, you can combine the internship and the Master’s project by conducting the Master’s project in industry.

Please note that the Master’s project in industry can only be carried out upon the successful completion of your Master’s cycle or conditionally if you have up to 8 ECTS missing course credits.

The mandatory internship in industry must have been validated beforehand.

You must find a professor at EPFL and a professor at the other university who will supervise your project. You are responsible for organizing the administrative aspects related to your Master’s project at another university in Switzerland or abroad.

Relevant information and FAQs can be found on this page.

According to EPFL regulations for the Master’s project (see here), your academic supervisor at EPFL must send an email to [email protected] explaining the circumstances of the interruption or delay of the project and stating the reasons beyond your control. They must also specify the exact period affected. The possibility for you to work on other aspects of the Master’s project (full-time or part-time) during this period must be considered. This application cannot be used to request an extension of the deadline for a project that is behind schedule. The Registrar’s Office will review the request and decide whether or not the deadline for the Master’s project report can be postponed.

You must provide the Student Services Desk with a valid medical certificate and copy the Section’s administration before the submission deadline of your Master’s project report. Based on this document, which attests the reason for your absence, the Registrar’s Office will decide whether the submission deadline for your Master’s project report can be postponed.

The due date will be postponed by the duration of the attested interruption (e.g., a two-week delay for a four-week work incapacity at 50%). A work incapacity above 50% is deemed incompatible with studies at EPFL. In such cases, you must interrupt your Master’s project for the entire duration of the incapacity, and the due date will be extended accordingly, as if it were a full-time incapacity.

More information can be found under this link.

The oral defense must take place within a maximum of four weeks from the date the report is submitted.

Your academic supervisor at EPFL is responsible for organizing the oral defense. They will set the date for the oral defense in consultation with you and select an expert based on their expertise of the topic. The expert can be an experienced EPFL staff member or an external person to EPFL, but they cannot be a member of the EPFL academic supervisor’s unit or a PhD student. They must enter the details in IS-Academia at least one month before the defense.

For detailed information, refer to LEX 2.6.1, particularly Section 4, Art. 12, and Section 5, Arts. 16, 17, and 18.

No, the oral defense is not open to the public. The jury consists of the EPFL academic supervisor, and an exam expert nominated by the EPFL supervisor and approved by the Registrar’s Office. The exam expert appointed is authorized to intervene during the oral defense.

Only the EPFL academic supervisor may invite other individuals to the oral defense. These individuals have no right to intervene or ask questions. The EPFL academic supervisor should discuss this with you beforehand and obtain your agreement as the oral defense of the Master’s project is not public.

You must have successfully completed your Master’s cycle (i.e., 90 ECTS of coursework and project work), and the grade for your oral defense of your Master’s project must be submitted at least one week before the graduation ceremony so that you can receive your diploma in the same year. Nevertheless, you will be able to download your final transcripts and the Diploma Supplement confirming that you have been awarded your Master’s degree from your IS-Academia portal in the days following the successful defense of your Master’s project.

Yes, the Registrar’s office will immediately modify your status in IS-Academia.

You have the opportunity to carry out an internship in an EPFL lab to enhance your Master’s degree. The conditions are:

• The internship must start within 12 months of obtaining your degree and last 6 to a maximum of 12 months at EPFL.
• A temporary staff hiring proposal must be sent by the lab to the EPFL HR department.
• The intern will be paid a gross flat-rate salary of CHF 2,500 per month (full-time).
• The position is full-time; part-time employment is not allowed.
• At the end of the internship, the intern must either leave EPFL or be hired for a position (with a fixed-term or unlimited-term contract) or as a PhD student. Note: For a position as a PhD student, you must apply and be admitted to a PhD program at EPFL.

You will need to approach and discuss this opportunity directly with an EPFL professor/lab that is of interest. The lab is responsible for funding and processing the HR paperwork. The Section is not involved in this process.

After completing your Master’s degree, you can apply for a six-month residence permit to search for a job in Switzerland that matches your qualifications.

For more information on conditions and details, click here