Skip to the content
Compass
AboutWhat can I enter?Sign in

The guide

Close

Zurich

Switzerland · Europe

ETH plus the deep-tech and quantitative finance built around it, and the largest concentration of research money and technical employers in the German-speaking world.

Who this suits, and who it doesn’t

Suits you if you are academically strong, aiming at research or deep tech, and want the option of leaving academia without leaving the city. Zurich has the employers for that; Lausanne doesn't. Look elsewhere if you need to arrive as an undergraduate on a tight budget: the cost of living, not the fees, is what excludes people.

The catch, and the way in

The catch

The wall is admission and cost of living, not tuition: Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe to exist in, and daily life runs in a German most textbooks don't teach you.

The way in

Tuition at ETH is low even for internationals. A PhD position is a salaried job, which is why doctoral study is the common way in.

Living there

What living here is actually like

Orderly to a degree that is either restful or stifling depending on temperament: transport runs exactly on time, the lake and the mountains are genuinely at hand, and the rules about noise, recycling and neighbourliness are taken seriously. It's quiet, extremely safe, and socially reserved. Foreigners consistently report that making local friends takes years rather than months.

How the money works

The inversion that surprises everyone: tuition at ETH is low even for internationals, while simply existing in Switzerland is the most expensive on this list. Rent, food, insurance and transport all cost multiples of neighbouring countries. This is why the doctoral route dominates. A phD position is a salaried job, and salary is what makes the country affordable.Described in shape rather than figures on purpose: rents and salaries move every year and we cannot keep numbers true, but what is expensive and what quietly eats income stays true for far longer.

The language you actually need

Research and graduate teaching run in English. Daily life runs in German, and specifically in Swiss German, which is spoken rather than written and which standard German lessons won't prepare you for. You can complete a doctorate in English; you can't integrate socially in it.

The work that clusters here

The kinds of work Zurich is a route into, each with what it actually involves, and what the catch is.

Who is named here

Not a ranking and not in order of merit. These are the places a subject is actually studied and taught at in this city, so you have something to search for.

  • ETH Zurich

    • Engineering
    • Natural Sciences
    • Computer Science

    Some English-taught programmes

Language of teaching moves within a cycle, so check it on the university’s own page for your own entry year.