Registration for the doctorate

Procedure
Admission requirements
Supervisors of doctoral theses

Have you found the right candidate?

Inform them about the application for a doctorate at the central doctoral administration office. They will check whether the requirements for a doctorate at ETH Zurich are met. The department then decides on the suitability of the applicant.

Before accepting a candidate for a doctoral position, please check with the central doctoral administration office whether the studies of a potential candidate are recognised and whether admission is possible.

Employment and further steps can only be taken once the provisional admission has been confirmed.

Allow sufficient time until the start of the doctorate. For candidates from third countries in particular, the necessary formalities can take up to 8 weeks.

Registration

Step 1:
Every candidate must first register for the doctorate.

Step 2:
The central doctoral administration office checks the admission and forwards the application dossier to the relevant department. The department decides on admission or rejection and whether the candidate must fulfil further conditions.

Step 3:
If the department has approved admission, the central doctoral administration office issues the candidate with a confirmation of admission.

Employment

Step 4:
Once the confirmation of admission has been issued, the professorship can initiate the issuing of an employment contract - should the doctorate be linked to employment at ETH Zurich.

Please also note the relevant legal bases and consult the Downloadinformation sheet for doctoral students with employment at ETH Zurich (PDF, 831 KB).

Matriculation and enrolment

Step 5:
Matriculation and enrolment are coordinated with employment. The start date of the doctorate must always coincide with the date of employment.

Step 6:
Issue of the official enrolment order for the doctorate.

Requirements for admission to a doctorate at ETH Zurich is

a university Master's degree;
a university diploma or other credential (state examination, etc.) which is equivalent to a Master's degree from an ETH in terms of content, scope and quality;
a Master's degree from a university of applied sciences, university of applied sciences institute or university of teacher education, provided that they can verify excellent performance, i.e. outstanding academic achievements and superlative individual achievements in their discipline (These candidates are usually required to complete extended doctoral studies);
outstanding credentials, as verified by outstanding individual scientific achievements in their discipline.Bedingung für die Zulassung zum Doktorat an der ETH Zürich ist (These candidates are usually required to complete extended doctoral studies).

Export control

Please ensure that the export control requirements are met, if applicable.