Next week, 2,706 young men and women will begin their studies in one of the 23 Bachelor degree programmes at ETH Zurich. According to provisional figures, this is almost the same number as last year. Also remaining the same as the previous year is the proportion of foreign students at just under 19%, while the percentage of women has dropped slightly to 30.4% (compared with 32.2% in 2012).

Some 472 students have decided to pursue the Mechanical Engineering course, and this means it once again takes the top spot as the most popular field of study. It is followed by Architecture with 288 new entrants. The Health Sciences and Technology course, which was introduced in 2011, is again experiencing high demand; it has 218 new entrants and thus secures third place in terms of popularity.

Popular Master’s programmes

As before, ETH Zurich also attracts many students at the post-graduate level. A majority of Master’s students earned their Bachelor degree at ETH Zurich. About 1,300 people who have completed an undergraduate programme at ETH will move on this year to pursue a Master’s programme. Because registration is still possible until after the semester starts, the final numbers are not yet known.

These 1,300 degree holders represent two-thirds of those working on a Master’s degree. The remaining third earned their degree at another university and are enrolling at ETH Zurich for the first time at the Master’s level. This year, approximately 2,400 students applied for admission, 2,100 with a degree from abroad. Of these applicants, 1,100 were admitted to the Master’s programme. Of this group, the Rectorate expects that ultimately approximately 600 will take up their studies.

Total number continues to grow

The total number of students at ETH Zurich is continuing to grow as more people have enrolled than left. This semester, the threshold of 18,000 students will be broken for the first time. The figures also include about 4,000 doctoral candidates at ETH Zurich, the number of which has again increased slightly compared with the previous year.

ETH Rector Lino Guzzella looks forward to welcoming so many new faces to ETH Zurich next Monday. It is a tradition that the Rector greets first-year students personally. “These young people can expect lots of work, but they can also expect to find committed lecturers who want to pass along their knowledge with great enthusiasm,” he says. “On behalf of all the lecturers, I would like to wish our students every success and much perseverance.”