The Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme (ESOP) is a comprehensive initiative by the ETH Foundation aimed at assisting students pursuing a Master’s degree.
Scholarship Value: The Excellence Scholarship (ESOP) is a comprehensive award package designed to support outstanding Master’s degree students at ETH Zurich. It includes a substantial grant of CHF 12,000 per semester, which covers both living expenses and study-related costs.
In addition to the financial grant, recipients of the ESOP are granted a tuition fee waiver, relieving them of the burden of paying tuition fees for the entire duration of their Master’s program.
Application Deadline: December 22, 2023
Scholarship Type: Masters
Country/University of Study: ETH Zurich in Switzerland
Field(s) of study: Eligible Masters Degree Programme offered by the University
Number of Scholarships: The number of annual scholarships depends on the availability of funds.
Target group: National and International Students
Eligibility: The scholarship programs are available to outstanding students from ETH Zurich and other universities, both within Switzerland and around the world, who want to study for a Master’s degree at ETH Zurich.
To be eligible, you need to have achieved excellent results in your Bachelor’s degree (usually in the top 10% of your class, equivalent to a grade A). Also, it’s important to provide a valid telephone number in your CV because the selection process might involve a phone or video call interview in February. Being reachable at that number is crucial for the application process.
If you are already enrolled in a Master’s degree programme at ETH Zurich, or hold a Master degree, you are not eligible for ESOP.
How To Apply: In order to be eligible for the scholarship, it is essential to undergo the application process for a Master’s degree programme at ETH Zurich.
In addition to the documents for the Master admission you will need to upload a pre-proposal for your master thesis (Downloadguidelines_preproposal (PDF, 86 KB)).
The pre-proposal for the Master’s thesis must be developed by yourself and use established scientific citation practice.
Plagiarism, negligent or intentional misinformation will lead to exclusion from the admission process or – if discovered later – to the revocation of the admission and of any scholarship.
If your study programme does not ask for references you must name two reference persons (professors) for your ESOP application.
Selection Process: The applications are evaluated by the Admissions Committees of the respective Master’s programmes. The final decision for awarding scholarships in the Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme rests with the Rector of ETH Zurich. The exact number of annual scholarships depends on the availability of funds. The decisions are communicated by end of March.
For more information on this scholarship, interested applicants are to visit the official scholarship webpage.