Excellence Scholarships
For outstanding emerging talent. For business, science and society
Our country relies on first-class professionals. The Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme (ESOP) encourages outstanding young people from Switzerland and around the world to complete their Master’s degree at ETH Zurich. The scholarship allows them to develop to their full potential and achieve excellence, from which society as a whole benefits.
Our goal
The Excellence Scholarships give selected Master’s students the opportunity to focus fully on their studies and research – a highly persuasive argument in the international competition to attract the most talented students.
The funding, however, is not just an investment in talented individuals: the scholarship recipients have excellent prospects of holding key positions in business, science or politics, or founding their own companies, thereby letting their knowledge and skills flow back into society. The increasing number of students is also continually increasing the demand for Excellence Scholarships.
The programme is fully funded by donations.
Your support enables
- ETH Zurich to attract highly talented students to its Master’s programmes
- the top 2 to 3 percent of each year group to focus fully on their studies, network among themselves and motivate one another to achieve great things
- Switzerland, as a centre for knowledge and business, to maintain an internationally leading position in the future
Good to know: around three-quarters of the foreign scholarship students remain in Switzerland after completing their degree. They work and pay taxes and insurance. This means that the amount invested in them flows back into society after an average of three years.
Portrait
The two Excellence Scholars and friends Noa Bernasconi and Diego Bernasconi are both studying materials science at ETH Zurich.
In the video portrait, they share insights into their research work, talk about what particularly fascinates them about their field and where they are headed after their master’s degree.
Explore more video portraits
This short video series of ETH gives a somewhat different insight into everyday life as a student. It provides an account of students, their setbacks and how they dealt with them. The portraits also feature Excellence Scholars talking about their experiences.
Excellence Scholars 2024
Students who would like to apply for a scholarship can find all information on ETH Zurich’s student portal.
Your contact
Isabelle Herold
+41 44 632 60 61
Email