Electives
The electives allow TPP MAS participants to broaden their horizons by taking courses from different ETH programmes that put science in perspective. Participants can select from a wide variety of courses available in the ETH course catalogue. This flexibility offers participants the opportunity to tailor their elective selection to their own professional and personal needs and interests.
Criteria for Elective Courses:
- They must be offered by ETH Zurich and listed in ETH’s course catalogue.
- They need to fit the core themes and competencies of the MAS TPP programme.
- They need to be approved by the TPP programme leadership.
It is the responsibility of the participants to select their electives in a timely manner, propose them to the TPP programme leadership via the Programme Manager for approval, and register for the course via the myStudies platform.
The publication dates of the course catalogue for each semester can be found here. Registration for courses opens around two months before the start of the following semester (e.g. around mid-Juli for the autumn semester and around mid-December for the spring semester). The academic calendar can be accessed here.
Please note that restrictions apply to individual courses; you might be placed on a waiting list if all spots in a course have been booked.
Information about the dates, location, restrictions, type of assessment, ECTS credits, and responsible lecturers can be found in the course catalogue. Questions about the courses themselves should be addressed to the responsible lecturers.
The study programme "Science in Perspective" offered by the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences of ETH Zurich, provides a broad selection of relevant courses that can be considered for the electives. Courses from other programmes can also be considered, as long as they meet the aforementioned criteria.
Participants can also ask the Programme Manager for a list of courses that have been approved in the past for inspiration and guidance in selecting their electives.
Many courses at ETH are conducted as lectures on-site at the ETH campus throughout the semester, generally once a week for about 2 hours.
It is recommended for MAS TPP participants to reduce their workload during the MAS TPP to accommodate the schedule of the electives alongside their professional commitments.
Courses generally also have individual performance assessments (e.g. exams) that need to be passed in order to be completed. Information about the performance assessment can be found in the ETH course catalogue.
Should a participant be unable to pursue the electives, it is possible to credit an additional Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) completed at ETH Zurich that has been approved by the TPP Programme Leadership, provided that the CAS was completed no more than five years ago and has not already been credited towards another (Master's) degree.
Participants can ask the Programme Manager for a list of ETH CAS programmes that can be credited as a replacement for the electives. Since these additional CAS programmes are not formally part of the MAS TPP, they are not covered by the MAS TPP fee and must be applied for and paid for separately.