Admission Calendar for Switzerland: ETH, EPFL and UZH Deadlines

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

Switzerland has no central application portal for bachelor's degrees. Each university sets its own window, and the windows differ by a month or more. For applicants who need a visa the calendar is tighter, because a cantonal authority must also decide on your stay. This guide gives the dates published by three universities, so you can see how the Swiss year works. Dates are those on the universities' pages in October 2026, and they are republished each cycle, so check the cycle you plan to apply for. Our catalogue lists 607 programmes at 68 institutions in Switzerland.

The shape of the Swiss year

At ETH Zurich and EPFL the bachelor's starts in the autumn, and ETH admits bachelor's students only in the autumn semester. The University of Zurich also publishes a spring window, except for medicine. For autumn entry the three universities below close between 31 March and 30 April, and for applicants with foreign qualifications they add checks of language, documents and sometimes an entrance exam.

ETH Zurich

For applicants with non-Swiss secondary school certificates, ETH's page says:

Application window: 1 December to 31 March, 23:59 Central European Time
One programme only: you may apply for a single bachelor's programme
Autumn start only: bachelor's studies begin in the autumn semester
Entrance examination: applicants who must sit it are told with the admission decision. Registration is in the online system between 15 September and 15 October, and is not possible after 15 October. The exam fee is paid during registration. The page does not say how this window relates to the application dates, so check ETH's entrance examination page for your cycle
Fee: an application fee is charged, is non-refundable and must be paid before you can submit. The page does not state the amount
German: the main teaching language is German, ETH offers no language courses to applicants, and the language requirement must be met by 31 March. Applications with invalid, insufficient or missing certificates are rejected after that date

EPFL

EPFL's bachelor admission pages say:

Application form: accepted from mid-November to 30 April for the September start, validated and paid by 30 April at the latest
Fee: CHF 50 with a Swiss certificate and CHF 150 with a foreign one. It is not refunded
Documents: the uploading form must be completed by 10 July. Certificates issued after 10 July can be sent by 30 September, which is also the deadline for proof of the admission title
French: level B2 is required and C1 highly recommended for applicants who did not study French at upper secondary school
Entrance exam: applicants with a certificate from outside the EU, EFTA and the UK can register for the entrance exam, and some qualifications can only be admitted through it. Holders of EU, EFTA, UK or IB certificates are accepted at the beginning of August, within available places
Mathematics course (CMS): the self-evaluation email arrives at the end of May, the admission request has a deadline of about three weeks, and answers are sent in July

University of Zurich

The University of Zurich publishes separate windows for applicants with foreign qualifications:

Autumn semester: 1 January to 30 April. Applicants who need a visa: 1 January to 28 February. Bachelor of medicine: 1 January to 31 March, plus registration with swissuniversities by 15 February
Spring semester: 1 July to 30 November. Applicants who need a visa: 1 July to 31 July. No spring applications for medicine

The extended deadline that exists for some applicants does not apply to foreign qualifications, and the page says the deadlines cannot be extended.

What the pattern means

Visa applicants file earlier. At the University of Zurich, a visa shortens the autumn window by two months and the spring window by four months. Read the student visa guide for Switzerland before you plan your date.
Language comes first. Both ETH and EPFL need a language certificate at application time, so plan your exam early.
The exam is a separate date. At ETH the entrance examination has its own registration window, with a hard stop on 15 October.
Fees add up. Applying to several universities means paying several fees, and none of those quoted above is refundable.

A working calendar

Summer to autumn before the intake year: choose universities and book language and entrance exams.
November to January: application portals open (EPFL mid-November, ETH 1 December, UZH 1 January).
End of February: first visa deadline at the University of Zurich.
31 March and 30 April: ETH, then EPFL and UZH close.
15 September to 15 October: ETH entrance exam registration window, if you are asked to sit it.
Summer: document uploads, decisions and the visa application.

Where to look next

Official sources

Always check current information on the official website of the university before you apply.