Guideline for Inbound Students

Before Your Exchange

Before you apply for an exchange semester or year at the English department, please make sure to have read all of the information below and on the website of the Global Student Experience Office.

Before you plan an exchange at the university of Zurich, please make sure to check whether your home department or university have a partner agreement with our department or the UZH in general. In case your home university does not have an exchange agreement with the UZH, you may apply for an exchange as a regular visiting student.

Depending on the type of exchange agreement and the location of your home university, there are different application procedures:

Application procedure for students from a European partner university

Application procedure for students from a non-European partner university with a departmental contract (i.e. University of Auckland, NZ and Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, CA)

Application procedure for students from a non-European partner university with a university-wide exchange contract

Application procedure for regular visiting students from non-partner universities

If you intend to take courses in the English Department and if English is not your native language, you are expected to have a standard of proficiency in English at the level C1 of the Common European Framework (CEFR). Please cf. the following table for corresponding test results (cf. information by the Admissions Office):

For Incoming Students:

Certification of English skills can also be provided by the language center of your home university.

Bachelor Program

In the Bachelor major program in English Literature and Linguistics, there are seven different module groups. These module groups consist of modules, which in turn may contain one course (e.g. the “Bachelor Thesis” module) or a range of different courses (e.g. the “Literary Histories: Cultural Contexts” module) or different parallel classes of the same course (e.g. the “Introduction to Linguistics” module). For more information, please consult the overview for the 120-ECTS Bachlor Program.

Master Program

In the Master major program in English Literature and/or Linguistics, there are nine different module groups. These module groups consist of modules, which in turn may contain one course (e.g. the “Colloquium in English Literature” module) or a range of different courses (e.g. the “Research Seminar in English Literature” module) or different parallel classes of the same course (e.g. the “Methods and Theories in English Linguistics” module). For more information, please consult the overview for the 90-ECTS Master Program.

General Information for Bachelor and Master students

Before you choose your courses please note:

• If you have not yet completed your Bachelor degree, you cannot sign up for a Master course.
• If you stay for one semester, make sure to check with the department's study abroad coordinator whether or not you are allowed to take courses that run for two semesters.
• If you successfully complete a lecture course, you will be awarded credit points but usually not a grade. Check with your home university beforehand to determine whether or not they accept credit points without a grade.

Please discuss your course options and your selection with the study abroad coordinator of our department, Nathalie Meyer, M.A. (studyabroad@es.uzh.ch), via e-mail.

You should contact her as soon as possible after you have been accepted for an exchange to finalize your decision and make sure that you get a slot in the chosen courses. You are only allowed to attend your chosen courses after she has approved your choice.

Once your choices have been finalized and approved by the study abroad coordinator, you will be officially enrolled in your courses and you can fill out your learning agreement for your home university. The study abroad coordinator will help you book your courses.

Specific Information: Bachelor Program

In general, exchange students on the Bachelor level should stick to choosing courses from the module groups English Linguistics and/or English Literature, as well as any lectures offered by the English department. Lectures award 3 ECTS and are indicated as such in the course descriptions in the course directory (please consult the guideline on how to use the course directory).

It is recommended to book max. three of the 6 ECTS English Department seminars per semester.

Apart from the English Department seminars credits can be earned by booking English Department lectures and colloquia, language courses from the UZH Language Center or selected modules from other departments (a list of modules will be announced each semester via email by the Global Student Experience Office).

Specific Information: Master Program

In general, exchange students on the Master level should stick to choosing Research Seminars in Linguistics and/or Literature, as well as any lectures offered by the English department. Lectures award 3 ECTS and are indicated as such in the course descriptions in the course directory (please consult the guideline on how to use the course directory).

It is recommended to book max. two of the 9 ECTS English Department seminars per semester.

Apart from the English Department seminars credits can be earned by booking English Department lectures and colloquia, language courses from the UZH Language Center or selected modules from other departments (a list of modules will be announced each semester via email by the Global Student Experience Office).

ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) is a system that regulates the accumulation and transfer of credits earned for coursework. This system encourages transparency within the European higher education area and fosters student mobility within Europe.

At UZH, 1 ECTS credit point represents a workload of 30 hours. Credits are only awarded if you pass an examination or have other work officially recognized.

The grading scale ranges from 1 to 6, where 6 represents the highest grade and 4 the pass mark.

Please also consult the following information on grades and ECTS at the University of Zurich.

For any questions regarding visa, registering in Switzerland, and health insurance, please consult the website of the Global Student Experience Office.

During Your Exchange

Please make sure that you fill out and submit any learning agreements in time. Usually, you must upload the learning agreement (signed by all coordinators) to Mobility Online (UZH application portal) and also hand it in at your home university.

The learning agreement is a kind of contract which states which courses you are allowed to take, how many credit points you will be awarded upon successful completion of these courses, and what manner of assessment will be employed for each course.

Agreement from Home University

Check with your home university that they approve of your choice of courses for your time with us and how many credit points you will be awarded for these courses when you return. Different universities award different numbers of credit points if they use different credit point systems. Your home university will convert our points into their system.

Please find information on semester dates, lecture timetable etc. on the following

website: https://www.uzh.ch/en/studies/dates.html

We expect you to be with us from the first day of term and to have contacted the study abroad coordinator in the first week of term at the latest. If you are prevented from being here for the beginning of term for whatever reason, you should contact the coordinator in advance to let her know. If you arrive after week two, it may be impossible for you to get a place in your chosen courses.

Please note that if you stay only for one semester, the grade must be put into the system by July 20 (for the spring semester) or January 20 (for the autumn semester). Thus, if you are only staying for one semester, you need to inform the course instructor about this in the first session of the course and discuss when you need to hand in your term paper. The instructor needs sufficient time to correct your paper and submit your grade. This usually means that you need to hand in the paper some time before or shortly after the end of the course.

OLAT is the learning management system at the UZH, which is used by all faculties. Once you have booked a course, you will automatically be enrolled in the corresponding OLAT course, where you can find information and materials for your seminar, lecture, etc. Please find more information on how to register as a new OLAT user in the OLAT User Manual.

In the UZH Student Portal , you can create your personal schedule, see your results and download your Transcript of Records. It also allows you to check and correct the details of your enrolment and personal data.

After Your Exchange

Please make sure to take care of any necessary contract cancellations in time (rent, mobile phone, public transport, sports clubs, etc.), and bring back all the library books (main library and English Department library) before you leave Zurich. 

Students can download their transcript in the UZH student portal/launchpad. The transcript lists the grades for all the courses you booked at UZH, including those you did not pass.

The transcript is available for download at the beginning of March (for the previous fall semester) or at the beginning of October (for the previous spring semester). Further information here.

You can also order a printed version of the transcript for a fee through the student portal/launchpad or via the UZH PhF Student Services. This document will be sent to the address you have inputted in the UZH database. Please make sure to check the address and change it if necessary. 

Summary of Credits

As soon as your grades have been recorded in the system, you can also view the summary of credits in your student portal.

Please read all the information from the Global Student Experience Office regarding the end of your exchange semester/year at the UZH.