Credit Units

Due to the new ordinance on the doctorate at ETH (which came into force on January 01, 2022) there are now different regulations concerning credit units depending on doing the doctoral studies

A) at I-Math or at D-Math according to the OLD ordinance on the doctorate:

B) at D-Math according to the NEW ordinance on the doctorate:

All doctoral students (A & B) need to earn at least 12 credit units. Credit units can be earned as follows:

1-3 credit units can be earned with any given course listed in the Graduate Course Program (course with -DRL-identifier (ETH) or -DP-identifier (UZH) or Nachdiplom-Lecture).

A)

Up to 2 credit units per semester can be earned for a "Doctoral Studies Course" (at most 4 credit units in total). A 'Doctoral Studies Course' is an informal course designed/defined by your advisor, which is not listed in the Graduate Course Program of the ZGSM. Example of such courses are retreats (summer/winter schools), conferences, or working group seminars. You can earn up to two credit units for such a course. It is up to your advisor to determine if it is one or two units. A total of up to 4 credit units can be earned with 'Doctoral Studies Courses'.

For students enrolled at ETH (according to the OLD ordinance):
4 credit units have to be earned by attending courses outside of your research area.  

B)

The ECTS credits earned must cover the following three areas

- knowledge in the research area of the doctoral thesis and extension beyond the original discipline, e.g. attendance of courses of the Graduate Course Program (see above), regular Master's degree courses or courses from the third year of Bachelor's degree studies

- transferable skills, e.g. soft-skill courses or participation in ETH Zurich bodies or committees. At least 1 ECTS credit has to be acquired by attending a course on the topic of ethics and good scientific practice

- integration into the scientific community (e.g. attending international conferences)

The doctoral committee may permit exceptions at the substantiated request of the doctoral thesis supervisor.

Details see Ordinance on the doctorate, Art. 36 Regular doctoral studies and Rectors's Implementation Provisions 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 under Regulations.

As language courses are not a core element of doctoral studies in Mathematics no credit units are awarded for any kind of language courses - this concerns also the ZGSM German language courses.