EPFL Summer Internship and EPFL Scholarships: What You Can Apply For

What is the EPFL summer internship, and what EPFL actually funds

People search for the EPFL summer internship, EPFL summer intern and summer at EPFL when they want a short research stay in Switzerland. Our listings do not carry a summer internship round, so check the EPFL website directly for any summer programme and its current dates.

What our listings do cover are EPFL's funded awards for full study and research: the EPFL Excellence Fellowships for Bachelor's and Master's students, and the EPFLglobaLeaders Fellowship Programme for doctoral candidates. If your goal is to study at EPFL rather than visit for a summer, these are the awards to work towards.

EPFL is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Its campuses also sit in Geneva, Neuchâtel, Valais and Fribourg, and globaLeaders research must be carried out on those campuses.

EPFL scholarships at a glance: levels, money and deadlines

The table below compares the two EPFL awards in our listings. Every figure comes from the listings.

For the Master Excellence Fellowship, renewal requires at least 50 ECTS credits and an overall average of 5,0/6. For Bachelor's study the fellowship is spread over three years.

EPFL Excellence Fellowships: who qualifies and what you receive

The Excellence Fellowships are open to all students, including international students, and are awarded to candidates with strong academic records. EPFL funds them partly itself and partly through partnerships with foundations or companies.

Bachelor Excellence Fellowship

You can apply if you have applied for admission to the EPFL Bachelor's programme and meet one of these conditions: Swiss nationality or a C permit; refugee or stateless status in Switzerland; a certificate within the meaning of art. 1 of the ordinance on admission to EPFL; or a secondary II diploma obtained in Switzerland while domiciled in Switzerland.

The academic thresholds are specific: a general average of the gymnasial maturity and the previous year of at least 5.3/6, a specific average in scientific subjects and the maturity project of at least 5/6, and for CMS students an average of at least 5.00 at the end of the CMS. Eloquence, capacity for synthesis, engagement and the ability to put reflections into perspective are also evaluated.

The CHF 10’000 is divided into six payments: CHF 2’000 per semester in the first year, then CHF 1’500 per semester in the second and third years, for a maximum of six semesters. Payment stops if you are oriented during the “Mise à niveau” course or fail the propaedeutic cycle, and amounts already received do not have to be repaid. A certificate of excellence is issued at the end, and the fellowship can be combined with other financial resources.

Master Excellence Fellowship

Apply through the same online form as your Master's application and tick the box asking to be considered for an excellence fellowship. The fellowship is paid for four semesters.

EPFLglobaLeaders: the doctoral route for international researchers

The EPFLglobaLeaders Fellowship Programme funds early stage researchers who want to become leaders in the shift towards sustainable societies. It supports 48 doctoral fellows and includes a training programme with a secondment in the non-academic sector.

Fellows receive a monthly contribution to the doctoral salary of EUR 1,935 for 48 months. The thesis director must add to the EU contribution and cover research costs, equipment, travel and conferences. The fellowship also includes a stay of 3 to 12 months in the non-academic sector, and co-supervision by the non-academic partner is strongly encouraged.

You can apply through any of the 22 doctoral programmes at EPFL, in any discipline within EPFL's research areas. The last published deadline in our listing has passed and no further calls were planned within the programme at the time of listing, so treat the official page as the source for any current round.

Eligibility for EPFLglobaLeaders: the rules that decide your case

Citizens of any nationality may apply, but four conditions decide whether your application can go forward.

• You must hold a Master's degree or equivalent before signing your employment contract.
• You must be an Early Stage Researcher: no more than four years of full-time research by the time you sign, and no doctoral degree awarded.
• You must meet the MSCA transnational mobility rules: you must not have resided or carried out your main activity in Switzerland for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the call deadline.
• Your research must be conducted on an EPFL campus in Lausanne, Geneva, Neuchâtel, Valais or Fribourg.

Exceptions to the mobility rule are possible to ensure equal opportunities where a scientific career was interrupted. Time spent in a refugee status procedure under the Geneva Convention, compulsory national service, maternity leave and short stays such as holidays are not counted.

How to apply, step by step

1. Choose your level and programme. Pick the Bachelor's or Master's route for the Excellence Fellowships, or one of the 22 doctoral programmes for globaLeaders.
2. Check the deadline for your route. Bachelor applications close 30 April, Master applications 15 December or 31 March, and each doctoral programme sets its own deadline.
3. Start the EPFL admission application. The Excellence Fellowships sit inside the normal Bachelor's or Master's application, and globaLeaders sits inside the EPFL Doctoral School selection process.
4. Tick the fellowship box. On the Master form, tick the box indicating your profile should also be considered for an excellence fellowship. Bachelor's applicants in their final high school year tick the corresponding box before 30 April.
5. Submit the fellowship file. Eligible Bachelor's applicants receive an ad hoc form and a document list.
6. Prepare for the interview. Each Bachelor section preselects the best applications for an interview presenting the “travail de maturité”, or another subject if not applicable, before a jury including EPFL academic staff.
7. Wait for the decision. For the Bachelor Excellence Fellowship, positive decisions subject to a final average matching the criteria, and negative responses, are communicated by the end of June. Decisions of the Commission are not subject to appeal.

Documents to have ready

For the Bachelor Excellence Fellowship, the ad hoc form asks for the following.

• Secondary II transcripts covering the whole gymnasial path
• A summary of the “travail de maturité” or an equivalent project, one A4 page maximum, in French or English
• A motivation letter in French, English, German or Italian
• A curriculum vitae with extracurricular activities, in French, English, German or Italian
• Contact details of two reference persons, one a science teacher and the other linked to an extracurricular activity or engagement, in French, English or German

For globaLeaders, prepare degree certificates and transcripts early and read the EPFLglobaLeaders Guidelines before you start, as the listing advises.

How EPFL selects fellows

The Excellence Fellowships go to the most deserving candidates based on academic records. For the Bachelor award, each section preselects the strongest applications, runs the interview, and then the central Bachelor Excellence Fellowship Commission examines the selected files and awards the fellowships.

For globaLeaders, selection runs through the EPFL Doctoral School process for the doctoral programme you choose, so the programme's own committee assesses your file. Meeting the eligibility rules and the mobility rule is a threshold, not a ranking.

Who these EPFL awards suit, and who should look elsewhere

They suit strong school leavers who meet the Bachelor conditions and want three years of support at EPFL, Master's applicants with a record worth flagging on the form, and early stage researchers who hold a Master's degree, meet the mobility rule and want a PhD with a non-academic secondment.

Look elsewhere if you want a short summer research stay, since our listings carry no EPFL summer internship round. Look elsewhere too if you already hold a doctoral degree, if you have spent more than 12 months in Switzerland in the 3 years before a globaLeaders deadline, or if you need funding for a field EPFL does not teach.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating the globaLeaders deadline in our listing as current. That round has closed; the official page has the current figure.
• Missing the fellowship tick box on the Master form. Without it, your file is not considered for the award.
• Applying for the Bachelor Excellence Fellowship without checking the nationality or residence condition and the 5.3/6 and 5/6 averages.
• Ignoring the mobility rule until after you have chosen a supervisor.
• Sending the motivation letter or CV in a language outside the accepted list.
• Assuming a negative Commission decision can be appealed. It cannot.

Other routes if EPFL does not fit

Switzerland has other funding options, and our Scholarships in Switzerland page lists them. If you are comparing countries, start with Scholarships in Germany, Scholarships in France or Scholarships in the Netherlands.

If your subject is the deciding factor, browse Engineering Scholarships, Science and Technology Scholarships or Environmental Management Scholarships. Our All guides page explains how to read each listing, and the Scholarship finder lets you filter by level and country.