Admission

• General requirements:

Admission to USI master's programmes requires a Bachelor's degree from a university or another Swiss academic institution, or a foreign Bachelor's degree from an equivalent institution that is recognized or accredited in the country of origin, in a field identical or related to the chosen master's programme.

The following requirements specifically apply:

• The certificate must be issued by a recognized higher education institution in the country where the candidate completed their studies.
• The university degree must comprise at least three years of study (at least 180 ECTS credits).
• 80% of the credits must have been obtained at a recognized higher education institution.
• At least 50% of the credits must have been earned at the university that issued the degree.

The Bachelor's degree must be completed prior to starting the Master's programme. The term may be postponed in case some assessments are recorded, or the Bachelor thesis is defended later on, on a case-to-case basis

The Bachelor's degree gives access to a Master's programme in the same field.
Admission to programmes in other fields can be subject to the addition of levelling courses by assessment of the competent Faculty in charge of evaluating the application.

Faculty regulations or study plans may specify the essential theoretical and practical foundations required and establish any minimum quality requirements regarding the acquisition of knowledge and skills (e.g., minimum grade, course content and methods, additional courses).

Students who have exceeded the number of attempts to pass exams (definitive failure) in any Swiss or foreign university cannot be admitted to the same Faculty or subject area (Art. 6, Regulations for admissions and enrolment).

• Specific requirements:

Please refer to the individual Master programme websites in the Admissions section.

Admission of candidates with academic curricula other than those indicated for each Master's programme above is assessed individually. Programme directors may require such candidates to include additional courses in their study plans when deemed essential for their academic curriculum.

• Language:

Admission to English-language Master’s programmes at USI requires a good command of English. Applicants whose previous degree was obtained in a language other than English are required to provide an internationally recognized language certificate at the B2+ level as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), or an equivalent test result (e.g., TOEFL, IELTS, etc.).

The B2+ level on the CEFR corresponds to the following scores in internationally acknowledged exams:

Important:

• The language certificate must be included in the application package: candidates whose Bachelor's was entirely taught in English must upload an official document mentioning the tuition language (e.g., official transcript, diploma supplement, or any other official certificate issued by the university) in the application form.
• We only accept the above English qualifications (IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge English, TOEIC).
• The certificate must still be valid at the point of the application. We generally cannot accept language test results older than three years as of September 1st.
• Certificates obtained by passing the IELTS Academic Online or TOEFL iBT Home Edition tests may also be submitted for admission to the programme.