Voluntary internship
Master's students in Space Systems may undertake a voluntary internship outside ETH Zurich, in industry or another institution, to gain valuable insights into professional life and apply academic knowledge in a real-world setting. This can be done either between the Bachelor's and Master's degrees or during the Master's programme.
Steps to follow
- Carefully read the internship guidelines below.
- Find a suitable institution in your area of interest within Space Systems and find a company mentor at that institution.
- For external projects, please consult the ETH guidelines for projects or internships abroad and check the FAQs, along with the information provided on the different collaboration options provided by ETH partnerships for innovations.
- Define the internship task together with your company mentor.
- Review the task definition with your ETH tutor of your deep track for approval.
- Once verbally approved by your ETH tutor (no formal approval in eDoz required), register for 651-7119-00L Voluntary Internship in myStudies incl. all details.
- For administrative questions please contact the .
Preliminary guidelines for the voluntary internship
Note: Students who completed an internship between their BSc and MSc can request accreditation only if the internship complies with the content and duration requirements outlined in these guidelines. The relevant internship documents must be submitted as part of the Master's application process.
Please for formal review and confirmation of all documents before contacting your ETH tutor.
As part of the Master’s in Space Systems, students may complete a voluntary
internship in Switzerland or abroad. This internship is a separate elective course and is independent to the case study project completed in core course 3.
Students are responsible for independently finding and organising a suitable internship.
Internships will only be approved if all requirements are met and the guidelines are followed.
- Inform the before you start planning your internship.
- The voluntary internship must be completely independent of any Bachelor's or Master's thesis and cannot be undertaken in parallel.
- The host institution defines a mentor for the internship.
- The mentor and the student define the internship tasks in advance and in written form (task definition).
- The task description must be approved by the tutor before starting the internship.
The main objective of the industrial internship is to provide students with direct exposure to a professional working environment, ideally through involvement in ongoing projects. The internship may be completed in industry or another relevant organisation and must be connected to the field of space systems.
During the internship, students will:
- Tackle real-world problems, working both independently and as part of a team.
- Apply and deepen theoretical and applied knowledge from their studies to practical situations in real-world setting.
- Understand the technical, planning, administrative, economic, and societal conditions under which space system solutions are developed and implemented in practice.
Voluntary internships typically last at least eight consecutive weeks on a full-time basis and are usually undertaken during the Master's programme, before the start of the Master's thesis, or between the Bachelor's and Master's studies.
Internships during the first semester of the Master's programme are not allowed, as all students are required to complete the project-oriented Core Course 1 together as a cohort.
In addition, semester-long internships during the lecture period are generally not recommended until Core Courses 1-3 and the Scientific Introductory Courses have been completed. This requirement reflects the cohort-based and project-oriented structure of the curriculum, which relies on active participation in coursework during the early stages of the programme.
Submit the required documents to your ETH tutor no later than two weeks after completing the internship:
- Official confirmation from the host institution (certificate of work), stating the nature of the work, duration of the internship, and a final assessment of your performance.
- A short internship report (1–2 pages) describing your tasks and your experience during the internship.
- A signed Download declaration of originality (PDF, 160 KB) is mandatory for all written work at ETH Zurich.
Students may receive 8 credit points for completing an internship, provided the following conditions are met:
- The internship task description was approved in advance by the tutor.
- The internship was successfully completed.
- All required documents have been submitted to the tutor for assessment.
Credit points will only be awarded for internships that were approved in advance by the tutor and that are completed in accordance with the programme’s requirements.