Equivalence of Diploma and Master's degree title

Documents issued by ETH Zurich

Effective as of 1 February 2006, the Swiss University Conference (SUC) supplemented its Bologna Directives with a transitional regulation on the equivalence of Licentiate/Diploma and Master's degrees (PDF, 47 KB) (in German only.)

In order not to discriminate against holders of the «old» Licentitate/Diploma, it declares these officially equivalent to the «new» Master's degree. This means that holders of an ETH Diploma may use the Master's degree title, i.e. «Master of Science ETH» / «MSc ETH», with no special attestation. However, we wish to draw attention to the following limitations (see comments on the new Article 6a of the Bologna Direcitves):

• The old title and the Master's degree are mutually exclusive and may not be used together, i.e. may not both be used in the same written text.
• The longer description of the title in English (e.g. «Master of Science ETH in XXX Engineering») should not be used, only «Master of Science ETH» / «MSc ETH» as described above. This is because the scope of the former study programme, although equivalent in level, may not be identical to that of the new.
  

No new Diploma titles will be issued. However, attestations of equivalence in English or German may be ordered for a fee in the webshop of the Academic Services.

Making an order «just in case» is not necessary. If an office or university abroad requires an attestation we can produce one very quickly. In the context of professional or continuing education attestation procedures, foreign institutions usually require further verification documents in any case (notarised copies of the original degree plus a tranlsation, and sometimes a precise listing of courses attendend and even their content).