General FAQs

Formats of language courses
Enrollments / Withdrawals / Changing courses
OLAT and Moodle learning platforms
Use of AI
Certificates / ECTS credits
Self-Access Center
Data protection
General information

Formats of language courses

Most Language Center courses take place face to face. Experience and research show that the best way to learn is through a combination of face-to-face instruction and asynchronous learning activities using a learning platform. In addition, classroom interaction has a positive impact on most language learners’ motivation.

Yes, the Language Center offers online courses when online courses provide better value than face-to-face classes or where participants are to be offered a choice between a face-to-face and online course when there are multiple iterations of the same course.

No. For didactic reasons, the Language Center does not record any of its courses.

No. For didactic reasons, the Language Center does not stream any of its courses.

No. The Language Center does not offer any hybrid courses. The simultaneous teaching of groups of participants in the classroom and online is extremely demanding and ultimately not ideal for either group.

Enrollments / Withdrawals / Changing courses

Members of UZH and ETH Zurich; members of our partner universities, which are Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich) and Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).

The following groups are not entitled to enroll in our language courses: UZH and ETH students who are on study leave or who plan to leave their university during a language course; members of universities that are not partners of the Language Center of UZH and ETH Zurich; spouses and life partners of UZH and ETH members; and auditors and guests.

The UZH course catalog provides information about language courses offered by various UZH seminars and institutes. Some of these allow auditors to participate. The following link describes how to find such courses and how to register as an auditor: https://www.uzh.ch/cmsssl/en/outreach/events/audit.html
We do not allow auditors in any Language Center courses.

Our course fees vary according to your target group; fees are also dependent on the format of a course and on the maximum number of participants admitted to a course. When enrolling for one of our courses, select your target group first. Then select the title of your chosen course to access the course description. The course fee is listed at the top of the course description.

This information is provided in the detailed course description. When enrolling for one of our courses, select your target group first. Then select the title of your chosen course to access the course description.

Enrollment dates are listed in the detailed course description and on the entry page of our website. They differ from the general module booking deadlines of UZH and ETH Zurich. For our courses, the enrollment and withdrawal dates specified by the Language Center are binding.

You can enroll only via the Language Center website. On our entry page, click on the language of your choice. Next, select your university and target group. Once you have selected these, you will be directed to a list of courses that you can enroll in during the enrollment period. The enrollment deadlines are published on the entry page.

Once you have submitted the online form, you will immediately get a browser message and an automatically generated email to confirm that your enrollment request has been received. When we have processed your enrollment, you will receive another email informing you whether or not you have a place on the course. If you do not receive a confirmation email from the Language Center, your enrollment is invalid.

You can no longer enroll in a course once the first two weeks of a course have passed. Courses of more than 2 lessons a week during the semester only accept new participants until the end of the first week of a course.

You can, however, choose one of the following options

• Register for a tandem partnership
• Check out the Self-Access Center
• See if you can attend one of our language get-togethers, learning workshops or other events offered by the Self-Access Center
• Study with our online services

If a place becomes available, we will let you know immediately. If you do not receive any information from us by the enrollment deadline, this means that we are unable to offer you a place on the course. Unfortunately, we cannot provide information in the interim about your chances of getting a place.

If you do not get a place on a course, you can try again in a later semester, or you can study the language independently. Please contact the Self-Access Center for help with autonomous learning.

No. We cannot award ECTS credits twice for the same course. You are only permitted to re-take a course if the first time around you failed to complete the course assessments or you failed the course entirely. If you have already passed a course and still wish to brush up your skills, please contact the Self-Access Center for help with autonomous learning.

You can do a self-assessment of your language level using the descriptors and checklists provided by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Click here for more information.

In addition, please read the entry requirements and course levels listed in our course descriptions carefully before enrolling. If in doubt, please contact the Language Center Secretariat as soon as possible.

The Language Center reserves the right to cancel enrollments after a course has started if a participant’s language skills differ significantly from those listed in the course description. ECTS credits are issued only for progress made and assessed in connection with one of our courses.

At higher language levels, the language of instruction is the same as the target language. At beginner level, explanations are sometimes given in German. At beginner level, English is used to teach German as a foreign language courses.

If, as an ETH student, you wish to attend a course where you can gain Science in Perspective (SiP) credits from the D-GESS, you need to enroll via the Language Center website. You cannot enroll via myStudies. Courses that are part of the Science in Perspective (SiP) program can be identified by the ETH course catalog number starting “ETH 851-,” which these courses have in addition to the UZH course catalog number.
Our GESS/SiP courses are also published in the electronic ETH Course Catalogue. You are only enrolled in one of our courses if you have received an official confirmation email from the Language Center.

If you are a UZH student and wish to attend courses at the Language Center as part of your mandatory language proficiency requirements at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, you must enroll via the Language Center website. You cannot enroll via the module booking tool. When enrolling, select the "UZH Bachelor's and Master's students" target group and then the option "with mandatory language proficiency requirements at PhF."

The courses offered by the Language Center on behalf of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are available here.

Up until the end of the enrollment period, you can withdraw free of charge from a course that you have enrolled in. Dates of the enrollment period are listed in the detailed course descriptions and on the entry page of our website (right-hand side).

If you withdraw after the deadline, or if you simply fail to appear, you will be charged the full course fee. Withdrawals must be made in writing by email to the Language Center Administration. Written and/or verbal withdrawals made to a lecturer do not count as proper withdrawals. Non-payment or partial payment of the course fees do not constitute a withdrawal from a course. For more information, please read our General terms and conditions.

Withdrawals must be made by email to the Language Center Administration. Written and/or verbal withdrawals made to a lecturer do not count as proper withdrawals. Non-payment or partial payment of the course fees do not constitute a withdrawal from a course. For more information, please read our General terms and conditions.

Up until the end of the enrollment period, you can withdraw free of charge from a course that you have enrolled in. Dates of the enrollment period are listed in the detailed course descriptions and on the entry page of our website (right-hand side). If you withdraw after the deadline, or if you simply fail to appear, you will be charged the full course fee.

Invoices are issued and sent out by regular mail at the end of the enrollment period.

You can change courses during the enrollment period in consultation with the Language Center Administration and your lecturer, but only if the course you wish to change to still has available places.

In general – for all languages except for Ancient Greek, English, and Latin – UZH and ETH Bachelor’s and Master’s students can initially only enroll for one course. On Thursday before semester starts (9am), you can add other courses.

As an UZH or ETH PhD/doctoral student, staff member, or alumni and as a member of Zurich University of Teacher Education (PH Zurich) and Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), you can enroll for as many courses as you like.

UZH and ETH Zurich provide their Bachelor’s and Master’s students with a wide range of language learning options through the Language Center. When we plan our course program, we assess what the demand for our courses is likely to be. However, in many cases, the demand exceeds the number of course places we are able to provide. For this reason, we cannot guarantee that everyone will be able to take the course of their choice.
When we allocate course places, we take the following criteria into consideration:

• Linguistic suitability
  The Language Center doesn’t assess language levels of course participants before they enroll. You need to carefully assess your language level yourself, and we allocate places based on the information you give us. Reading the course description and the Course levels as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages carefully will ensure that you have the necessary skills for a particular course. If you need help assessing whether you meet the requirements of a particular course, please contact the Language Center Administration.
   
• Motives for choosing a particular course
  Priority is given to those who need a course for study purposes.
   
• Other criteria
  If both criteria above are met, we then consider the time and date of enrollment and how long a participant has been at university when they enroll at the Language Center.

OLAT and Moodle learning platforms

If you are a member of PHZH or ZHdK, you can register on OLAT by selecting your university on the OLAT entry page.

If you are a UZH or ETH alumni, you can create a SWITCH edu-ID at the time of registration. Create your account by clicking here.
For subsequent logins to OLAT, select Swiss edu-ID oder SWITCH as your institution, not UZH or ETH.

If you are a member of PHZH or ZHdK, you can register on Moodle by selecting your university on the Moodle entry page.

If you are a UZH or ETH alumni, you can create a SWITCH edu-ID at the time of registration. Create your account by clicking here.
For subsequent logins to Moodle, select Swiss edu-ID oder SWITCH as your institution, not UZH or ETH.

Use of AI

Yes. Following the UZH and ETH AI strategies, the Language Center promotes the competent and critical use of artificial intelligence in its courses.

Basic issues surrounding the use of AI are addressed in class using examples; our teachers discuss the opportunities, limitations, guidelines, and tools associated with AI in various areas of application in a practical manner.

• Course participants are allowed to use machine translation tools such as DeepL, Google, and generative language models such as ChatGPT and GPT-4 if so agreed with their lecturer.
• Course participants must adhere to any stipulations made by their lecturer: If AI tools are explicitly not permitted in the completion of assignments and examinations, participants are obliged to comply.
• Course participants are responsible for the work they produce. Digital tools are of limited use and can produce inaccurate results. Course participants should always check the results of their work and make any necessary adjustments. Participants – and not the tools used – are responsible for the final product.
• Course participants must source any tools used and provide information on how they used them. They must list all AI tools used to produce their results and to work on tasks, according to prior stipulations.

Certificates / ECTS credits

When you have completed a Language Center course and have passed the course assessments, we will issue a certificate of achievement. This lists the number of ECTS credits awarded for successful completion of the course. The transmission of your course results to UZH and ETH Zurich occurs automatically at the end of the semester. The accreditation of ECTS credits to your degree is not the Language Center’s responsibility. For more information about accreditation and recognition of course results, click here.

You will find our general assessment guidelines via the ECTS credits link on our website. Your lecturer will give you more information about the assessment criteria for individual assignments and about how they calculate grades.

If you successfully complete one of our language courses, you will receive a certificate of achievement from the Language Center. Your certificate will state the number of ECTS credits you have gained and your grade. The assessment requirements are published in the course description.

If you don’t need the ECTS credits from a course, or if you have not completed the assignments needed to pass a course, but you would still like a confirmation that you took the course, you must have attended at least two-thirds of all lessons. For courses of 14 lessons, you must have attended 9 lessons; for courses of 26-28 lessons, 18; for courses of 52-56 lessons, 36; and for the German as a foreign language Intensive Courses (60 lessons), 40.

Self-Access Center

If you are not taking a course at the Language Center this semester, you can improve your language skills independently at the Self-Access Center. You can also visit the Self-Access Center in addition to a course.

You can take advantage of the following language learning options at the Self-Access Center:

• You will find lots of learning media (also available to borrow) to help you study the language of your choice independently.
• You will find support and advice on how to plan your learning.
• You can take part in shared learning activities in the language of your choice, such as language get-togethers, writing workshops, games events, and film and book clubs.

Data protection

The Language Center requires personal data for enrollment purposes. The data you provide will be used only within the Language Center in order to process your enrollment, to run the course(s) you take, to send you information about other courses, and to conduct quality control surveys.

The Language Center keeps personal data for 10 years. After this, all personal data are deleted. This means that after 10 years, you are no longer able to receive information about courses you attended (incl. course results). At present, we are able to retrieve personal data dating from 2018. This means that we can issue certificates of achievement and certificates of attendance relating to our courses only from this date on.

General information

For more information, go to:

English (PDF, 118 KB)

French

Italian

Portuguese

Spanish

We don’t make recommendations for private language schools and/or for language courses run by universities abroad.

Language courses and services that are offered by UZH departments and institutes are listed in the UZH course catalog. Some of these allow auditors to participate. The following link describes how to find such courses and how to register as an auditor: https://www.uzh.ch/cmsssl/en/events/events/audit.html