Course selection & restrictions
Required number of ECTS
TU Delft uses the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) shared by all universities in the European Union. One academic year consists of a total of 60 EC. One EC is equivalent to a study load of 28 hours (including lectures, laboratory courses, practical work, assignments, projects, private work as well as examinations or other assessment activities. Bachelor programmes at TU Delft consist of 180 EC and Master programmes, 120 EC.
Exchange students coming to the TU Delft must take a course load equal to 24-30 ECTS per semester. Even if the home university of the students requires less than 24 ECTS, students are not allowed to choose a course package less than 24 ECTS. Each student is expected to attend classes, submit assessments and sit final exams for all courses in which he/she is enrolled at TU Delft obtaining a minimum of 20 EC.
The academic year at TU Delft consists of two semesters that are each divided in to 2 periods. The first semester contains education period 1 and 2 and the second semester contains education period 3 and 4. When choosing courses students have to look carefully if the chosen course is taught during their exchange period. We recommend to choose a course package consisting of a maximum workload of 12 to 15 ECTS credit points per period.
Course selection
We expect students to carefully prepare a study plan according to our guidelines and discuss them with the home institution as soon as possible to make sure the choices are available in the semester desired. The study plan is a crucial factor whether students will be accepted or not.
Our course advisors will check whether you meet the pre-requisites and confirm that the requested subjects are available and appropriate. They may request subject’s outlines (syllabi) to check the required pre-requisites. If the proposed course package is not appropriate the course advisors will recommend alternatives.
The majority of courses (at least 51%) should be chosen from one faculty included in the student exchange agreement. Check with your home coordinator which TU Delft faculties participate in the agreement. Additional courses may be chosen from other faculties which are included in the exchange agreement. Should you choose courses at a faculty not participating in the agreement motivate your course request in the motivational letter.
Exceptions to course selection apply to the following faculties;
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences requires a minimum of 70% of courses within CITG
Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering requires a minimum of 70% of courses within IDE.
Faculty of Architect and the Built Environment requires 100% of courses within AR.
TU Delft’s study guide (studyguide.tudelft.nl) outlines all available courses for 2021-2022. The study plan should be based on this current study guide. Minor changes may occur as the course catalogue is updated every May. Students are advised to carefully check in which period the courses they wish to follow will take place. A study guide manual is available to help. Students can also select Bachelor level courses by consulting the list of TU Delft - courses taught in English.
For students enrolled in faculties not offering fixed course packages in case of exceptional circumstances, they are given a two-week period at the start of each semester to make any modification to study plans, pending that these changes are approved by all parties.
For these students TU Delft’s faculties cannot guarantee a place in any individual course as each course placement is subject to availability, the fulfilment of certain preconditions, and timetabling factors. We advise to be flexible and, before arrival at TU Delft, have alternative courses ready and approved by the home institution academic advisors.
Any further queries regarding courses can be emailed to your faculty exchange coordinator.
Faculty specific requirements & restrictions
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Within the study exchange programme, the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment offers fixed course packages and Minor Programmes to incoming exchange students.
During the first semester (autumn), they offer:
- For Master level students complete ‘MSc 1’ fixed course packages.
- For Bachelor level students English taught Minor Programmes.
During the second semester (spring), they offer:
- For Master Level students a 15 EC MSc2 design course + a course package of 3 elective courses (5 EC each).
- For Bachelor Level students there are NO minor packages offered. BSc/undergraduate students cannot apply for the spring semester.
Please be aware that:
- It is not possible to combine courses of different packages or to choose electives, it is however possible to do part of a course package as long as you meet the 24 EC requirement.
- It is not allowed to complete Thesis Projects.
- Exchange students at the faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment can only take courses at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.
- Exchange students from other faculties cannot obtain credits at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.
- Before the start of the exchange period, the final fixed course package will be confirmed. After this confirmation, it is no longer possible to make any changes.
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At the Faculty of Industrial Design incoming exchange students can select their preferred fixed course package during the application process. They can select their first, second and third choice.
For bachelor students in the Spring semester there is no fixed package, there is one mandatory Design Project and students can choose 4 electives after their admission.
Before the start of the exchange period the final fixed course package will be confirmed. After the fixed course package is confirmed it is no longer possible to change or add courses. The place on the courses is guaranteed and the registration for the courses will be done by the International Office of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering.
The International Office of the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering does not facilitate research projects or thesis projects. -
Incoming exchange students
- Incoming exchange students will not follow any official graduation course or route at TU Delft as they are only temporarily studying at TU Delft (max. 12 months) whilst remaining registered at (and paying tuition fee to) their home university.
- Students who wish to do their thesis or a project to gain more than 10 ECTS cannot be admitted as exchange students, they will have to make this arrangement via the selected research group as guest researcher or trainee. See also the information below ‘Research based project work during exchange’.
- The faculty requires prospective students to follow at least 70% of their courses at this faculty except for students wishing to follow interfaculty study programmes TIL and CME. For the remaining 30% course selection, students can indicate CEG elective courses at other faculties.
- Attending courses and obtaining credits at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment is not permitted.
- Incoming exchange students are not allowed to extend the exchange period after application.
- Information about the courses offered can be found in the study guide.
- Click here if you need help with choosing courses.
- Click here if you want more information on how to use the study guide.
Research based project work during exchange:
The Faculty CeG has very limited possibilities to accept students who would like to undertake research-based project work during their exchange at TU Delft. Only projects with a maximum workload of 10 EC are allowed and students need to combine their project with courses to obtain at least 24 EC. Students are responsible to find a suitable project on time and to provide the supervisor and the exchange officer with a work plan before arrival, which has to be officially approved by the home university beforehand. Please ask the CEG exchange officers for a template of this work plan.
Exchange students and their home university are fully responsible for the research project, its learning goals, and the supervision/assessment. -
The Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management accepts students following courses. The Faculty TPM does not facilitate any (research) projects; these are only allowed if specifically agreed upon in the bilateral agreement.
Courses in Engineering & Policy Analysis (EPA). The first year of the EPA programme is taught at Campus The Hague, located at the Turfmarkt 99, 2511 DV The Hague in the city centre. (The second year of EPA will partly take place in Delft, partly in The Hague)
Courses in Management of Technology (MOT). All first-year Master courses MOT have a limited capacity. You may consider courses in this area of studies from the list of Master electives in our Study guide.
Courses in Industrial Ecology (IE). For all courses in IE a separate admission is required from the IE programme coordinator. Only Master level students can apply. Courses in IE take place either in Leiden or in Delft. -
The courses available at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering are included in the list of English courses.
Some courses at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering are restricted for exchange students and can also be found in this list.
The faculty of Aerospace Engineering will try to accommodate as many exchange students as possible. Please be aware that the course offers for the second semester differ from the first semester. -
Incoming Exchange Students
Due to a limited capacity for the computer science programme:- Bachelor level exchange students enrolled in the Exchange Computer Science programme can choose course from the provided courselist (codes starting with CSE).
- BSc (graduation) projects are not available for exchange students
- Other Bachelor level exchange students and all Master level exchange students (enrolled in EEMCS or another faculty) cannot select courses starting with CSE in their course package. They can select the MSc courses of Computer Sciences starting with CS.
Minimum 51% of an exchange student’s credits (EC) must be taken at the faculty of enrolment. We encourage students to take more courses at the Faculty of EEMCS since this increases the chances of getting accepted and decreases the chance of simultaneously scheduled classes.
Undergraduate (summer) Internships
Our faculty does not offer (summer) internships to undergraduates.Graduation projects
Graduation projects are not part of student exchange. Our faculty receives many requests for graduation projects and we have limited places. In case, you are interested in doing a project:
- Find a scientific contact within our Faculty (maybe someone you have already been in contact with, or are planning to collaborate with).
- Your admission depends on approval of the professor from the department where you will do your research. Once you have found a project, you will work under the supervision of a PhD student and his/her professor.
- When contacting our academic staff for the first time, we recommend you to include the following in your e-mail:
- Why you have chosen TU Delft and that department
- The research area/topic you are interested in and why
- A resume with your experiences and personal details
More information about the departments of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science can be found on the departments or research page.
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The Faculty of Applied Sciences offers course proposals for incoming exchange students. These course proposals do not constitute compulsory sets of courses but are proposals to help you compose your exchange programme.
For more information on the courses offered, please see our Faculty website.Research project:
The following programmes offer the possibility of a research project: MSc Applied Physics, MSc Life Science & Technology, MSc Chemical Engineering. Students who intend to do a research project are strongly encouraged to take a proactive role in finding a supervisor and a research project within the department of their interest. The first step is to find a scientific contact person within the Faculty of Applied Sciences (possibly someone you have already been in contact with or are planning to collaborate with) and get direct approval from the professor of the group where you wish to do your research. In most cases, you will work under the supervision of a PhD student and his/her professor. Before applying for one of our two annual exchange periods, you should have already arranged a project yourself or be in the process of doing so.
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Exchange Students of the faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (3mE):
- We do not offer English BSc subjects for exchange students.
- Exchange students (also BSc) can follow any MSc courses from our faculty as long as you have the pre-required background knowledge, students are not limited to one master track.
- Exchange students can take up to 49% of the courses at other faculties within TU Delft at BSc and/or MSc level if offered in English. Courses might have a limited capacity so students have to be flexible in their study schedule.
Project/Thesis work at the faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering:
- is very limited
- students have to contact the department themselves to make the arrangements before they arrive for the exchange and inform the International Office 3mE of the agreed work plan.
- Students interested in doing a project/thesis work need to be aware that the maximum workload (ECTS) cannot exceed half of the total ECTS and the other half needs to be subjects.
- In case students only want to do a project or thesis they will be admitted as an unpaid Guest Researcher (not as an exchange student)
- In case students come as a guest researcher they will not receive a grade for their project work and cannot follow any subjects.
For further questions and help with finding the best subjects for your case please email our international office: internationaloffice-3me@tudelft.nl