Info Session

For the CAS, are these courses more beneficial for candidates with non-IT backgrounds? Would the program be relevant and value adding for someone with an IT background? Would the program be helpful for someone who wants to look for jobs in the data field?

The program is designed for people who do not have previous formal training in computer science or whose computer science training did not include machine learning and AI. If your degree is computer science related and you have been working professionally in software development, you may wish to consider other programs that are targeted at computer scientists such as the CAS ETH in Computer Science.

Similarly, the program is designed for managers who need to work with data scientists and AI experts, not become the technical expert. While we certainly give participants fundamental capabilities with data science, machine learning and AI, we have not designed the program to prepare them to become data science or machine learning experts. For this, you may wish to look at programs that are designed to prepare you to work as a full-time data scientist such as the DAS ETH in Data Science.. 

Are the CAS and MAS open only to employees or can entrepreneurs and people interested in startups and the ETH startup community also apply? Is the 5+ years of work experience a hard requirement?

Entrepreneurs are very welcome to apply. An applicant does not need to be currently employed to be admitted. However, we do require that the applicant has five years of full-time work experience, typically obtained after the university degree. The work experience is generally a firm requirement, especially when we have too many applicants.

Are applicants who plan to complete the MAS given preference?

MAS applicants are given preference for admission, but we are not admitting new MAS participants in the current application period. Statements of interest in the MAS are considered within the context of the overall application review and helpful for our planning purposes, but they are not very significant in the CAS admission decision.

With regards to the technical prerequisites for the CAS AIS, what depth is expected and how does an applicant demonstrate that they have fulfilled the requirements? What if an applicant has started but not yet completed a relevant course that could help to fulfill therequirements?

Please note that only the CAS AIS (not the CAS DML) has technical prerequisites for programming and machine learning. We encourage applicants to review the description of the technical  prerequisites listed on the CAS AIS webpage. Applicants are expected to understand certain basic principles and be capable of using some Python skills to implement those principles appropriately. If you have questions after reviewing the webpage, please contact the Programme Manager.

The technical prerequisites for the CAS AIS can be demonstrated through any combination of continuing education certificates, work experience, example projects completed, oral interview, etc. If you are still completing a course that is relevant, please include your enrollment and status with the application. If we are concerned about an applicant’s preparation during the application review, then we would contact the applicant.

Having completed a course like Harvard's CS50 and DataScience certificates on Datacamp, what does the MAS add to one's skillset?

The CAS DML goes deeper into machine learning and AI than the courses mentioned. The MAS is a 2.5 year program that will provide considerably more coverage of AI. Topics covered in each course are described on the CAS webpages. 

What is the average size of a class? Is there a specific limit of participants for  each course?

Class sizes have ranged consistently between 45 – 50 because we typically cap the class size at 50 people. For the CAS DML in Spring 2026, we are considering increasing the class size due to the high demand and because it is the first CAS in the program. We will make a decision after we see how many applications we receive and after further consultations with the lecturers.

What are the different tools used in both CAS?

The tools used in the CAS DML and CAS AIS include the following: CodeExpert, Visual Studio Code, Jupyter Notebook and Google Colab. CodeExpert is an ETH proprietary platform developed specifically for teaching programming. 

What does it require to successfully complete the CAS DML? What are the performance assessments in the CAS DML for obtaining credits, e.g. mainly project work and completed exercises?

The primary requirement for success is time and effort. You should plan on spending an average of 20 hours per week, including classroom time, of concentrated effort during the program. The performance assessments in the CAS DML are a mix of project work and take-home exam. 

What happens if you cannot attend the sessions in one of the weekends due to objective reasons?

Attendance is mandatory for every weekend because of the intensity of the program, but it is usually not a problem to miss one weekend of classes and recover. Please alert the lecturers in advance if possible and work out with them how to make up for missed material. Missing more than one weekend is generally a problem. You should contact the Programme Manager immediately to work out a solution if you realize that you will need to miss more than one weekend for any reason, e.g. health problem, work travel, etc.