ETH juniors is not your typical university student group. Founded in 1997, it operates like a professional consulting firm – led entirely by students. ETH juniors manages real-world projects for clients ranging from Swiss SMEs to multinational corporations.
“Our goal is to implement challenging consulting projects for companies while applying our academic knowledge directly to real-life problems,” says Giger. The projects span a wide range: market research, data science, innovation workshops, and digital solutions for business process optimization.
Organized as a student association with a defined role structure, ETH juniors features dedicated teams for consulting, business development, marketing, and HR. Members gain skills far beyond their academic disciplines – in project management, client communication, and leadership. Many students stay involved over several semesters, some even taking on management roles.
To deliver projects, ETH juniors draws on a talent pool of over 10,000 ETH students. Just last year, more than 130 ETH students were involved in projects for companies in Switzerland and abroad. But ETH juniors isn’t a recruiting agency: companies either outsource full projects or bring on individual students for clearly scoped engagements.
Success Stories and Networks
ETH juniors has become a launchpad for future founders and leaders. Alumni have co-founded successful startups – including well-known names like Beekeeper, Mantis, and Archlet. Some even achieved unicorn status, such as climate tech pioneer Climeworks and once again, GetYourGuide.
The close collaboration within the ETH juniors team fosters a strong network that lasts well beyond graduation – professionally and personally. For many, it opens doors to jobs, startup capital, and mentorship.
Learning Curve, Soft Skills, and Self-Efficacy
For Loris Giger, ETH juniors is much more than a side project. “I’ve developed skills here that barely come up in our courses – things you might encounter for the first time in a master’s thesis, or years later in your career.” Project planning, communication, team leadership – these aren’t learned from textbooks, but through real responsibility.
“We advise real companies – and we see the impact of what we do. That sense of self-efficacy is incredibly motivating.”
Giger believes this experience helps address structural gaps in his academic program. Since the Bachelor’s thesis in Mathematics was phased out at ETH, a valuable format combining theory and application has been lost. “Some miss the chance to dive deep into a topic. Others are relieved to avoid the workload.” For Giger, ETH juniors offered the more meaningful learning journey – longer, more hands-on, and with real-world impact.
For his own master’s thesis, he has one clear goal: “I want my results to be used – either in research or in practice.”
He doesn’t have a specific personal learning objective – “Maybe that’s because ETH juniors has already taught me so much.”