OpenFieldUSI Faculty of Informatics Master's Excellence Grants
Prestigious Swiss excellence grants awarded to outstanding international graduates pursuing Master's studies in Informatics and Artificial Intelligence at USI.
USI Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland)
Established in 1996 in Lugano and Mendrisio, Ticino, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) is one of Switzerland's 12 public universities. Despite its young age, USI has earned global recognition: its Faculty of Informatics is internationally ranked among Europe's top computing centres, affiliated with the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA, co-directed by deep learning pioneer Jürgen Schmidhuber), and collaborating with the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS). Explore low-fee master's degrees, salaried doctoral assistantships, and world-class faculty profiles.
Verified degree programs and opportunities
Review checked academic pathways and funding options below:
USI Salaried Doctoral Assistantships (Assistente Dottorando) in Informatics & AI
Four-year salaried doctoral research positions in computer systems, artificial intelligence, software engineering, and computational science.
USI Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence
High-level two-year English-taught Master of Science degree offered jointly with IDSIA, covering deep learning, reinforcement learning, robotics, and computer vision.
USI Master of Science in Software and Data Engineering
Specialized master's program bridging modern software architecture, large-scale data engineering, cloud systems, and software security.
Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA) Research Placements
World-famous artificial intelligence institute co-affiliated with USI and SUPSI, pioneering recurrent neural networks, LSTM foundations, and autonomous robotics.
USI Informatics Undergraduate Research & Summer Internships
Competitive summer research fellowship bringing international undergraduate scholars to Lugano to conduct independent computing and AI investigations.
USI Graduate Assistant Teaching Duties & Lab Supervision
Academic teaching appointments providing doctoral researchers with university instructional experience, supervising practical laboratory exercises and guiding bachelor student projects.
Admissions, language requirements & application process
- Master's admission eligibility
- Accredited Bachelor of Science degree (minimum 180 ECTS) in computer science, mathematics, or related quantitative discipline from a recognized university.
- Doctoral admission eligibility
- Recognized Master of Science degree in relevant discipline; appointment occurs through competitive selection to open salaried doctoral assistant positions.
- Language proficiency
- Demonstrated English proficiency: Academic IELTS 6.5 overall or TOEFL iBT 90 overall (all informatics and data science master's are taught entirely in English).
- Research statement / Proposal
- Comprehensive curriculum vitae, statement of research interests, and description of technical software/analytical projects.
- Application fee
- CHF 100 application administrative fee; standard semester tuition of only CHF 2,000 to CHF 4,000/semester (waived for doctoral assistants).
- Required documentation
- Complete official academic transcripts, degree certificate, CV, 2 academic reference letters, and motivation letter.
Tuition fees and verified scholarship systems
Tuition is completely free of charge for all doctoral candidates. Doctoral researchers are employed as salaried university assistants (Assistenti dottorandi), earning competitive gross annual salaries of CHF 47,040 to CHF 52,000 per year with comprehensive Swiss social healthcare and retirement coverage.
Verified faculty profiles and research leaders
Distinguished researchers and laboratory heads at USI Università della Svizzera italiana:
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Schmidhuber
Scientific Director at IDSIA, Professor at USI Faculty of Informatics; specializing in Deep Learning, Artificial Neural Networks, LSTM Networks.
Prof. Dr. Antonio Carzaniga
Full Professor at USI Faculty of Informatics, ACM Fellow; specializing in Distributed Systems, Content-Based Networking, Software Architecture.
Prof. Dr. Cesare Pautasso
Full Professor of Computer Science at USI; specializing in Software Engineering, RESTful Web APIs, Cloud Architecture.
Important verification note
Facts reflect official USI Università della Svizzera italiana documentation reviewed 2026-10-14. Degree admissions, scholarship awards, and employment positions are subject to formal university review. OpenField does not charge students application fees.
Reviewed 2026-10-14 · Editorial standards · Report an issue