ETH Student Project House

Implementation of the Project

The ETH Student Project House (SPH) complements curricular teaching at ETH Zurich by giving students the freedom, tools, and support to turn ideas into reality. Its three pillars—Makerspace & Lab, Project Support, and Events & Workshops—create a holistic learning ecosystem.

Teaching Mode and Student Engagement
SPH operates mainly in person, with hybrid elements such as optionally choosing coaching online and having access to digital resources. Learning is experiential: students lead their own projects, learning from each other on a peer-to-peer basis, and through building, experimenting, failing, and iterating. Coaches and Makerspace staff act as enablers, providing expertise, frameworks, and safety oversight.

Feedback and Support
Feedback is continuous, personalised, and developmental. Students receive input from coaches, technical experts, peers, and external sparring partners from industry. The focus is not on evaluation but on lowering barriers to experimentation and encouraging bold ideas.

Communication and Participation
Communication flows on three levels:
• Student–student: collaboration and knowledge exchange via peer-to-peer learning take place in workshops, Makerspace and Labs, and the co-working space.
• Student–staff: staff act as coaches, supporting decision-making rather than prescribing solutions.
• Staff–staff: coordination through shared practices like the coaching exchange as well as tools such as the Project Hub and SPH Bot ensures seamless support.

Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning
Workshops, safety trainings, and coaching sessions provide synchronous engagement. Asynchronous learning is supported by the Project Hub, a video platform, and the AI-based SPH Bot, enabling access to knowledge at any time.

Assessment and Success Metrics
SPH uses no grades. Success is seen in student leadership, project progress, community impact, and quantified learning outcomes. Failure is reframed as valuable learning for resilience building, building resilience and creativity.

Scalable Educational Approach
SPH makes experiential learning accessible for the students from all Departments at ETH, totalling 3’180 or 13% of all ETH students (BSc, MSc, PhD):
• The Makerspace Safety Concept allows thousands to work independently.
• The Project Hub centralises access to resources and opportunities.
• The SPH Bot democratises information.
• Peer-to-peer learning is institutionalised, empowering students as mentors and role models.
Furthermore, various universities showed interest to initialise a sister location from ETH Student Project House on their campus which would scale it across universities.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt
Challenges included raising awareness among students at the start, balancing openness with safety, supporting projects at varied maturity, and fostering gender diversity (only 21% females). Clear frameworks and flexible structures showed that students thrive when trusted with autonomy and responsibility.

Motivation
SPH is driven by the belief that every student’s curiosity can spark meaningful change. By providing an inclusive, pressure-free space, SPH allows students to explore, experiment, and build with confidence. Curiosity is the spark; SPH supplies the tools, support, and community to turn it into action.

Mission
SPH inspires and empowers students to develop a Maker–Innovator Mindset, enabling them to take ownership of ideas and bring them to life. This mindset rests on six core values:
• You Can Do It – courage and confidence to start meaningful projects.
• Fail Forward – seeing setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow.
• Seek Diverse Views – curiosity for new people, ideas, and perspectives.
• Better Together – collaboration, peer support, and openness to feedback.
• Enjoy Creating – joy in prototyping, experimenting, and making.
• Test and Adapt – challenging assumptions and evolving solutions.

Vision
SPH envisions a future where students are not only learners but active creators and innovators, equipped with the skills, confidence, and mindset to shape a better and more sustainable world. By embracing curiosity, collaboration, and resilience, they grow into change makers who drive innovation across disciplines and society.

Which Elements of Your Project Would You Recommend to Others?

Several elements of SPH are highly transferable. The Makerspace Safety Concept enables large numbers of students to access professional tools independently, balancing freedom with responsibility. The Project Hub and AI-based SPH Bot provide scalable digital infrastructure, making resources and coaching accessible to all. Project-based learning can also be translated into lectures by embedding hands-on elements and iterative teamwork. Equally valuable is SPH’s strong peer-to-peer culture, where students act as trainers, mentors, and role models, normalising failure and celebrating shared learning. Finally, curiosity-driven coaching shows how personalised reflection can unlock motivation and ownership. Together, these elements can be adapted by others to foster innovation at scale.