03.03.2023Cost-of-Living Adjustment for All Doctoral Candidates from 1 January 2023

At the end of January 2023, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) decided to adjust the salaries of all staff working on research projects that it supports in line with inflation. This affects all categories of personnel, whether PhD candidates, postdocs or other employees. According to the SNSF, the adjustment will take effect for all funding schemes from 1 March 2023.
Considering the move made by the SNSF, the Executive Board of the University has now decided that all PhD candidates will be awarded the full 3.5% cost-of-living adjustment, regardless of their source of funding. Rather than applying only from 1 March 2023, as decided by the SNSF, the adjustment will be backdated to 1 January 2023.
Salaries for PhD candidates (rates for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years) will be raised by the 3.5% cost-of-living adjustment effective 1 January 2023 and paid out at the higher rate from March 2023 onwards. The backdated increase for January and February 2023 will also be paid out with the March salary.
The pay rates for PhD candidates are set out in theGuidelines for the Classification of Academic Positions. From 1 January 2023, these are:

1st year =        CHF 48,686.40 gross
2nd year =        CHF 50,238.90 gross
from 3rd year =  CHF 51,791.40 gross

Human Resources