Hi all,

I have an offer to do my phd in PSI in villegen with a salary of 52k for 3 years.
I dont know how much will be left after deduction but i guess it is very low for a phd student in switzerland. what is ur suggestion?

In Zurich (for chemistry) we get 49K CHF in the last 2 years and slightly less for the first two years. You should be fine. Not rich, but can live comfortably.

I just asked some of my friends at ETH, the get 5300/month but they are working as TAs and have office there (100 %), but probably i wont get anything from ETH since i have to work at psi.

I'm applying for a PhD in Finance, Accounting or Business Administration but without results. Can you give some advices? You can PM me.

Maybe you're not qualified enough or maybe you're not focused enough on what you really want to do (maybe you're just chasing a title rather than the content); maybe there are too many spelling/syntax mistakes in your application to be taken serious

Best of luck never-the-less

Actually it's a very high Phd salary by most standards (in other countries many Phd students don't even get salaries) as well as Swiss standards, and it's a normal and correct salary by ETH standards (which is probably the highest in the country).

I have two friends doing Phd's at ETH and one of them is making 52k, like you were offered, the other makes a little less.

Both of them are in relatively high-paying labs.

Friends doing Phd's in other universities make much less than that.

It might help the OP if someone could clarify what deductions were likely to come out of this 52k, in the UK this payment would be classed as a STIPEND which was, to all intents and purposes, tax free.

I am unfamiliar with the system in CH, but I can't imagine it would be that different.

It's entirely different to the UK.

To all intents and purposes, the PhD salary is a real salary. From that you have to pay health insurance, tax and unemployment insurance.

However - 52k CHF whilst doing a PhD is pretty much as good as it gets, in CH or elsewhere.

The thing is that, they say this 52k doesn't include the "Social Costs" "to be covered by PSI". I think at least 24k will be deduced due to the housing. and sth about 12k is for food. So what really remains is 16k, which is less than 21k needed to renew my Permit!!

What I find a bit peculiar is that you didn't ask for details when presented with the figures by the institution you might be working for taking your doctorate

According to your calculations, CHF 2'000 for rent and additional CHF 1'000 for food, you seem to have pretty high standards OR you are supporting a family of 4.

We are two and spend less than CHF 600 on food per calendar month and it doesn't take a phd'er to figure out that you will reach pretty close to CHF 21'000 per year if you save CHF 400 per month in addition to the CHF 16'000 you have set aside... Don't forget, you're still indirectly a "student".

I know people who have done their PhD at PSI and I haven't got a clue what on earth you are on about.

I get the feeling your are mistranslating some of the information you are being given.

Yes, social costs and tax are deducted from your wage, but this is your pension and unemployment insurance. This will be around 15% of your wage in total.

The figures for food and accommodation are probably what the PSI suggests you budget. They are not taken from your wage directly.

The amount of money you need to "renew" your permit is your wage before deductions. They are just checking you are making enough to support yourself. 52 kCHF/yr is plenty to survive on - thousands of PhD students are doing so right now.

I really think you need to take time to find a German speaker who can translate the PSI's information accurately, or you need to write down all your questions and ring up their administration staff and get them answered. This will save you a lot of time and stress in the long run.

Hi,

When I was working as a PhD student at epfl, lausanne, in 2002/2003, the salary was 2800 CHF per month, and that was 75% (100% was 3500chf). Dont think it changed much though.

regards

And this explains why ETH Zurich is ranked 13th in the world and EPFL only 29th

well ranking.. zurich is the first ranked city in the world, but.. no no

First ranked what? And what "no no"?

Note the sarcasm

Um, no. Assuming that you mean the Times Higher Education World University Ranking or similar, it has nothing to do with the salary level at the institute, only with the results they deliver :-)

Guys, I was making a joke about the arithmetic - 75% of 3500 CHF is 2625 CHF, not 2800 CHF. Never mind.

It is ranked 6th now!

Didn't go down too well

How is this relevant for the calculation? I found that the discounts for students are very sparse/non-existent in CH, especially for everyday stuff like transportation/health.