Financing

While tuition is quite low in Switzerland, living costs are relevant for your decision to study in Zurich. Doctoral students are responsible for securing funding for their own study. Students prove to have sufficient funds to cover their living expenses in Switzerland.

The individual chairs appoint their assistants on a competitive basis. A university assistantship entails some teaching, research assistantship, and administrative duties. Since assistantships include teaching at the undergraduate level, knowledge of German is sometimes a prerequisite. Applicants should check the requirements for each individual position.
Links to the individual institutes are provided below. Interested applicants can also contact the secretary or administrative assistant of individual chairs if he or she is especially interested in a particular chair. Note that employment at a chair does not grant automatic admission to the Doctoral program.

Department of Business Administration

Many countries provide grant and scholarships to study abroad. There are also some competitive opportunities in Switzerland. Applicants should check directly with the funding organizations. Below you will find some useful links.

Swiss Government scholarships
The Swiss government awards a range of scholarships to foreign students through the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students.

Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
The SNSF provide support to doctoral students in a variety of way. Check the webpage for the different opportunities.

Grants Office at University of Zurich
The University of Zurich provides some support for scholarships or personal project contribution as well as some further information on funding opportunities.

As with every university in Switzerland tuition is very low. Doctoral students pay a tuition fee of CHF 150 per semester. Foreign students who did not obtain their qualification in Switzerland or Liechtenstein pay an additional CHF 100 surcharge. Finally CHF 54 up to 80 contribute to the library, academic sport association and other funds.

Thus you may expect a minimum total amount of CHF 608 (or CHF 408 respectively) per academic year for tuition, fees and contributions.

While tuition is low living costs are rather high in Zurich. You should expect:

* after state rate reduction

Exchange rates of April 2023:
1 CHF = 1.10 USD; 1 CHF = 0.89 GBP; 1 CHF = 1.01 EUR