Financing

There are basically three ways of financing the Doctorate:

• Scholarships
• Assistantship
• Job/Internship

Scholarship

There is several ways to obtain a scholarship. As a starting point you should look at the sources for financing that are mentioned on the website of the UNIL Swiss National Science. There you find information on various types of financing.

The most important scholarship donor is the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF).

The SNF funds more than 7000 researchers every year, 5000 or more of whom are 35 years old or younger. There is a variety of different forms of funding available. If you want to design a project to hand it in for consideration you best talk to your professor regarding your prospects. For research proposals in independent free research, there are two deadlines a year: March 1st and October 1^st.

Please note that it is actually your professor who has to hand in the research project and plan. A Doctorate student himself or herself cannot apply for a scholarship. The only thing that the SNF offers for Doctorate students directly is a scholarship for a semester abroad. But this is only possible later in your study. Please note that it does not matter whether you are Swiss or a foreign Doctorate student. Anyone who does his or her Doctorate at a Swiss university can apply for a scholarship (either directly or via the professor).

This is probably the most comfortable and easiest solution for financing a Doctorate. Work contracts do usually last for a year and are likely to be extended. An assistant contract usually goes from September to September of the following year. The renewal of the contract has to be initiated by your professor some three or four month before your contract runs out since the administration works rather slow. If you are not employed as an assistant directly from the beginning of your doctorate, be aware that there are always opportunities to be employed at a later stage. There are many doctoral students who are even employed by two different professors at a lower percentage. Since there is no central register yet for assistant positions it is important to regularly ask the respective professors and to talk to your fellow doctorate students. Please note that there is a rule at the HEC which states that Doctorate students need to have at least an assistant position of 60%.

If you do not have an assistantship or a scholarship you might consider taking up a part-time job. Doctoral students are allowed to work 15 hours/week during the semester and full time during academic holidays. But they are only allowed to work full time for 3 months per year. The Social Service at UNIL must provide an attestation confirming that the job is compatible with studies. If you do not respect this procedure you risk having problems with the local police authority (Contrôle des habitants) and you may lose your residence permit.