Pay adjustment for doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and scientific assistants
As of January 2025, salary rates for doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and scientific assistants of grades I and II will be raised. For the first time, the raise will not be by a uniform percentage, but a tiered absolute amount in Swiss francs.
The question arises every December: will there be a cost-of-living adjustment for the coming year, and if so, how much will it be? For employees in the payroll system of the ETH Domain – senior scientists, established researchers, and scientific and administrative employees – the ETH Board determines the cost-of-living adjustment.
This is not the case for doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and scientific assistants of grades I and II: they are hired at a fixed-rate salary, the amount of which is set by ETH Zurich itself. Since 2024, these fixed-rate salaries have no longer been linked to the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) (see Internal news of 21 November 2023).
As of 1 January 2024, the pay of doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and scientific assistants of grades I and II was raised by 1 percent, analogously to the cost-of-living adjustment for employees in the ETH Domain payroll system. In addition, the standard starting rate, the lowest pay tier for doctoral students, rose by a total of 5 percent.
Higher amounts for lower pay tiers
The Executive Board has now decided how the salary rates of ETH employees on fixed-rate salaries will be adjusted in the coming year: as of 1 January 2025, the rates will be increased – but for the first time by a set amount in Swiss francs rather than by a percentage. This amount will be tiered. Employees on lower pay tiers will receive a larger amount than those on higher pay tiers. Julia Dannath, Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership, explains the reasoning behind this decision: “The goal of the fixed but tiered amount in francs is to ensure that the lower pay tiers benefit more from the rate adjustment than the higher tiers. A percentage-based adjustment would not achieve that.”
In making this decision, the Executive Board recognises an argument made by the Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH). AVETH had complained that the lowest pay tier (standard S) was still very low even after last year’s increase by 5 percent.
Increase in salary rates as of 1 January 2025. The fixed amount applies to all three years.
Rates are getting closer together
Fixed-rate salaries automatically rise from the first to the second and from the second to the third year by a fixed percentage. The increase for the lowest pay tier is 3 percent. With the tiered increase, the Executive Board now aims to bring the different salary rates somewhat closer together. This will impact the compensation of postdoctoral researchers. In past years, postdoctoral researchers received the cost-of-living adjustment awarded by the ETH Board. “We have received repeated feedback from the departments that the salary rates for postdoctoral researchers both within the ETH Domain and in comparison to other universities are high,” explains Julia Dannath. “For this reason, we have decided not to increase the salary rates at this level by the percentage-based cost-of-living adjustment, but by the same fixed amount in francs received by doctoral students on salary rate 5.”
To avoid putting the departments under strain due to the increased salary rates, the resulting additional costs will be financed centrally. This also applies to externally funded projects (e.g. those funded by the SNSF).
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