Salary increase for doctoral students
The SNSF is increasing the minimum salaries for doctoral students employed under its funding schemes. The measure will take effect on 1 January 2026.
New for doctoral students employed under the SNSF's funding schemes in Switzerland: their minimum salaries will be increased. The SNSF prescribes a range within which higher education institutions are free to set effective salaries. The lower limit of this range will increase from 47,040 to 50,000 francs gross pay (+6%). This decision was made by the Presiding Board of the Research Council after consultation with the Delegates Assembly, the body representing the interests of higher education institutions and scientific organisations.
A priority measure
The increase will take effect from 1 January 2026, a timeframe that will allow higher education institutions to plan their budgets and guarantee equal treatment for their doctoral students. New applications will have to respect the adjusted salary range. The institutions are free to anticipate this measure by using the room for manoeuvre in the existing salary range. For current subsidies, an increase is possible within the overall budgets that have already been allocated.
For the SNSF, this increase in doctoral students' salaries is a priority measure, as the last adjustment to nominal salaries dates back to 2014. For this purpose, it has allocated a budget of 52 million francs in its 2025-2028 multi-year programme. In view of the tense economic context, the financing of this measure will be made possible by concentrating the funding portfolio. “This salary increase is essential if we are to maintain the attractiveness of the doctorate and of Switzerland as a research centre,” emphasises Thomas Werder, member of the SNSF Executive Management and head of Research Funding.
Guaranteeing favourable working conditions
More than 2,000 doctoral students are newly recruited each year under the SNSF's various funding schemes, with an average total of almost 6,000 employed across all current grants. Although the SNSF does not act as a direct employer, it is committed to guaranteeing doctoral students favourable working conditions. Despite the financial constraints it faces, the SNSF has already adjusted the upper limit of the salary range in 2023 and again in 2024 (to CHF 55,000 gross) to enable higher education institutions to extend the compensation for inflation granted within their institutions to SNSF project staff.