Before the Doctorate

1. Admission to a doctorate requires a master's degree or equivalent from a state-approved university (cf. Ordinance on Admission to Studies at the University of Zurich (VZS)). In addition to the degrees set down in § 33 para. 1 of the ordinance, the following degrees entitle you to admission for doctoral studies:

• A master’s degree from a Swiss university of applied sciences or teacher education pursuant to the Federal Act on Funding and Coordination of the Swiss Higher Education Sector;
• A master’s degree from a foreign university of applied sciences or teacher education officially recognized by a state that has ratified the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region of 11 April 1997 (Lisbon Convention).

2. A mandatory requirement for admission is also the binding commitment of two professors to supervise the doctorate who fulfill the requirements for the composition of the supervisory committee (see below). One person will act as principal supervisor and one person will act as co-supervisor. After admission, additional co-supervisors can be added to the committee at a later date.

Admission is granted sur dossier. There is no general entitlement to be admitted to the doctorate.

A supervisory committee supervises you from admission to doctoral studies until you submit your application to have the procedure for obtaining a doctoral degree initiated. The committee provides you with subject-matter advice and support.

If you are interested in a doctorate at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Zurich, the first step is to contact two lecturers and win them over for your dissertation project.
Start by contacting the person you could imagine as your principal supervisor. If this person agrees to act as your principal supervisor they will help you find an appropriate co-supervisor. 

Information on PhD subjects, research projects, and supervisors at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:

PhD Subjects at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Research projects and Institutes at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

A supervisory committee consists of at least two persons with the right to confer a doctorate, at least one of them must be a professor with the faculty-internal right to confer a doctorate. Adjunct professors (Titularprofessoren) and privatdozents of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences have the faculty-internal right to confer a doctorate but they do not belong to the professors.

One of the two members must act as principal supervisor. The second member is responsible for co-supervision. In addition to these two members, you can add additional members with the right to confer a doctorate or the authorization to supervise a doctorate as co-supervisors.

Possible principal supervisors (with faculty-internal right to confer a doctorate):

Professors, Adjunct Professors, and Privatdozents of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

The co-supervision can be taken over by:

• Persons with faculty-internal right to confer a doctorate (cf. above)
• Persons with external right to confer a doctorate (persons from outside the faculty or university)
• Persons with supervisory authorisation, visiting professors and teaching staff with a PhD from universities of applied sciences or teacher education (upon application (PDF, 920 KB), cf. doctoral program regulation § 8).

Once two supervisors have been found, fill in the form "Provisional Confirmation of Supervision" together. Send the form via e-mail to the Graduate School (graduiertenschule@phil.uzh.ch) before the actual application to the doctorate or before the change of study level. After the form has been approved by the Graduate School (processing time approx. 5 working days), you can apply in the UZH application portal, see below for details. 

Form Provisional Confirmation of Supervision (PDF, 2 MB)

Please download the form and edit it with Adobe Pro or Adobe Reader. In the online version and with the preview app (Mac) the drop-down menus do not work.

To apply you need the Provisional Confirmation of Supervision approved by the Graduate School.

Persons not yet matriculated at the University of Zurich

If you are not yet matriculated at the University of Zurich you must submit your application for admission to doctoral study via the Online Application and Admission page. 

Please note the application deadlines for doctoral studies.

Persons already matriculated at the University of Zurich

If you are already matriculated at the University of Zurich and intend to transfer to a PhD, you must apply for a change of study level under the “My requests” section of the student portal and upload your Provisional Confirmation of Supervision there. Do not use the online application function.

Please note theperiods for a change to doctoral studies.

Your invoice for the semester fees for your first semester will be posted on the student portal for download once you have been admitted, unless you are a foreign applicant, in which case the invoice will be given to you when you matriculate in person. 

Once you have paid your semester fees and the payment has been booked you will be able to use UZH’s online services (UZH for Students).