PhD Scholarship to study in Switzerland

Descripción

The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) Swiss Government Excellence PhD Scholarships for foreign students. The application deadline is until November 20, 2016.

Amount and additional allowences

- The scholarship amounts to a monthly payment of CHF 1,920.
- Tuition fees are waived.
- For non-EU and non-EFTA grantees only: mandatory Swiss health insurance is paid by the FCS.
- Non-European grantees receive a lump sum for their airfare (provided at the end of the scholarship).
- Special CHF 300 housing allowance (paid once at the beginning of the scholarship).
- One-year half-fare public transportation card.
- Support services and various trips, dinners and sightseeing tours organised for Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship holders.

Objectives

To enable selected applicants to undertake a PhD at one of the 10 Swiss cantonal universities, the two Swiss federal institutes of technology or public teaching and research institutes.

Validity

The scholarship is only valid for full-time PhD studies in Switzerland. It is not valid for mixed PhD programmes (part time in Switzerland and part time in another country).

Target group

Highly qualified postgraduate students (possessing the required degrees) from all academic fields.

Elegibility criteria and specific conditions

- Master’s degree or equivalent university degree recognised by the Swiss university.
- The applicant must not be over 35 years old at the time of the application.
- Applicants who are in Switzerland for more than one year at the beginning of the scholarship in September are not eligible.
- Applicants must provide a letter (or email) from a professor at the Swiss host institution stating that they are willing and entitled to supervise the PhD.
- In those cases where the PhD is pursued within a structured doctoral school, applicants must include in their application an admission letter or proof that they are being considered for admission. Without such a document, the application will be rejected.
- For EPFL doctoral school candidates, the admission letter from the EPFL doctoral school is required. As this takes time, applicants must plan accordingly and submit their application for admission to the EPFL doctoral school sufficiently in advance of the scholarship programme deadline. Without these documents, the application will be rejected.
- Applicants must have a research proposal including a timeframe (this is the central piece of the application. The applicant must devote all required attention to it).
- Applicants must be in command of the necessary language skills required for the PhD studies/research.
- Applicants who have already benefited from a Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship are not eligible to apply for a second scholarship.

The following dimensions and selection criteria are primarily considered:

- The candidate: academic profile and research capacity.
- The research project: originality and methodological soundness.
- The academic context: quality of supervision and the potential for future academic cooperation.