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[leena]

I am thinking of applying for a humanities position at a Fachoberschule (polytechnic university) in Switzerland and was wondering if anyone knows what Swiss salaries are like? Can you just manage to survive in big cities like Geneva or Zurich or is it possible to live semi-comfortable off a (Dozenten) salary?

Any comments on this and on academic working conditions in Switzerland would be much appreciated.

[sir_lancelot]

Salaries in Switzerland are high - costs of living are even higher. People drive across the border to Germany to get groceries and gas! I can't imagine that life in a big city would be very comfortable on a teacher salary. Fachoberschule is more like high-school with some professional training, technical college at most, not a university.

[leena]

Thank you for your reply, Sir_Lancelot.

Just spotted an error in my original question. The institution is actually a Fachhochschule and not a Fachoberschule and I assumed that one would probably be paid less there than at a university?

[knoob]

Information about working conditions and living in Switzerland can be found on www.myscience.ch www.myscience.ch/living:
Salary of phd, postdoc, professor and researcher: www.myscience.ch/living/salary
Also worth to look at is the job portal: www.myscience.ch/jobs_and_careers. Includes jobs offers and career advices for scientists.

[der_gadfly]

The first of our offspring was in Geneva for a year. Cost of living is very high. CHIME to going over the border for groceries etc. der_gadchild found a "Costco"-type of place in France and made frequent trips to buy in bulk.

I cannot offer you more info than that, but good luck!

[embitteredhistorian]

Just today I came across this old article about university life in Europe. In my experience, it is spot on:

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Grass-Isnt-Greener/45019/

Of course, post-2008, things are probably worse than what is described in the article.

[categorical]

I agree with everything said so far; living in Switzerland can be really nice, though.  I would choose the Geneva area over others.