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[taltalim]

I found a few old threads on Switzerland, none of which ever took really off. I am giving it another try in the hope that there are now forumites with some knowledge on the Swiss system.

By pure chance, I stumbled over the perfect position with a Swiss university today which matches my strange interdisciplinary training to the dot. The position requires a PhD and the chosen one is expected to do a habilitation (which I always though to be something exclusively German).
But what, exactly, is an oberassistente? I googled a little bit and it seems to be equivalent to the assistant professor rank. Is it a tenure track position? How does one get tenure in Switzerland? Is the habilitation book sufficient for that (my first book is in press, a second will come out next year, and I am working on a new research project which will, hopefully, become a third book). What, exactly, is the habilitation in Switzerland? Can it be useful for a future career in the US/UK/Canada/...? Teaching load for this position is very low, 1-0 or 1-1. Is that standard?
How is the salary for an oberassistent in Switzerland? Pension plan? Health care?
Are Swiss universities open to hire internationals? Or is it a closed market?
...?

Many thanks.

[totoro]

My understanding is that habilitation/dozent etc. is equivalent to tenure in the US system but isn't actually attached to a job. In other words, to get one of the tenured jobs you need to achieve the qualification but then it is up to you to get one of those jobs.

[alpenblick]

hi,
this may be too late for you, but i'm an Assistent in switzerland and can offer some info.  switzerland uses the german system, which is totally different from the american and british systems.  a habilitation is basically a second dissertation.  it's something that totally doesn't exist in the US, and your job status while you do it thus doesn't exist in the US either.  being an assistant (in the humanities, at least) is most equivalent to having a postdoc, but one that lasts for six years (unless you leave earlier) and in which you answer directly to one boss - the professor who hired you.

the bad news on this (depending on your temperment / expectations) is that you'll be in a very hierarchichal system, one in which you are NOT at the level that you might be in the US.  in other words, no, it's not like being an Asst. Prof. (here one goes directly from Assistant to Professor) - you'll get neither the autonomy nor the respect that an Asst. Prof. would.  and then there's also going to be the move, the general culture shock, the academic culture shock, and the language issues if you don't speak German yet. 

the good news is that even though Switzerland, and Zurich especially, are expensive, Swiss salaries more than make up for it.  I'm currently hired on a part-time contract (60% of full-time - somewhere between 50 and 70% seems to be normal for assistants here, but i have heard of people getting outside funding to bring them up to 100% --) and I bring home about 3500 francs a month.  for comparison, my partner nets a little less at his full-time, mid-level non-academic job in the Netherlands.  and quality of life here is exceptional. 

the habilitation, as a degree, has no relevance outside of the german system, so in that sense it won't help your career.  however, if you just look at it as a second book project, and publish it with a good press, then the work you do will of course be relevant. 

if you're still thinking of taking this position, feel free to send me a private message / ask whatever questions you have.

[alpenblick]

questions i neglected to answer:

swiss employers provide health insurance that covers accidents.  you are also required by law to buy private insurance, this will be roughly 2000-2500 francs per year.

for all price comparisons (cars, insurance, etc...), check comparis.ch.

it's difficult for me to speak to what 'swiss universities' in general want, but in my experience - i'm in the humanities, one year out of an american PhD program -- they are very much open to hiring foreigners.  for the most part, this means hiring germans, both because of language and because they share an academic system.  also - and this is a dangerously sweeping generalization --  swiss universities in general are considered somewhat inferior to german universities in general, so they see german academics as being somewhat more competent than their own.  at my university something like 80% of the faculty, at least from what i've been told, is german.

the teaching load you describe is normal for an assistant.

in terms of what "Oberassistent" means, it's a term that not every department / institute uses, but it basically means you're at the top of the gaggle of assistants that any one professor may employ.  these would include Research Assistants and Hilfsassistenten, who are typically MA and PhD students, and who are funded in different ways.  "Oberassistent" isn't a term used by my university, but it should be the same as what I am, Wissenschaftlich Assistent, which awkwardly translates to scientific assistant and means absolutely nothing outside of this system.  basically, it means someone who already has their PhD but not the habilitation yet; duties include teaching a class or two a year and probably helping with other projects - research projects, organizing conferences, etc.

tenure: 
all professor positions are by definition tenure positions.  there is no tenure-track, generally speaking, though with the Bologna reforms some universities are starting to change and add new positions.  from what I've seen this is generally a haphazard process with no clear outcome.  in any case:  i don't know about your field, but in mine there is almost a zero chance of getting tenured.  this is only a little bit more true for foreigners.  there are simply too few schools/departments, and the whole system, from what i've seen (which is admittedly limited, and i've been told that my institute is particularly, um, difficult to deal with) seems to function on personal connections.  for example, at my university there are actual graduate programs; instead, potential students just find a professor, establish a relationship, and the professor agrees to supervise their phd.  the student supports him or herself with one of these 'research assistent' jobs that comes from a grant or university funding that the professor has.  (this is related to what, from an american perspective, can seem to be a bewildering lack of academic and procedural standards -- no clear application processes, constantly-changing exam structures, basically all at the whim of this or that professor).  anyway, the chances of getting a job at the top level are very slim.  the vast majority of phd students and even those doing habilitations in my field do not expect to end up working in academia.  since this is the humanities, this is only explainable because unlike the US, they do have some other options in that there are jobs with the many cultural institutions that receive government support.  i actually love switzerland as a place to live, but i have almost no hope of staying here long-term unless i change careers completely. 

and finally, yes, there's a pension plan, and i hear it's quite good.  you're automatically enrolled.  i think that you eventually get the money, whether you stay here or not, but i'm not totally positive.

[alpenblick]

that should read "there are no actual graduate programs."  oops.

[ideagirl]

that should read "there are no actual graduate programs."  oops.

This is a topic of interest to me too--Switzerland is one of the places I dream of living someday--so thanks for the detailed explanation. Do you happen to know how things work at the universities in French-speaking Switzerland? Are they run on the French system, or are they in French but otherwise run on the German system?

[totoro]

I just interviewed in Austria for a professor position. My understanding was that usually the professor can hire an assistant. This could be a PhD student, a post-doc, or an assistant professor as far as I understood. In that department they have PhD students who are teaching and working as "assistants". There is also a rank of "Associate Professor" there (or Dozent in Sweden). These people have the habilitation but haven't yet got a full prof job. For the full prof job, foreigners don't need habilitation, they just need the equivalent publications. In Austria each full prof seems to have a particular field. So a department has a certain number of chairs in specific areas, which are only filled with a competitive process. But in Sweden a friend was just internally promoted to Professor. She, however, earns less than the competitive professors.

[totoro]

The other candidates for the position I interviewed for in Austria were German and Dutch, but I had a decent chance. So it's not impossible. In Austria they want people to teach in English. Admin is in German though of course. But maybe none of this is true for Switzerland.

[kromlooper]

I just interviewed in Austria for a professor position. My understanding was that usually the professor can hire an assistant. This could be a PhD student, a post-doc, or an assistant professor as far as I understood. In that department they have PhD students who are teaching and working as "assistants". There is also a rank of "Associate Professor" there (or Dozent in Sweden). These people have the habilitation but haven't yet got a full prof job. For the full prof job, foreigners don't need habilitation, they just need the equivalent publications. In Austria each full prof seems to have a particular field. So a department has a certain number of chairs in specific areas, which are only filled with a competitive process. But in Sweden a friend was just internally promoted to Professor. She, however, earns less than the competitive professors.

Did you confuse Sweden and Switzerland?

[totoro]

Did you confuse Sweden and Switzerland?

No. There seem to be quite a few similarities across these Germanic/Scandinavian countries' academic systems.

[the_walrus]

What are the odds of a candidate for a full professorship in Switzerland (in a social science/humanities field) getting taken seriously without speaking any of the national languages (but speaking other languages, thereby perhaps demonstrating an ability to learn)? 

[totoro]

What are the odds of a candidate for a full professorship in Switzerland (in a social science/humanities field) getting taken seriously without speaking any of the national languages (but speaking other languages, thereby perhaps demonstrating an ability to learn)? 

I was taken seriously in Austria, but I did learn German in high school for a few years and could kind of communicate with people if needed (like the taxi driver from the airport who didn't speak English) but they didn't know that even when inviting me to interview.

[the_walrus]

What are the odds of a candidate for a full professorship in Switzerland (in a social science/humanities field) getting taken seriously without speaking any of the national languages (but speaking other languages, thereby perhaps demonstrating an ability to learn)? 

I was taken seriously in Austria, but I did learn German in high school for a few years and could kind of communicate with people if needed (like the taxi driver from the airport who didn't speak English) but they didn't know that even when inviting me to interview.

Okay, that's encouraging.

[totoro]

I should note that I am in economics and so students want to be taught in English as that is the international business language. This might be different in other disciplines, which I got some hint of during my visit in Austria. You obviously need German there for all administrative stuff and for day to day life (like my taxis to the airport both ways). A big advantage now is that we can throw any electronic document into Google Translate. I think that will make this a lot easier than in the past. At group meetings you can learn to listen at first (i.e. STFU :)). One on one academics will speak English.