Admission

How to apply for a doctorate

The external pageZurich Graduate School in Mathematics (ZGSM) offers international applicants the possibility of doing a doctorate at ETH Zurich or the University of Zurich. If you want to apply, please use the external pageZGSM's online application form.

Please be aware that doctorates are in general associated with an offer of employment.

Contact:

Application possibilities ZGSM
Application possibilities for Master's degree students

Before registration you must have applied and been accepted by an examiner. Please keep in mind that the hiring process may take some time (2-4 weeks), especially if a visa needs to be obtained (6-8 weeks).

Who can act as doctoral thesis supervisor/examiner?

A doctoral thesis can be supervised by a professor as indicated under Art. 1 of the external pageOrdinance on Professorships ETH (only availabe in German).

Privatdozenten resp. Privatdozentinnen working full-​time at ETH Zurich can also act as doctoral thesis supervisors. However, this requires approval from the Department. The required approval form DownloadSupervision of the Doctorate by a Privatdozent (PDF, 236 KB) must be submitted along with the application for your doctorate.

Please note in this context that, where a thesis is supervised by a Privatdozentin resp. a Privatdozent, at least one co-​examiner must be a professor as indicated under Art. 1 of the external Ordinance on Professorships ETH (link see above).

Professors can act as examiners in doctoral examinations for up to one year after their retirement. The relevant department (that provides the infrastructure and the funding) is responsible for approving them as examiners after the end of their office. It should be noted that during the first year after retirement or resignation, at least one professor as indicated under Art. 1 of the Ordinance on Professorships ETH (link see above) must be called in as co-​examiner. If the doctoral examination has not been taken after the expiry of this year, retired professors must give up the role of doctoral thesis supervisor and a new supervisor must be decided upon.

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