Working While Studying in Switzerland

Students can work alongside with their studies. In fact, the student residence permit allows for profit-earning activity, as long your university provides a statement confirming that your employment will not prolong the length of your studies.

Hours of Work

In actual practice, many students – Swiss and foreign alike – work alongside their studies to earn pocket money and gain professional experience. For foreign students, the number of weekly work hours is limited to 15, but this is fairly flexible depending on the canton (in Geneva, for example, you can work up to 30 hours per week). Nevertheless, most people will advise you not to take on extra work, since the university workload is already quite heavy, depending on the faculty. But if you feel sure of yourself, if you’re a fast learner and are physically and mentally fit, why not give it a try?

Job Hunting

Jobs can be found in local newspapers, specialized magazines and specialized websites.
Links to finding part-time jobs:

• http://www.academics4business.ch/
• http://www.students.ch
• http://www.sbf.admin.ch/eracareers/jobs.html
  

It is easier to find employment in the large urban centers like Geneva and Zurich. Each university has a job placement office that provides information on student employment.
As there is no central job searching tool covering all Swiss universities, it is necessary to consult each university's databases. You will find direct access to each university's database of job vacancies under the section working in research.

Career services of Switzerland’s Universities

• EPFL, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne
• ETHZ, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
• Università della Svizzera italiana
• University of Basel
• University of Bern
  
• University of Fribourg
  
• University of Genève
• University of Lausanne
  
• University of Lucerne
  
• University of Neuchâtel
• University of St.Gallen
• University of Zürich

Wages

Wages vary between SFR 20 and SFR 35 according to the job and your skills.