Assistant/Doctoral Student in Business Administration or Management and Economics

University of Zürich Department of Business Administration

Department of Business Administration, Swiss Leading House VPET-ECON

Assistant/Doctoral student in "Business Administration" or "Management and Economics" 70 %

Start of employment immediately or by agreement, temporary

The Professorship for Business and Personel Economics together with the Swiss Leading House "Economics of Vocational and Professional Education and Training VPET-ECON"offers a position for a PhD student (research assistant) in Economics of Education for initially three years starting immediately or by agreement.

About us:

The Swiss Leading House “Economics of Vocational and Professional Education and Training VPET-ECON” is part of the Institute of Business Administration at the University of Zurich and the University of Bern, two leading research and teaching institutions in the German-speaking world. The Leading House is dedicated to economic research on vocational and professional education and training in Switzerland. The research uses state-of-the-art econometric methods, including machine learning, as well as innovative data sets and field experiments. The Leading House promotes young researchers, among other through special course programs for doctoral students.

Your responsibilities

You will work on empirical projects on economics of vocational education and personnel economics. The projects are linked to the Leading House VPET-ECON and the Professorship for Business and Personnel Economics. You will have access to an excellent national and international network of scholars and alumni in research and practice, and you will work in a dynamic team with a great support culture.
You participate in the international course program for doctoral students in Economics of Education and successfully complete it during your dissertation period. This includes a variety of professional development activities and ample opportunities to participate in international conferences. You will also participate in organizational tasks such as organizing international workshops or conferences and/or participate in teaching activities.

Your profile

Your qualifications and interests:

• University master degree with very good results in business administration or economics
• Interest in economics of education and/or personnel economics
• Very good econometric knowledge and experimental methods and/or an interest in expanding existing knowledge (e.g. also in Machine Learning or GenAI)
• Experience in data analysis with statistical programs such as STATA, Python, or R
• Commitment and independent working style
• Ability to work in a team
• Basic knowledge of German, very good knowledge of written and spoken English

Our offer:

• Interesting dissertation topics as part of your project work­
• Participation in a structured doctoral program in economics of education­
• Competitive salaries in accordance with cantonal guidelines (salary level 17/03)­
• Financial support for participation in international conferences and workshops

Information on your application

Interested? Please send your complete application documents (letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, academic certificates and references) in one document by e-mail to Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. U. Backes-Gellner (backes-gellner@business.uzh.ch). Document review will start immediately and continue until the position is filled.

What we offer

Work-Life Balance

• Flexible working models (such as part-time positions, mobile working, job-sharing)
• Childcare at the kihz foundation of UZH and ETH

Learning and Development

• Wide range of continuing education courses of UZH and the Canton of Zurich
• Language Center run jointly with ETH Zurich

Food

• Food and drinks at reduced prices in the UZH cafeterias
• Lunch-Check-card with UZH contribution

Healthcare

• Special conditions on the Academic Sports Association ASVZ
• Free seasonal flu vaccinations
• Rest and relaxation at the quiet room in the university tower

Discounts

• Private traffic: Carsharing, rent a vehicle, parking space
• Digitalization: Hardware, software, mobile phone subscriptions
• Special conditions on hotel reservations