Doctoral studies

General information about doctoral studies at the Faculty of Science of the University of Zurich can be found here.

Typically doctoral studies are completed in a PhD program of the Life Science Zurich Graduate School. Before submitting the thesis, PhD students must obtain 12 ECTS credits (refer to the homepage of individual PhD programs for details) and fulfill teaching requirements.

The  PhD regulations of the Faculty of Science require that all PhD students contribute to teaching for a minimum of 100 hours and maximum of 420 hours.

In the Division of Biology, rules and procedures regarding teaching activities of PhD students associated with this Division are defined in more detail (see "Background information and guidelines (PDF, 60 KB)").

All necessary information is given in the form "Planning Teaching Activities (PDF, 1 MB)".

Current opportunities for teaching in the basic studies modules, including exam supervisions, are listed in "Teaching Opportunities in Biology"here (PDF, 441 KB)
 

If you have questions, please contact the Academic Support Office (phd.teaching@biol.uzh.ch, Tanja Utzinger).

Steps towards fulfilling the Teaching Requirements of the Division of Biology

1) Plan

Read the information in the form Planning teaching activities. (PDF, 1 MB)

Plan and discuss your contribution to teaching with your direct supervisor and the head of your PhD committee. In case of questions, contact phd.teaching@biol.uzh.ch.

Contact the respective module coordinators to agree upon and fix your planned teaching contributions.

Fill out the form Planning teaching activities with the arranged teaching hours (confirmed by the module coordinator) and the likely teaching hours (not yet confirmed by the module coordinator).

Upload the form Planning teaching activities (PDF, 1 MB) to the MNF student admin tool https://studentadmin.mnf.uzh.ch within 6 months of starting your PhD. 

The plan will be checked by the Academic Support Office (ASO, Studienkoordination Fachbereich Biologie).
If incomplete, unclear or incorrect, the ASO will give feedback by email and request a revision. Upload a revised plan within one month. 

If the planning teaching form is accepted, the Milestone Teaching Plan will be confirmed by ASO in the MNF student admin tool.

Modifications: Any modificatioon of your approved plab must be submitted to the MNF student admin tool (button Modify Teaching Plan) and will be checked by ASO. Teaching hours without approval may not be counted.

2) Teach and collect confirmations

Teach according to your approved plan.

Collect confirmations for your teaching activities on the form Confirmation of teaching activities (PDF, 1 MB). Check on the form whose signature you need: the organiser of the practicals for basic studies modules, or the module leader (Modulverantwortlicher) for all other modules.
(If technically necessary, collect signatures on several sheets and append them to a single PDF before submission.)

3) Get confirmation of ASO

After having fulfilled your teaching contributions and at least two months before registering for the thesis defense, upload the filled out and signed form Confirmation of teaching activities (PDF, 1 MB) to the MNF student admin tool https://studentadmin.mnf.uzh.ch.
If your teaching is ok, the ASO will confirm the completion of your teaching requirements within two months after submission in the MNF student admin tool .