From being hired to reaching retirement

The “University at a Glance” welcoming event is held twice a year for new staff members in administration as well as in teaching and research. Personnel management courses are regularly on offer for executive staff members. Furthermore, newly joining executive staff members are invited to attend a welcome seminar at which content and tools relevant to personnel management, planning and finance are conveyed.
More information

Discover how to become involved in university-specific leadership and management topics that will enable you to lead effectively, efficiently and sustainably. The Leadership Network is where you can share ideas and hone your leadership skills. More information is available at CAS Academic Leadership - Leading at Universities.
More information (in German).
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The University of Bern is an institution under public law with legal personality. The university’s legal collection encompasses the basic legal principles of the University of Bern as well as regulations and directives of the university and the canton in the domains of organizational structure of the university, study courses and programs, personnel, operations and quality.  Relevant links related to employment:

University Act [UniG], University Ordinance [UniV], University Statute [UniSt] (in German and French)
The cantonal law governing personnel [PG] (in German and French)
Personnel Ordinance (PV) (in German and French)
Guidelines on Duties and Employment of Full and Associate Professors at the University of Bern
Guidelines on Duties and Employment of Assistant Professors with Tenure Track
Overview of the most important tasks of the Managing Directors of an Institute (in German)

• Full and associate professors are employed under public law and, in principle, for an indefinite period, with a mutual notice period of six months to the end of a semester.  
• Aassistant professorships with tenure track are initially employed for four years. Employment may be extended for an additional two-year term. The definitive factor for this is a positive evaluation based on the qualification criteria. There is no entitlement to continuation of an assistant professorship with tenure track after the first employment phase.
• For assistant professors without tenure track, the duration of employment is limited to four years irrespective of the level of employment. Upon evaluation by the faculty, it may be extended by a maximum of two more years in justified cases. 

Each function is classified according to its work value within the salary classes 1 to 30. Individual salaries are determined within the salary steps 1 to 80 (plus 6 entry steps) based on individual work experience. There is no entitlement to a salary increment. The share of the total salary available for general and individual salary increments for functions without performance appraisal is determined by the governing council (“Regierungsrat”).

The thirteenth month salary is paid in two equal semi-annual installments in June and December. There is an entitlement to pro rata payment upon the start and end of employment.

Family and care allowances are considered social allowances. They are paid out in twelve monthly installments. The Human Resources Office must be notified immediately of any facts that establish, alter or cancel entitlement to social allowances. You will find the valid social allowance rates at www.intern.unibe.ch.

Pension provisions in Switzerland are based on three pillars

• State pension provision, - old age and survivors‘ pension (OASI)
• Occupational pension plans - pension fund, together with the employer
• Private provision

General information about Switzerland’s three-pillar system is available for instance at www.ch.ch: The Three Pillars of Pension Provisions in Switzerland: OASI, pension fund, pillar 3a/b.

The Bern Pension Fund (www.bpk.ch) provides mandatory insurance to persons in cantonal service for protection against the economic consequences of age, death and disability. A pension benefit entitlement can be improved by making a voluntary purchase. The BPK pension plan regulations (“Vorsorgereglement BPK”) are available to download: https://bpk.ch/publikationen (in German and French) “Vorsorgereglement BPK” (incl. attachments 1 to 5) (in German).

It is compulsory to take out basic health insurance in Switzerland. Health insurance is a private matter; the university as an employer does not contribute to nor participate in this. Information about mandatory health insurance and a list of authorized health insurance providers are available on the website of the Federal Office of Public Health.

You are insured by the University of Bern against occupational and non-occupational accidents.

Lecturers may, in principle, submit a request for sabbatical leave (Art. 53f UniV). The Executive Board may grant lecturers such requests in agreement with the competent faculty, so that they can perform scientific work without any teaching duties.

The employment relationship of full and associate professors ends at the end of the semester in which they reach the age of 65, or at the end of the agreed duration of employment. The Executive Board may, in exceptional cases, approve a retirement to the end of the month in which the person concerned reaches the age of 65 (Art. 68 UniV).