Information for VAUZ Delegates

At UZH, four representative bodies represent the interests of students and staff.
This is defined in the University Law  and the University Statutes.
To ensure that they have a say, the four representative bodies organize the election of delegates on the basis of the election regulation.

VAUZ as UZH mid-level faculty organization organizes the election of the delegates of junior researchers. All UZH mid-level faculty members are members of this body. The delegates represent all UZH mid-level faculty members in the committees to which they have been elected.

The main election of delegates takes place every two years in spring. The term of office for delegates is two years. All seats are then re-elected.

The delegates of junior researchers are organized in the UZH mid-level faculty organization VAUZ. Together they form the Extended VAUZ Board and represent all UZH mid-level faculty members.

The elected delegates coordinate themselves in VAUZ. They become members of the VAUZ Board Meetings team. The delegates meet for six coordination meetings per year to improve the situation of UZH PhD students, postdocs, assistants, senior assistants and student assistants in a sustainable and continuous manner.

1. The activities of the elected delegates, who form the Extended VAUZ Board,  and the members of the VAUZ Executive Board are counted as working time.
2. The chargeable time expenditures include in particular the time for meetings, their preparation and follow-ups as well as for tasks mandated by the university.
3. Members of both VAUZ Boards report their time required for the representative body association in a separate section of their timesheet, insofar as they are obliged to keep time records under personnel law.
4. VAUZ recommends keeping a timesheet of the personal effort required for participation in committees and the VAUZ.
5. Those members of the representative body association who have not taken on any specific tasks for the representative body or VAUZ may exercise their general co-determination rights within the scope of their working hours (participation in the VAUZ elections at the annual assembly, participation in the UZH election of delegates, consultations, information events).
6. These activities do not have to be specifically recorded in the timesheet.
7. VAUZ points out that superiors / supervisors must be informed in advance of the work involved in exercising co-determination rights as members of the representative body and in participating in university and other committees and the VAUZ.

The main task of the delegates is to create opportunities for optimizing the working and support environment for the UZH mid-level faculty and to maintain the flow of information and exchange between the mid-level faculty, the delegates and the Extended VAUZ Executive Board.

Delegates in UZH organs, committees, commissions and working groups regularly report on the activities of "their" commission at VAUZ Board meetings. Ideally, they should write a meeting report in the Meeting-Report-Tool.

If delegates resign, they report their resignation here: Report resignation

Ideally, they should familiarize their successors with the respective committee's work and hand over the business and its documentation.

VAUZ sends out a monthly newsletter with information on events and current vacancies. The delegates make their colleagues aware of this and help to recruit new VAUZ members and new delegates.

It is essential that new mid-level faculty employees are informed about VAUZ and its activities as soon as they take up their post. This serves to improve integration and demonstrates the advantages of symbolic VAUZ membership and participation, whether as a delegate or as an active member of VAUZ.

In order to discuss current topics, report on or plan activities and prepare the election of delegates, the members of the Extended VAUZ Board - i.e. all delegates active in the VAUZ - meet for six Board meetings a year as well as the annual VAUZ General Assembly.

At the Annual General Meeting, the members of the VAUZ Executive Board  are elected and assume responsibility for one of the departments:

• Co-Presidency (meeting organization, strategy development and coordination of the UZH Mittelbau)
• University policy / actionuni of the Swiss mid-level faculty (local, national and international higher education policy)
• Promotion of early career researchers (career development for early career researchers)
• Events (formal and informal event organization)
• Communication (social media)
• Auditing (auditing the annual accounts)

In faculties, the delegate on the faculty board organizes cross-institute communication with all mid-level faculty members.

In institutes, the delegate in the institute assembly ensures the flow of communication with the mid-level faculty members of the institute, the delegates in the respective faculty and the Extended VAUZ Board.

In order to coordinate the mid-level faculty members across the university, at least one representative from each faculty takes part in the meetings of the Extended VAUZ Board and the VAUZ General Assembly, thus ensuring communication within VAUZ as the UZH mid-level faculty association.

The delegates in institute, faculty, university-wide and cross-faculty committees regularly report on the content of the respective committee meetings at the meetings of the Extended Executive Board and obtain the opinion of the UZH mid-level faculty via meetings of the Extended Executive Board for strategic co-determination.

The delegates represent the collective opinion of the UZH mid-level faculty members, which they represent in all committees.

VAUZ Board Meetings
VAUZ General Assembly
VAUZ Agenda
VAUZ Executive Board
Extended VAUZ Board
VAUZ Statutes
VAUZ Meeting Report Tool