Usage Examples

Antonio would like to attend the next Leadership Circle. The course is free (for UZH staff with leadership responsibilities). The time required will be 8 x 3 hours. Antonio’s employment level is 100%. His line manager fully supports his wish to attend the Leadership Circle and record each three-hour session as paid hours for continuing education.

What does Antonio have to do?

• He obtains written approval from his line manager for his attendance of the Leadership Circle (§ 15 CER).
• He registers for the Leadership Circle.
• He attends the course in full and records three hours of continuing education in the time recording system for each session (§ 11 CER).
• If he is unable to attend on one occasion and misses an entire half-day course session, he will inform his line manager and the continuing education course organizers in advance in writing (§ 23 CER). He cannot record any continuing education hours for the missed session.
• When he receives his confirmation of participation at the end of the course, he sends it to the responsible HR representative for storage in his personnel file (§ 21 CER).

Brigitte works in an administrative function with an employment level of 90% and would like to take a continuing education course to improve her communication skills. She looks at the continuing education offering of the canton of Zurich and chooses the course “Schwierige Gespräche meistern” (“Mastering Difficult Conversations”). This course takes place over two days and costs CHF 500 for UZH employees. 

What does Brigitte have to do?

• Brigitte submits a written application to her line manager to attend the course. 
• Her line manager is aware of Brigitte’s developmental wishes and also sees a significant need in this regard. She welcomes the suggestion and approves Brigitte’s course attendance in writing.
• In her response, she states that Brigitte’s continuing education course has a degree of interest of 1. This means that UZH will pay the full CHF 500 course fee for her. On the two course days, she is permitted – based on her employment level of 90% – to claim her target working hours of 7:34 for her continuing education course. Course hours that go beyond this as well as time spent on travel, preparation and follow-up will be borne by her.
• Brigitte signs up for the course herself on the canton of Zurich’s platform and ensures that the invoice is correctly issued to the cost center of her organizational unit.
• Brigitte attends the course and records the course days as 7:34 hours in line 91, “Continuing Education”, of the Excel employee time sheet.
• Her line manager encourages Brigitte to report back on her learning experiences at the next team meeting, in accordance with § 22 CER.

Christoph would like to take the CAS Leadership and Governance at Universities program at UZH. His employment level at UZH is 100%. This program is open to the public and therefore counts as an external continuing education course. The full CAS program costs CHF 8,900 for UZH members. It involves 19 attendance days, on Fridays and Saturdays (example: 2024 course); there are also online examinations, and a written paper must be produced. Christoph intends to take on a higher leadership role in a number of years. His line manager supports his plans and assesses the course as having a degree of interest of 2. 

What does Christoph have to do?

• This continuing education course requires an agreement and an order (§ 16 and 17 CER). So after his line manager has given her verbal agreement to him taking the CAS, Christoph needs to first download the Continuing Education Agreement Template form (DOCX, 88 KB) and fill it out with the details of the study program. After that, his line manager adds the required information on the degree of interest and the scope of funding from UZH. Both sign the form, and then it is forwarded to the responsible HR representative, who arranges for an order (“Verfügung”) to be issued.
• It is stated in the agreement that UZH will fund the continuing education course with a degree of interest of 2. According to § 9 para 2 CER, UZH will therefore cover 75% of the course costs and/or (but not cumula-tively) 75% of the working hours needed for the course. In other words, the total combined percentages of working hours and course fees covered must equal 75%.
• Christoph’s line manager offers him the “half-half” option. 75% of CHF 8,900 amounts to CHF 6,675, and 75% of 19 course days equals 14.25 days. Christoph agrees. Each party will cover CHF 3,337.50 in course costs and 7.125 days (at 8:24 hours), i.e. 7 days, one hour and 3 minutes of working hours. Christoph will cover the remaining costs and course hours himself.
• Since Christoph has been granted more than five working days of paid leave for his continuing education course, he needs an order (“Verfügung”). After receiving the order, he can register for the continuing education program in a binding fashion.
• Christoph makes sure that two separate invoices are issued for the course fees of CHF 8,900: the invoice for CHF 3,337.50 addressed to the University of Zurich is issued to the cost center of his organizational unit. Christoph submits it in accordance with the usual process (Invoice Processing | Finance Office | UZH). In the accounts payable workflow, the person responsible for formal approval adds the information “Aus- und Weiterbildung / Training & Continuing Education” and the right cost center. The invoice for the remaining amount of CHF 5,562.50 (CHF 3,337.50 plus the 25% of the course costs to be paid privately) is issued in Christoph’s name, and he pays it himself.
• While filling out the agreement form, Christoph was informed by his line manager that he will have to pay back the continuing education costs covered by UZH if he discontinues the course (including non-attendance of examinations) or leaves UZH early ((§§ 24-27 CER). The end date of the continuing education course that Christoph enters in the form determines when the two-year period for this repayment obligation begins.
• Christoph attends the CAS course and records the hours credited by UZH as working time for the course days in the time recording system. Any claimable course days on Saturdays can also be recorded as working hours (up to the total working hours granted by UZH)  without a weekend allowance (“continuing education”). This was explicitly approved by Christoph’s line manager in the continuing education agreement.
• Christoph will write his final thesis on a topic that is directly relevant to his work. Therefore, when the time comes, he will probably be granted additional working hours as agreed with his line manager.

Lateral entrant Doris has taken up a full-time position as an HR representative in a UZH organizational unit with a large number of employees. She likes the work and would like to gain more in-depth specialist knowledge by qualifying as a HR Specialist with a Federal Diploma of Higher Education. This vocational training course is subsidized by the government as long as Doris signs up for it as a private individual and is resident in Switzerland for tax purposes when her examination ruling is issued. At the end of her continuing education course, she can claim a refund of 50% of the course fees from the federal government. In accordance with § 7 para. 2 CER, Doris is obli-gated to take advantage of the option to obtain federal subsidization. This means that she will pay the entire course fees to the training institution herself and apply to her organizational unit that is covering the costs for the share of the course and examination fees that she will not receive from the federal government. Her line manager determines that the degree of interest for Doris’s continuing education course is 1.

What does Doris have to do?

• She reads the information on the website about federal contributions to courses in preparation for federal examinations (in German) and chooses an approved institution from the course list page.
• She fills out the"Continuing Education Agreement Template” form (DOCX, 88 KB) together with her line manager. Her line manager enters the degree of interest and the details of the costs and/or working hours that UZH will assume in the form. 
• UZH’s financial contribution will be higher than CHF 5,000, and Doris is allowed to claim more than five working days as “continuing education”. Using the details from the form, the responsible HR representa-tive initiates the electronic process to issue an order. 
• Doris contacts her cost center manager about the cost contribution that UZH will pay. The cost center manager arranges for the money to be transferred to Doris’s account. This contribution from UZH will be shown on Doris’s next annual pay statement.
• Under the continuing education agreement, Doris must repay UZH’s contribution if she chooses to discontinue the continuing education course herself or leaves UZH early, in accordance with §§ 24-27 CER.
• Doris enters the agreed course attendance time that she can claim as working hours in line 91, “Continu-ing Education”, of the Excel employee time sheet. As Doris’s employee level is 100%, she can record a maximum of 8:24 hours per day of course attendance. 
• She completes the continuing education course and takes the examination. However, she fails the examination at the first attempt. Doris knows that she must repeat her final examination within one year at the latest, or else she will be deemed to have discontinued the course. In accordance with § 24 CER, she would have to pay back part of the assumed course costs to UZH in this case. She will also have to pay any additional continuing education costs herself and can no (longer) claim the continuing education course as working hours (§ 24 para. 3 CER).
• She can apply for the prospective federal subsidy despite having failed the exam. To do so, she registers on the online portal of the federal government’s settlement agency herself and submits the required documents. 
• Doris has to prepare for her second attempt at the final exam in her own time. She passes the exam to become an HR Specialist with a delay of one year and sends a scan of her diploma to be saved in her electronic file. She notifies the Center of Competence responsible for HR Administration that she has postponed the end date of her course. The period in which she is obliged to repay the course costs if she terminates her employment relationship only begins on the date of her final exam.
• Like Doris, everyone at her workplace is pleased that she has completed her course, as it means that UZH has gained a great deal of HR expertise.