phd student salary belgium

PhD, Postdoc, and Professor Salaries in Belgium in 2024

Belgium has a long history of innovation in science and technology, making it a great place to work and study. Academic salaries for Flemish (Dutch-speaking) or Wallonian (French-speaking) universities are set by their respective governments. Each position has its own salary scale and your place within the scale is determined by your qualifications and seniority (time from completion of PhD). The salary statistics in this article are pre-tax. The tax rate in Belgium is between 45% and 52%.

Here are the salaries for the Dutch-speaking Belgian universities:

PhD Student

The PhD is the highest academic degree in Belgium and it is required to work as a professor or researcher. Broadly, the path to a Belgian PhD consists of four years of advanced research that culminate in the writing of a dissertation which is then orally defended. Some programs require PhD students to gain teaching experience as well. PhD students often are employed as assisterend academisch personeel (academic assistant staff) or an assistent (research assistant).

PhD salaries are determined by seniority and range from €23,469 to €39,716 per year. Doctoral grants are tax exempt.

Doctor-assistent

After earning their PhD, many researchers go on to do a doctor-assistent or postdoc. A postdoc is a continuation of the researcher’s training that allows them to further specialize in a particular field and learn new skills and techniques. Postdoc research is usually themed or project specific. A Belgian postdoc lasts three years. A postdoc is usually classed as an Assisterend Academisch Personeel (Academic Assistant Staff or AAP) position and uses a different salary scale than more senior academic positions.

A postdoc’s qualifications determine their place on the salary scale which ranges from €29 070 to €45,317 per year.

This position is equivalent to the rank of assistant professor or lecturer and is the first permanent academic position. The initial contract is often for three years and may become permanent following a positive evaluation. If the position becomes permanent, it is not uncommon for an academic to remain in a docent position until retirement. Consequently, universities are starting to introduce tenure-track docent positions. A more experienced candidate with the potential to become a hoofddocent can become a tenure-track docent . After four years their performance is evaluated and they can be promoted to hoofddocent .

A docent is the first Zelfstandig Academisch Personeel (Independent Academic Staff or ZAP) level position. There are two salary scales for docent positions, ZAPFT1 and ZAPFT1A. The first starts at €29,914 per year and increases to €44, 095 per year with 24 years of experience. The second goes from € 30, 255 per year to €47,444 per year with 24 years of experience.

Hoofddocent

A hoofddocent is equivalent in rank to an associate professor or senior lecturer. Traditionally to become a hoofddocen t, a universitair docent had to apply for a vacant position. However it is now possible to be promoted to this position based on performance. This is a permanent position and it is not uncommon to remain a hoofddocent until retirement.

Hoofddocent is also a ZAP position with two salary scales . ZAPFT2 goes €34,256 per year and increases to €53,815 per year with 24 years of experience. Z APFT2A g oes from €34,735 per month to € 58,403 per month with 24 years of experience.

A hoogleraar is equivalent to a professor. They have substantial research accomplishments that have established them as an international or national leader in their field. The position is connected to a department, rather than a faculty. Unlike the North American tenure system, there is no automatic promotion to hoogleraar .

A hoogleraar is another ZAP position . A newly-appointed professor with no seniority receives €40,109 per year but can earn up to €61,224 per year with 18 years of seniority.

Gewoon hoogleraar

A gewoon hoogleraar is equivalent to a full professor and is at the top of the professorial hierarchy. They are part of a faculty and have a role similar to that of a department chair in that they supervise all the other professors in their department or group.

Gewoon hoogleraar is the most senior ZAP position . Their salary scales starts at €44,925 per month and make €68,633  with 15 years of seniority.

The academic salaries at a French-speaking university in Belgium are a little different:

Etudiant en doctorat

The doctorat is the highest academic degree and it is required to hold academic positions. It is a research-only degree that culminates in the writing of a thesis which is then orally defended in front of a jury. It takes three years to earn a doctorate.

A typical PhD salary at UC Louvain i s around €2,000 per month.

A postdoc is a continuation of the researcher’s training that allows them to further specialize in a particular field and learn new skills and techniques. Postdoc research is usually project specific. Postdocs in french-speaking Belgium last a maximum of three years.

A typical postdoc monthly salary at UC Louvain is around €2,500.

Chargé de cours

Chargé de cours is the normal entry level position at a Wallonian university. It is equivalent to an assistant professor and is usually a permanent position. Less experienced academics may be appointed as a temporary chargé de cours for a probationary period of three or four years. If their research and teaching are evaluated positively, their position will become permanent.

A newly-appointed chargé de cours at UC Louvain with no seniority earns €4,725, while those with the highest seniority earn €7,407 per month.

A chargé de cours with at least eight years of experience can apply to professeur positions. A professeur is equivalent to an associate professor. Belgian professeurs have strong publication records, proven teaching skills, and have been successful as a PhD supervisor. They have usually established themselves as an international or national leader in their field.

A newly-appointed professor at UC Louvain with no seniority earns €5,527, while those with the highest seniority earn €8,423 per month.

Professeur ordinaire

A professeur can be promoted to a professeur ordinaire , the most senior academic position in French-speaking Belgium. It is roughly equivalent to an American endowed chair. In addition to research and teaching, these professors are expected to take on an academic leadership role in the department or faculty. It is only possible to become a professeur ordinaire through promotion.

A newly-appointed chargé de cours at UC Louvain with no seniority earns €6,188, while those with the highest seniority earn €9,439 per month.   

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Master, PhD and Postdoc Scholarships

Comparison of Salary of PhD Students in Europe

This post concerns the Comparison of the Salary of PhD Students in Europe. The purpose of this post is to compare the salaries of PhD students in Europe. The table includes ten countries in Western Europe. In this post, the salaries of PhD students in different European countries including Denmark , Germany , Switzerland , Sweden , Finland , Austria , Norway , Ireland , France , Netherlands and the UK . are compared.

A comparison of the salaries of PhD students in Europe

In the chart below you will find the minimum and maximum gross (before tax) salaries for PhDs in various European countries. The list will grow as more countries are added. PhD students in Europe earn varying salaries depending on the country, the institution they are affiliated with, and their field of study. We, therefore, present a table showing the minimum and maximum before-tax salaries of PhD students in Europe.

Comparison of PhD students’ minimum salaries (before tax) in Europe

The average minimum salary for a PhD student in Europe is €2,600 per month. It is important to note that this figure includes all the different fields and not just science or engineering. The values listed here include the minimum salaries of PhD scholarships and funded positions.

The average salary for a PhD student in Europe varies depending on the country as well as the university. The highest average salary was found in Denmark with €49,802 per year and the lowest was found in Ireland with €16,000 per year.

Chart of Comparison of PhD students’ Minimum Yearly Salaries (before tax) in Europe

Comparison of PhD students’ maximum salaries (before tax) in Europe

The average maximum salary for a PhD student in Europe is around €3,500 per month. The figure in this table includes all different fields, not just science or engineering. It also includes the maximum salaries of PhD scholarships and funded positions.

Chart of Comparison of PhD students’ Maximum Yearly Salaries (before tax) in Europe

This chart compares the minimum and maximum PhD salaries (before taxes) in different European countries.

It is very interesting that even though Denmark has the highest minimum PhD salaries, Switzerland has the highest maximum PhD salaries. It shows that the salary of a PhD student in Switzerland could differ significantly among Swiss universities.

Remarks about the salary of PhD students in Germany and the UK

Regarding the table above, there are a few remarks. Germany does not have a minimum salary for PhD students, so they could do their PhD without a salary. Furthermore, if PhD students receive a stipend or scholarship, the numbers might be very different (generally lower than the salaries listed above). Throughout the UK, the values in the table represent the annual stipend of PhD students. Since this is a stipend, the student does not pay any taxes on it, so we can also call it after-tax income. The last thing to note is that the maximum value is more reserved for exceptional cases (especially in Switzerland). We recommend you read the salary pages of each country if you want to know the exact salary allocation and the details.

Interested in discovering the salary figures for PhD and postdoctoral positions in Europe?:

• PhD Salary in Denmark
• Postdoc Salary in Denmark
• Salary of a PhD student and Postdoc in Norway
• PhD Salary in Switzerland
• Salary ladder for PhD students in Sweden
• Salary of PhD student and Postdoc in Germany
• Salary of PhD and Postdoc in Ireland
• Salary of Postdocs in France
• Salary of PhD student and Postdoc in the UK
• Professors’ salary in the UK
• Salary of PhD student and Postdoc in the Netherlands
• Salary of PhD student and Postdoc in Finland
• Salary of PhD student and Postdoc in Austria
• Salary of Marie-curie postdoctoral fellowship
• Salary of PhD student in Marie-Curie ITN
• Doctorate Degree Business Administration Salary

Fully Funded PhD Positions with Salary

• Germany – Fully Funded PhD
• Switzerland – Fully Funded PhD
• Denmark – Fully Funded PhD
• UK – Fully Funded PhD
• Sweden – Fully Funded PhD
• Finland – Fully Funded PhD
• Netherlands – Fully Funded PhD
• Norway – Fully Funded PhD
• Belgium – Fully Funded PhD
• Austria – Fully Funded PhD
• Australia – Fully Funded PhD
• France – Fully Funded PhD
• New Zealand – Fully Funded PhD
• Canada – Fully Funded PhD
• USA – Fully Funded PhD
• Luxembourg – Fully Funded PhD
• Spain – Fully Funded PhD
• Italy – Fully Funded PhD
• Iceland -Fully Funded PhD

All academic positions (the latest ones) will be updated by the Fastepo Team. Also, please follow our Facebook page to not miss any new vacancies. Alternatively, if you don’t enjoy reading text, check out our YouTube channel for videos about PhDs and Postdocs.

October 28, 2024 update and current university proposal

The university has continued meeting with UE-SGWU, including three days of negotiations last week and additional negotiating days the union agreed to on Monday and today (Tuesday, October 29). We have made significant progress in recent bargaining sessions, and the university remains committed to negotiating with UE-SGWU until an agreement is reached. 

Unfortunately, UE-SGWU has announced that it intends to hold a strike authorization vote by its members in the coming days. The union has a right to take this step, though the university is disappointed in this development, as we believe the negotiations have been progressing.

If approved, a strike authorization vote gives a union’s leadership the option to call a strike. It does not, on its own, initiate an actual strike. As an example, another Stanford union, SEIU, conducted a strike authorization vote this summer and then reached a contract agreement with the university soon afterward.

The university has made a strong and competitive offer to support our graduate workers and to support continued excellence in graduate education at Stanford. This offer includes top-of-the-market minimum salaries for assistantships, relative to our Ivy Plus peers, and a range of expanded benefits that build on the university-paid health premiums, university-subsidized housing, and financial assistance programs for graduate students that Stanford already provides.

Importantly, the university’s economic proposal is directly responsive to the priorities that the union has articulated on behalf of its members. Specifically, all graduate workers will receive a pay increase, with those currently earning the minimum pay for assistantships receiving a larger increase. In addition, all current and future incoming international PhD students will receive a one-time payment to defray visa application costs, another priority for the union.

You can read the university’s current comprehensive proposal , which includes Stanford’s most recent proposals as well as contract articles on which the parties have reached tentative agreements.

Highlights of the university’s most recent proposal include:

• Wages: At our Ivy Plus peer institutions, minimum pay for a 50%-time assistantship ranges from $39,425 to $52,536 in the 2024-25 academic year. Stanford’s current proposal would place our minimum for research assistants and course assistants at $53,148 in the first year of the contract and at $54,688 for teaching assistants. With additional increases in subsequent years, by the third year of the contract these minimums would be $57,208 and $58,868, respectively. Those whose pay is already above the new minimum would receive a 2 percent increase in year one and the same percentage increases as other graduate workers in years two and three of the contract. Deeper background on the university’s economic proposals can be found in the Supporting Graduate Students paper on our website.
• Benefits: Stanford continues to fully cover Cardinal Care health premiums for graduate students, and the university also has long provided support for students with special financial needs. Stanford’s current proposal ensures that the Cardinal Care Subsidy , the Graduate Family Grant program, the Graduate Student Aid Fund , and the Emergency Grant-In-Aid program will remain available to graduate workers as part of their contract. In the latest university proposal, the household income threshold for the Graduate Family Grant program has been increased, and the aid amount toward the total cost of insurance for a spouse under the Graduate Student Aid Fund has been raised. In addition, the Emergency Grant-In-Aid program would be expanded to reimburse expenses for students with chronic medical and mental health conditions.
• Payments to international graduate workers: As stated above, Stanford’s offer includes a new $1,000 payment to each new incoming international PhD graduate worker on an F1 or J1 student visa matriculated each fall, to help defray the costs associated with visa applications.
• Caltrain Go Pass: The university has offered to provide a pass to graduate students for a two-year trial period on the same terms as other Stanford affiliates.
• Protection from discrimination: In addition to the university’s existing procedures available to all community members to respond to cases of harassment and discrimination, the university has offered a contract provision that enables the union to pursue grievances involving Title IX matters against the university after the university’s procedures are completed. The proposal also enables the union to file a grievance related to non-Title IX complaints of harassment or discrimination. In order to allow time for a matter to be handled under university processes and procedures, a grievance on a non-Title IX matter would be held in abeyance for a 5-month period, which could be extended by 1 month.
• Tentative agreements also have been reached on 16 contract articles including union security , university rights , inclusive work environment , health and safety , grievance procedure , and appointment notification .

There is no deadline for the negotiations to conclude, despite the union’s statements to the contrary. The university remains constructively engaged at the bargaining table and hopes to reach agreement with the union in a timely way.

The university also continues preparations in the event a strike occurs. In the event of a strike, classes would continue. Graduate workers would be free to choose whether to participate in the strike or not; those participating in the strike would not be paid if they do not work. Resources for our community regarding strike contingency planning are available in the Frequently Asked Questions section of this website. 

Information for graduate students

October 23 and 24, 2024 negotiations update, october 22, 2024 negotiations update.