ETH celebrated its last birthday before next year's big Jubilee, last Saturday, as usual with numerous distinguished guests and representatives from politics, public administration, science and industry in the hall of the main building. In his welcoming speech ETH Rector Konrad Osterwalder talked about the current situation with regard to the Bologna Reform process. "Today all courses of study have been converted to conform with the Bachelor/Master degree system," he was able to report.

As usual, the Academic Orchestra skilfully accompanied the official ceremony, under the direction of conductor Johannes Schlaefli–this year with music from Bizet, Bruckner and Brahms. large

The changeover process had not, however, run smoothly throughout. The Swiss University Conference took the decision that the Masters programmes would be open to practically all Bachelors from Swiss universities, without any sort of selection process. This was "highly regrettable" found Osterwalder. CRUS, the Rectors' Conference of the Swiss Universities had unanimously recommended the opposite. Because, he went on to say, a strict selection process, in combination with the higher chance of success for those admitted, was better suited to both the demands of the university as well as the concept of mobility. Students would thus be sure to succeed at other universities as well.

The honoured and the host: Karl Linnepe, Richard Sandor, Konrad Osterwalder, Ernst Gisel and Nigel Priestley (from left). large

VSETH reacts with scepticism to these notions. In its press communiqué for ETH Day the student's association holds firm to its demand that every ETH Bachelor has the right to go on to do a Masters programme. "The courses of study are clearly part of a whole Bachelor/Master concept. A university education simply isn't complete without a Masters", in VSETH's opinion.

Harmonisation in Europe: the devil is in the detail

ETH Rector Konrad Osterwalder met with obstacles in the planning of international Master programmes (ETH wants to offer one in geophysics, jointly with the RWTH Aachen and the Technical University of Delft) and with the harmonisation of the academic calendar. A German university, for example, was not allowed to confer a joint degree with a foreign university. And if an earlier scheduling of the beginning of the academic year became necessary –because most other European countries have a different timetable–one would have to reckon with a very long implementation phase. In this point, at least, the rector can count on the full support of VSETH.

For well-known reasons, the US had lost some of its attraction as a magnet for students from all over the world. In the global competition for the best minds Switzerland's chances were currently good. "But we must also want to make the most of these chances," said Osterwalder.

ETH President Olaf Kübler deliberately picks up a politically hot potato: the recommendation of an expert panel that ETH Zurich be given the freedom to choose its students. large

This was the underlying motivation for ETH's recent decision to develop marketing concepts to address students all over the world an bring the best of them to Zurich.

In his address, ETH President Olaf Kübler outlined a panorama of the challenges that ETH faces in today's international "knowledge market". In doing so, he drew on a recently concluded assessment report on the ETH domain from a team of international experts. In order to maintain its acknowledged position at the top (1), the team had three recommendations for ETH Zurich. First, like Harvard, MIT or Oxford, ETH should endeavour to find more private funding besides the government sources of capital. The agility resulting from such a step was often the deciding factor in the competition of the best. Foundations, sponsors, donors and international organisations could also provide an alternative to state funding.

"Re-industrialisation of Switzerland"

Over the past year ETH has assumed the offensive in this area. Kübler took this opportunity to introduce the new ETH Zurich Foundation. The foundation is aiming at a capital of a billion CHF in order to finance projects, which cannot be realised with state funding, with the annual interest of several millions of francs (2).

The second recommendation of the experts is that ETH should strengthen technology transfer. This piece of advice should also soon deliver first fruits. ETH wanted to double the flow of scientific knowledge into industry, explained the president. "What we are talking about is the re-industrialisation of Switzerland with an industry based on ideas and knowledge," said Kübler. ETH has already taken a first step in this direction with the creation of the new ETH Department Management, Technology and Economics (D-MTEC) in October 2004. Analyses were being carried out here–among other things–on the role of the universities in the growth of a region, such as Zurich.

Politically incorrect recommendation

With the peers' third recommendation one was stepping, in Switzerland, into the realm of "heresy" as Kübler put it. He was referring to the experts' recommendation that ETH should be allowed to choose its students–an absolute impossibility as far as equal opportunity proponents and those who demand university access for all who have a Matura in their pockets are concerned. But, says Kübler, when one takes a closer look, one saw that such selection was already happening in Switzerland. It just wasn't done at the beginning of the studies, but as a rule, after the first year. Law students, medical students, engineers, economists or natural science students– all were strictly selected. At ETH the failure quota lay at around 25 per cent, with a cost to the tax payer of 20 to 40 million Swiss francs.

Kübler finds something else far more important: A studious atmosphere in which young people can take up their studies without fear of failure, a work atmosphere that allowed them to commence with excellent chances of succeeding, that would be highly motivating. "People who believe in team work can see it being created here in an exemplary manner." This is precisely what MIT, for instance, has managed to achieve. Kübler said that his ideal of an ETH education would be that young people who wanted to study would be engaged early on and given fair and expert advice, according to their inclinations and aptitudes.

VSETH President Florian Bernlochner: "A farce in three acts" as a simile of the bumpy relationship between Teachers – Students – Politics – Industry. large

Florian Bernlochner, President of VSETH, illustrated his recommendations with a short "Farce in three acts"–to the visible amusement of the audience. He demonstrated the sometimes contradictory views and objectives that abound in research and education using the model of the (unsuccessful) development of a steam engine. The simile ended in a bundle of conclusions: Students should choose carefully and then work diligently in their chosen discipline; researchers should take time to communicate their knowledge; economists had to grant research the necessary time for development and politics had to provide a permanent support for education and research, "even if not all values can always be measured," said Bernlochner.