The most important way in which ETH serves Switzerland was by "being excellent", as Couchepin told the roughly 400 guests. ETH Zurich was the university that "put Switzerland on the map of the countries with the world's best universities". He went on to thank the parting president, Olaf Kübler, for his great accomplishments and wished designated president Ernst Hafen good luck. Couchepin insisted that companies and nations that did not invest in research were destined–sooner or later–"to find the ground slipping away from under their feet". As a small country Switzerland must continuously generate innovation in order to maintain its standard of living. The historic partnership between ETH and industry were therefore "of vital importance" to the country.

Extending Life Sciences and Management

In order to maintain its successful course ETH must make no concessions in its devotion to quality. In addition, Couchepin furthermore recommended that ETH extend the promising fields of life sciences and management sciences. He was fully aware, he said, that ETH expected financial support from the government. "The will is there," he said. Switzerland's already big financial engagement in ETH was justified above all by scientific results. With reference to the planned university reform in 2008, the Minister for Home Affairs said that the autonomy of ETH in Switzerland's university landscape shall be preserved and extended.

Preventing statism

At this point in the proceedings, ETH rector and host of the day, Konrad Osterwalder, insisted that on no account must a "statist system of control" ensue from the 2008 reform. In order to remain successful universities must be allowed to carry out their own work, to be able to enhance their talents and to plot their own courses. ETH made a point of promoting excellence, as manifested for instance with the education of grammar school teachers - to be improved as of next year, targeted advisory services for new students (1), initially in two ETH departments, and with the introduction of graduate colleges as well as the continuation of freedom for high-risk research.

Shifting the boundaries

President of the ETH Board, Alexander Zehnder, reminded listeners of the visionary courage that the founders of ETH Zurich displayed 150 years ago. At the time, the Polytechnikum, as it was then called, played a central part in finding solutions to pressing problems–building an infrastructure for Switzerland. In view of the rapid global changes and the axiomatic insecurities like population growth, climate change and the scarcity of resources such a leader function was needed as never before. ETH Zurich and the entire ETH Domain was predestined to take on such a role. The primary and continuing education of future generations, which was the only truly long-term capital, must be of the first concern, said Zehnder. As far as research is concerned a happy mixture between fundamental and applied research had to be striven for.

In Audimax this time: Rector Konrad Osterwalder greets around 400 guests to ETH Day 2005. large

In view of the complexity of problems that the human race faces, interdisciplinarity was compelling. Universities had to overcome some barriers here. They would benefit from research institutions and could thus open up new areas of research, together. Finally, said the President of the ETH Board, the population of Switzerland had the claim to be able to directly profit from know-how created at ETH, for example with ways of dealing with natural hazards like mudslides, avalanches, flooding and storms.

Major and minor leaders

For the ETH Teachers' Conference its president, Gérard Hertig, Professor of Law at ETH Zurich, returned to the subject of the university reform 2008. Hertig argued forcefully against "strategic" decision-making at a national level for all universities, or, even worse, wanting to push "bureaucratic, institutional co-operation". If one wanted an ETH that was competitive, then one had to accept that there must be major leaders (ETH) and less leading institutions. Decisions made on this basis were unpopular but necessary for the future of ETH. The university itself had to invest in bottom-up initiatives that were promising and in attractive teaching and research credits, said Hertig. Only then would visions have a chance of becoming reality.

Nadine Schüssler, member of the executive committee of ETH's Academic Association, then spoke about her thoughts on the development of the doctorate degree. Those who proposed moving towards the Anglo-Saxon model needed to be aware that although this might seem a more efficient way to go about things, this system comprised a far narrower range of functional requirements than a position as PhD student at ETH. Whereas PhD-students at Anglo-Saxon universities were considered students, so Schüssler, at ETH, PhD-students often took on tasks ensuring the infrastructure, in teaching, in administration and in an advisory capacity for undergraduates, as well as research tasks that lay outside their own thesis specialty. This was why it would only be possible to shorten the length of time it takes to obtain a PhD if this concomitant workload were lightened. In turn, this meant that there needed to be more job possibilities for graduates after they had obtained their PhD.

"Away with courses of study!"

Finally, Mauro Pfister, President of ETH's Students' Association, looked back on the preceding ETH Visions Week and expressed particular praise for the Day of Teaching. Problems and solutions had been subjected to a lot of very open debate. This dialogue needed to become part of an ETH culture, something that had repeatedly been conjured up during Visions Week events.

However, he said that what lay "very heavy on his heart" were calls, repeated again in preceding days, for admission limits, higher tuition fees and a performance related grant system at ETH Zurich. Such calls just hadn't been thoroughly thought through, he said and proceeded to do this himself with an ironically brilliant "what if" interlude. The spreading loss associated with a course of studies at ETH was simply too great; young students turned round and fled, there were horrendous failure quotas and "physicists working at McDonald’s or with McKinsey". The logical consequence of all this waste had to be: "Away with students, away with university education“. Pfister's double-edge scenario developed into a vision of a consistently elite "research institution ETH", whose educational mandate had become just an annoying detail.