The list of distinguished guests that Rector Konrad Osterwalder greeted last Saturday on the occasion of the 148th anniversary of ETH was, as always, impressive. Among others were, Charles Kleiber, State Secretary for Science and Research, Francis Waldvogel, President of the ETH-Board, and his successor-elect, Alexander Zehnder, Heidi Diggelmann, President of the Swiss National Science Foundation, rectors or their representatives from all Switzerland’s universities as well as the Universities of Karlsruhe and Stuttgart, Regine Aeppli and Christian Huber, Ministers of Education respectively Finances, of Canton Zurich, Luc Fellay, Army Division Commander, and Roelof Smit, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Switzerland.

The Academic Chamber Orchestra with guest conductor Felicitas Gadient enriched ETH Day with Mozart’s "Prague" Symphony. large

Setting the points

Konrad Osterwalder named three main accents, recently set by the ETH Executive Board: improving the integration of the humanities, social and political sciences into the teaching curricula, plans for "Science City", to be realised within the next ten years at Hönggerberg, and the "Bologna Process".

ETH has implemented the latter in nearly all its courses of studies, reports Osterwalder, and has become a motor in Switzerland for the introduction of Bachelors and Masters degrees. At present, the Swiss University Conference, the responsible body, is discussing how autonomous in their decisions universities will be regarding the setting of admission criteria to the Masters level. For Osterwalder this point is "decisive to ensure the maintenance of a high standard at this level". Equally decisive for the success of the "Bologna Process" in Switzerland is that the difference between the universities of applied sciences and the classic universities not be blurred.

This is precisely the development currently unfolding in Germany. With regard to the introduction at German universities of Masters/Bachelors degrees, in October the Ministers of Education of the German States decided on the adaptation of a profile for Bachelors degrees that does not differentiate between the goals of either a university of applied sciences or a university. "We must beware of a development in this direction," warns Osterwalder.

Lack of a public culture of discussion

At the ceremony, Michael Hagner, new ETH Professor of Science Research, delivered an address under the title of "The advantages and disadvantages of controversy for science", with reference to Nietzsche’s famous polemic against the controversies within the scholarly circles of his time (1). Proceeding from the claims of these writings, Hagner linked them to the current "self-inquiry debate" taking place at Zurich’s universities within the framework of the series "Debating Science Culture".

With regard to the relationship science-society (a kind of "hate-love" relationship,), Hagner laments a general lack of an open culture of discussion among the different disciplines of natural science itself. Most of the sometimes fierce altercations – for example, in genetic technology, the use of stem cells or the cognitive neurosciences – still take place behind closed doors. According to Hagner, "not until scientists stop professing that they all speak with one voice on central questions, will the hopes of a better understanding of and for the natural sciences bear fruit”.

Breaking free of the disciplinary mould

Moreover, Hagner makes an earnest appeal to supplement the "pure" discipline related inquiry, carried over from the 19th century, with an "exploratory" teaching and research structure that takes scientific reality better into account.

Merited honours: Some of the 25 ETH students who were awarded an ETH Medal for outstanding diploma theses. large

The recently appointed ETH Professor Michael Hagner, a science historian, elucidating the relationship between science and society. large

The humanities especially continue to play a vital role in this trend to shape interdisciplinary areas of research, says Hagner – despite a current tendency to depreciate humanities.

Getting to the summit – and staying there

ETH Law Professor Gérard Hertig, President of the Lecturers’ Conference, shares his thoughts with the audience on the competitiveness of ETH and says that in order to be globally attractive ETH must belong to Europe’s top ten. As far as funding is concerned, at 7.83 billion Swiss francs (+ 865m) for the ETH domain for the period 2004–2007, conditions are good. New regulations, which come into force on 1.1.2004 within the framework of "ETH-Governance", ensure that the body of professors has a say in the appointment of the rector – a decisive factor, according to Hertig, in enabling professors to identify with ETH and, for him, an element to enhance the competitiveness of the university.

The degree of leeway accorded to the ETH President to recruit international top specialists means that ETH "has unfortunately lost competitiveness," which has a strongly "demotivational" effect on those fighting for the appointment of the best researchers.

The new Honorary Doctors and the new Permanent Honorary Guest (from right): Hans-Peter Wiendahl, Gabor Somorjai, Rector Konrad Osterwalder, Adrian Bejan, Karl Hess and Thomas von Waldkirch. large

Caustic–friendly greetings from the University

The Rector of the University of Zurich, Hans Weder, served up his traditional mixture of friendliness and biting wit in his address. This year, apart from the ETH Project Basle and the ETH Board, Weder sunk his teeth into ETH’s newly created, uniform PhD title (Dr. sc. ETH). It would seem, he said, that ETH had shifted its position, from creating trends to following them. Furthermore, the University of Zurich could make no sense of the PhD title that ETH was selling as "Doctor of Sciences". The likely interpretation is that with a single doctor title, one could now become at ETH a PhD in all disciplines. At the University of Zurich on the other hand, it was difficult enough to obtain a PhD in just one discipline.

Rector of the University of Zurich, Hans Weder, taking aim at the standardisation of ETH PhD titles. large