The president of the ETH Council, Francis Waldvogel, recently talked about increasing tuition fees threefold. What do you think about this?

This statement has to be put into the context of the entire discussion on the future funding of universities. It's legitimate to include tuition fees in this discussion. In an OECD report, published this summer, it says that funding needs to be fundamentally reconsidered. At the moment, however, the proposal isn't realistic. Even a doubling of fees (2) would meet with massive opposition. There is further the agreement among Swiss universities that tuition fees should not exceed 1,224 CHF per semester. In the past the ETH- Board has subscribed to this ceiling.

The ETH Council set up a working group "Adjustment of Tuition Fees". Has the group been taken unawares by Francis Waldvogel's statement?

The matter was unfortunate in as far as everyone pounced on a "tripling" of tuition fees, without looking at the diverse time horizons involved. The working group began to meet in August. The first item on the agenda is the answer to the Federal Council to the question of why the sum of 1,224 CHF has not been fully exhausted.

How is the working group approaching their task?

The whole process is divided into two phases. In the first phase we are discussing the possibility of indexing tuition fees to the general price rise and to other universities. The group is of the opinion that students could be expected to accept a yearly increase tied to the general price rise. At ETH Zurich course fees per semester would come to around 620 CHF. The final decision won't be taken until next spring. But the results of the new funding models for studies won't be available until 2008. My own conclusion is that no massive increase should take place before then. What happens afterwards is still an open question.

What does VSETH think about the issue?

Our position is that we should not just say "no". But without supporting measures a doubling of tuition fees wouldn't be accepted. We think it important that everyone who wants to study continues to have the chance to do so.

A survey on tuition fees was carried out this summer among ETH students (3). What are the most important conclusions of the survey?

Above all it's important that we now have facts and figures and can furnish proof that a doubling of fees would be a problem for a lot of students. Some said that in the event they would look at alternatives to ETH.

"Social peace should not be endangered by provocative actions," says Andy Hüsler of VSETH. large

Don't you think that students naturally tend to exaggerate their financial problems?

No, I don't. Studying is a full-time job without pay. In this situation new monetary obligations quickly have an effect.

But tuition fees only account for a part of the costs for a student. Would an increase have such a big effect?

We looked at students' budget sheets. In order to study at ETH Zurich a student needs a bit more than 1,000 CHF a month to cover living expenses. A doubling of tuition fees would mean that a student would have to find nearly two months' extra living expenses. That is not easily achieved.

What models are students themselves thinking about to finance their studies in future?

In the working group "Tuition fees" (4) here at ETH, for instance, we've talked about interest-free grants. The idea was rejected, however, because if a student – for whatever reason – broke off their studies, he or she would only have debt to show for it. We also talked about an academics tax, that would be re-paid to the state after the conclusion of studies via taxes. Funding from private enterprises is certainly an option for some disciplines, but by no means for all. Personally, I think it is important to take the interests of society into account by ensuring that diverse branches of science are preserved.

What level of support do students get from the ETH Excecutive Board in their efforts to keep tuition fees down?

The ETH Executive Board is clearly not on the side of the students in this question, as it hasn't strictly rejected the idea of increases. Nor has it voiced any opposition to a doubling of fees.

So if fees were to double it would meet with students' opposition. Would they be prepared to strike?

We haven't got any such plans in the drawer. But if it really gets "rough" we would have to think about how to proceed. In principle, however, VSETH is desirous of good relations with the university and its leading bodies. Social peace should not be endangered by provocative actions.