With the re-appointment of Prof. Dr. Ralph A. Eichler, an experienced and judicious leadership personality in Switzerland’s university and research landscape, the Federal Council has taken a stand in favour of continuity and the recognition of the ETH Zurich’s successful strategy.

Under Ralph A. Eichler’s leadership, the ETH Zurich has consistently pursued a strategy that has taken its bearings from international excellence in teaching and research and has reinforced its position among the world’s best universities. With a great deal of commitment to basic research, concerted growth of the engineering and computer-science disciplines and an extensive strategy for knowledge transfer and practical relevance that closely involves teaching, the ETH Zurich under Ralph Eichler’s leadership has substantially extended and strengthened its role as an initiator and innovation driver for the Swiss economy and Swiss society.

Prof. Dr. Ralph A. Eichler was appointed President of the ETH Zurich by the Federal Council on 30 May 2007. His first term of office started on 1 September 2007 and will continue until the end of August 2011. Eichler has been a member of the ETH Board, the ETH Domain’s strategic leadership and supervisory body, ever since January 2004. From July 2002 until August 2007, Ralph Eichler was the Director of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, Canton of Aargau, Switzerland’s largest research centre for natural and engineering sciences.

The ETH Board is the strategic leadership and supervisory body of the ETH Domain, which consists of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (the ETH Zurich and the EPF Lausanne), as well as the four Federal Research Institutes (the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Empa, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology Eawag). 
The ETH Board, whose members are appointed by the Federal Council, represents the ETH Domain vis-à-vis the federal authorities.
Its members are: Dr. Fritz Schiesser (*1954, President), Prof. Dr. Paul Herrling (*1946, Vice-President), Prof. Dr. Ralph Eichler (*1947), Prof. Dr. Patrick Aebischer (*1954), Prof. Dr. Joël Mesot (*1964), Dr. Dr. h. c. Barbara Haering (*1953), Dr. h. c., Dipl. Ing. Hans Hess (*1955), Dipl. Ing. Beth Krasna (*1953), lic. rer. pol. Thierry Lombard (*1948) and Dr. Markus Stauffacher (*1952).

The Federal Council confirms Ralph Eichler as President of the ETH Zurich