Grants system: ETH Board supports harmonisation efforts by Confederation and cantons

Zurich, 22.05.2015 - There is a need for harmonisation in the Swiss grants system. The ETH Board therefore supports the current harmonisation efforts by the Confederation and the cantons. At the same time, it sympathises with the concerns of the grants initiative brought by the Swiss students' union (VSS). In view of the expected additional costs of the initiative to the detriment of the education and research budget, however, the ETH Board believes that the disadvantages of the initiative prevail. At its meeting the ETH Board also discussed research infrastructure projects of national significance and further refined its succession planning for the EPFL presidency. Dr Christian Zurbrügg was appointed as a new member of the Eawag Directorate.

The ETH Board has discussed the endeavours to harmonise the Swiss grants system on several occasions. With regard to the grants initiative which will be put to the vote on 14 June 2015, the ETH Board is sympathetic to the initiators' concerns, particularly as it also sees a need for action in the Swiss grants system.

Grants initiative: Concerns are legitimate, but disadvantages prevail

In the ETH Board's opinion, however, the disadvantages of the initiative prevail compared with the indirect counter-proposal put forward by the Federal Parliament, which can come into force should the initiative be rejected. One critical point in the ETH Board's view is that, according to the VSS's calculations, the adoption of the initiative could result in additional costs of over CHF 500 million a year. These funds would then be unavailable for other tasks in the educational sector and elsewhere. In contrast, the indirect counter-proposal by Parliament is a step in the right direction, and the recently introduced intercantonal agreement on grants needs to prove its worth. Both the counter-proposal and the intercantonal agreement promote harmonisation between the cantons and contribute to the standardisation of certain principles in the grants system. However, differences will remain. The ETH Board therefore believes that additional harmonisation efforts regarding the level of grants and increased financial involvement by the federal government are still desirable.

Data sciences initiative launched

The ETH Board has taken a decision in principle on the establishment of a national Data Science Center. The ETH Domain wants to assume responsibility for the construction of a Data Science Center for the scientific exploitation and secure management of vast data volumes ("big data"). Switzerland increasingly lacks the capacity, expertise and qualified staff to be able to evaluate and utilise the rapidly growing data volumes in science and research. The plan is to establish the Data Science Center within EPFL and ETH Zurich. It will consist of an interdisciplinary team of data and computer scientists, and will be available to the whole research community in Switzerland.

Part of the ETH Board's initiative also involves creating related courses in data sciences at EPFL and ETH Zurich. The specific details and implementation of this initiative will be primarily determined by the ETH Domain's budget, which will be set next year by the Federal Council and Parliament for the 2017–2020 period.

SwissFEL project on track

The ETH Board noted with satisfaction the progress report on the construction of SwissFEL, the new major research facility being developed by PSI in Würenlingen. As things stand today, the technically complex project can be implemented within the planned budget of CHF 275 million and opened at the end of 2016. In future, SwissFEL will offer the scientific and industrial research community in Switzerland an X-ray light source. This kind of equipment is currently only available in two other facilities in the world (in the USA and Japan). This will strengthen Switzerland's innovativeness and competitiveness in the long term.

Successor to the EPFL President: post to be advertised in June

The ETH Board has started work on the recruitment phase for a successor to EPFL President Prof. Patrick Aebischer, who will be standing down at the end of 2016. The President of the ETH Board has appointed Prof. Aude Billard and Prof. Thomas Rizzo from EPFL to participate in an advisory capacity for the duration of the recruitment process. Furthermore, the requirements profile for the new president was defined following consultations with, particularly, the University Assembly and the EPFL professors' association APEL. The position will be advertised publicly in early June. The intention is to appoint a successor with effect from 1 January 2017.

Christian Zurbrügg to join the Directorate of Eawag

At the proposal of the Director of Eawag, Prof. Janet Hering, the ETH Board has appointed Christian Zurbrügg (*1962) as a new member of the Directorate. As of 1 August 2015 Christian Zurbrügg will succeed Prof. Peter Reichert, who is stepping down at the end of July 2015. Christian Zurbrügg is a Senior Scientist at Eawag and has headed the Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries department since 2004. He is a lecturer at ETH Zurich and provides teaching support at other universities and at universities of applied sciences. At EPFL he coordinates Eawag's massive open online course series entitled "WASH in Developing Countries". In the Directorate, Christian Zurbrügg will strengthen the area of development cooperation for sanitation and water, a key field at Eawag.


Address for enquiries

Alex Biscaro
Head of Communication of the ETH Board
CH-8092 Zürich
alex.biscaro@ethrat.ch
+41 44 632 20 03



Publisher

Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology
https://www.ethrat.ch/en

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