UA: first appearance by the new Rector and a focus on careers
The promotion of upcoming young scientists and career development were the main items on the agenda at the first meeting of the University Assembly in 2015. This was also the first session involving the new Rector of ETH Zurich, Sarah Springman.
Providing information about the decisions and ongoing activities of the Executive Board of ETH Zurich is always an integral part of proceedings when the four groups that make up the university (lecturers, scientific staff, students and technical/administrative personnel) meet for a plenary session of the University Assembly (UA). It is customary for the Executive Board activities to be presented to the UA members personally by the President or Rector. Sarah Springman performed this duty at the meeting on 15 January 2015, marking her first appearance at the UA as Rector of ETH Zurich.
“The UA is an important committee for ETH Zurich,” said Sarah Springman, “It brings together ETH members of all ages to join in enhancing our university.” As the Rector explained, the Executive Board is due to hold some key meetings on strategic issues in the first half of 2015 with the Executive Board of the University of Zurich and the ETH Board, the governing body of the ETH Domain (ETH Zurich, EPFL, PSI, WSL, Empa and Eawag). One of the subject areas to be discussed with the ETH Board is the promotion of young scientists and assistant professors.
A focus on career paths and pay
Another topic which the UA intends to focus on this year is career development. As UA President Peter Widmayer explained, the assembly has chosen career paths for scientific and non-scientific staff as one of its key issues for 2015.
The UA is also planning to select five representatives for employees of ETH Zurich to be interviewed as part of the ongoing evaluation of the new salary system (Neues Lohnsystem, NLS) being conducted by the ETH Board. Markus Stauffacher, the UA’s delegate on the ETH Board, explained that five people picked by the UA to represent the employer’s interests will also be interviewed.
AVETH, the Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich, has been looking into the conditions of employment for doctoral students. At the UA’s plenary session, Isabella Schalko, a scientific assistant from the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology, presented the findings from a Download survey published on the AVETH website for the purpose of this investigation.
According to the survey, the average level of employment under the employment scheme in place up to 2014 varies significantly from department to department. Furthermore, it does not correlate with the actual number of hours worked or take into account the additional duties undertaken by doctoral students alongside their doctorate (e.g. tutorials, preparing equipment).
In general, doctoral students would like their pay to be regulated in a more transparent way with more uniformity at departmental level. This applies particularly to pay for additional activities, such as teaching, which the doctoral students feel is an important part of their employment.
Under a new employment scheme launched at the start of 2015, doctoral students at ETH Zurich are now employed on a full-time basis with five different salary levels. AVETH intends to monitor the effects this new approach has on doctoral students based on the data it collected in 2014.