University Assembly discusses draft mission statement and new degree programme

The University Assembly (UA) at ETH Zurich brings together all four groups of members of the university: lecturers, scientific staff, students and administrative and technical employees. It supports the management work of the Executive Board and the ETH Board with constructive criticism, discusses questions of university policy and ensures continuing member participation at ETH Zurich.

At its plenary session on 12 March 2015, the UA discussed among other topics:

• the content and focus of the ETH Zurich mission statement. A draft version is currently being circulated internally at ETH Zurich for comments. The current ETH mission statement dates from 1996 and was due to be revised as part of the strategy development for 2012 to 2016. To that end, the Executive Board prepared a draft version in 2013.
  At the request of the university member groups, in 2014 the Executive Board under ETH President Lino Guzzella was instructed to produce a new mission statement. The draft version that is now circulating comprises eight basic principles about the university's self-image and values.
  The new draft mission statement also met with some reservations in the UA: even though in broad outline it does reflect the culture and basic principles of ETH Zurich, it was said to be entirely lacking in "soul". The mission statement was insufficiently visionary in nature and the quality of the language needed to be improved. Two alternatives were discussed: one proposed further expanding on the mission statement, and the other proposed radically shortening it.
  A working group will now prepare a statement for the ETH President.
• the new Master's degree programme (MSc) in "Science, Technology and Policy" at ETH Zurich, as announced by the Executive Board. This course will start for the first time in September 2015. It will enable students taking a Master's in Natural Sciences, Engineering Sciences or Architecture at ETH Zurich or EPFL also to gain a Master's degree in the application of policy (cf. ETH News dated 19  February 2015). In the discussion, student members of the UA said that the "Dual Master's" would be of interest to some people, but they were as yet uncertain of its long-term value.

The UA also noted

• that in 2014 the Ombudsman Service for ETH Zurich had provided support for 82 people who had sought its advice with a view to maintaining the quality and efficiency of the university's operations.
• that the UA and the ETH Domain had been asked to provide comments on the draft version of the external page Federal Council's performance mandate for the ETH Domain for the years 2017 to 2020. The performance mandate determines the priorities and objectives of the ETH Domain in its teaching, research and services, for a period of four years.
• that the ETH Board had chosen to use the same process for the recruitment of a future President of EPFL as had been used at ETH Zurich, when in 2013 the ETH Board 2013 recommended the current ETH President Lino Guzzella to the Federal Council for external page election. It is hoped that the new President will be in post by 1 January 2017.
• that the Student Union at ETH Zurich (VSETH), together with the student unions from Zurich's other universities (UZH, ZhdK, ZHAW) is coordinating the campaign on the "Grant Initiative" in the city of Zurich. The Swiss people will vote on this proposal on 14 June 2015. The Association of Swiss Student Unions (external page VSS), which put forward the initiative, has already set up a website at external page www.stipendieninitiative.ch.