The Executive Board reports 2019 / 4
At its last meeting the Executive Board decided to strengthen the ombudspersons and specialist support units, setting up more contact points and advisory services. It also discussed the feedback from the consultation process for the development of the doctoral programme, and passed a corresponding package of measures with a number of changes.
ETH Zurich fosters a culture of mutual respect. Our university does not tolerate any form of harassment, discrimination, bullying, threats or violence. Experiences over the past few years have shown that the support offered by existing internal units and their procedures for dealing with inappropriate behaviour need to be improved. To address this, the Executive Board announced a comprehensive package of measures on 14 March 2019. Following extensive analysis, these measures have now been formalised.
Ombudspersons: new external body and more specialist support
Since its inception 20 years ago, the ETH Ombudspersons Office – currently comprising three team members – has played a key role in the mediation and resolution of conflicts. Looking back, it is fair to say that the current ombudspersons model is well recognised and has proven its worth. To strengthen and extend its effectiveness further, however, the Executive Board has decided to create a new external post of independent ombudsperson as soon as possible. The new position – to be filled by a specialist familiar with academia – will be available to all ETH members as an additional first point of contact.
In addition, the ombudspersons will be able to call on specialist support. External experts will be on hand to give legal advice where necessary, and to provide help with mediation and conflict management. They will of course be bound by the ETH rules of anonymity and confidentiality.
New specialist unit “Respect”
Furthermore, the Executive Board intends to expand and strengthen the advice and support provided for cases of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying. A newly created specialist unit, “Respect”, will handle these cases in future. The Executive Board has approved two new posts for this purpose. The Associate Vice President for Equal Opportunities and the Office of Equal Opportunities, Equal!, will in future concentrate on promoting diversity at ETH Zurich, with a particular focus on increasing the proportion of women at all levels of the university. The Safety, Security, Health and Environment department (SSHE) continues to be responsible for dealing with threats and violence.
Feedback from ETH members has also indicated that the “Respect” specialist unit should be supplemented and supported by an external advisory unit that is independent of ETH. The Executive Board has given the green light for this as well. ETH members who feel they have been treated in a disrespectful manner will thus be able to seek advice from an autonomous body and explore potential courses of action. Here too, anonymity and confidentiality are guaranteed.
Early detection, coordination and case management
The Executive Board has deployed an internal core group to ensure that emerging problems are flagged up before they escalate, and ongoing cases are quickly resolved. This body will assess and coordinate individual incidents, make recommendations to the Executive Board and coordinate procedures. It will comprise the heads of the staff units and the academic departments involved.
The ongoing cases inevitably add to the workload of internal units and require more specialist support. To mitigate this, an experienced case manager was designated in autumn 2018 to deal with outstanding cases. The Executive Board has now decided to make this a permanent arrangement. A structured internal procedure is still being developed for reporting inappropriate behaviour. The Executive Board is scheduled to ratify this procedure in September 2019.
Positive new developments in ETH doctoral studies
The Executive Board wants to actively promote the development of doctoral studies and has produced a consultation paper outlining a comprehensive package of measures. Feedback has now been received from all the academic departments and university groups. This is the result of intensive discussions among all those involved in the consultation about the existing doctoral arrangements. These discussions are important, as the academic departments at ETH Zurich have considerable leeway in how they configure their doctoral programmes, and the university groups have an active role to play here.
The Executive Board thinks action is needed especially in the selection procedure for doctoral students, in the integration of both professors and doctoral students in ETH Zurich, in the interaction between doctoral students and their thesis supervisors, and in their dependent relationship. The paper sent out for internal consultation within ETH includes 48 suggestions for the further development of doctoral studies.
The good news is that two thirds of the suggestions were positively received. The new ideas included induction courses for doctoral students and an onboarding programme for new professors, as well as admission colloquia for new doctoral students. The proposal for a second supervisor to be appointed no later than the date of submission of the research plan was also strongly welcomed. However, many academic departments and university groups pointed out that the rights and roles of the different supervisors need to be clarified.
“I am delighted that we can now push ahead with innovations in our doctoral studies. Our goal is to create an ideal framework for collaboration between doctoral students and their thesis supervisors, so as to foster inspiration and peak performance.”Sarah Springman, Rector
Those consulted were generally more critical of the idea that committees should be set up in all the departments to select doctoral students, that each academic department should offer at least one programme of doctoral studies and that the supervisor of the doctoral thesis should no longer be a member of the Examination Committee. These measures were not implemented.
The Executive Committee has now approved the paper containing the proposed measures, with a few changes. On this basis the rector will now appoint a working party, chaired by the Vice Rector for Doctoral Studies, to undertake the revision of the Ordinance on Doctoral Studies and other regulations. The aim is to implement the arrangement of multiple supervisors for doctoral students, along with the other measures, over the course of 2020.