University Assembly pays tribute to Ralph Eichler
ETH Zurich President Ralph Eichler will officially hand over the presidential baton to Lino Guzzella on 15 December. On Thursday, the University Assembly thanked him for his dedicated service.
Since taking up the post of President of ETH Zurich in 2007, Ralph Eichler has regularly kept the University Assembly (UA) up to date with the current activities of the Executive Board. With this in mind, the UA took advantage of its plenary meeting last Thursday not only to discuss issues regarding university policy, but also to pay tribute to the achievements of the departing ETH President.
Peter Widmayer, President of the University Assembly, acknowledged the tremendous role played by Ralph Eichler in promoting the well-being of ETH during his term of office, as well as his readiness to listen to the concerns of the UA.
Peter Widmayer then went on to highlight aspects of Ralph Eichler’s presidency that he particularly admired:
- His reliable, decisive and steady-handed approach to leading ETH Zurich, proving himself worthy of ETH’s trust in his presidency;
- The guidance he has provided for ETH, for example with the foundation of the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), through which he sent out an important message: technology is there to help people. He also demonstrated a strong commitment to fundamental research by establishing the Institute for Theoretical Studies (ETH-ITS);
- His efforts to raise ETH Zurich’s profile, for instance by clarifying “what ETH doesn’t do”;
- The keen awareness he has shown of the culture at ETH Zurich during his managerial activities, recognising “that a maze of regulations is not the right tool for getting the best out of ETH”.
Widmayer finished his tribute by concluding that “Ralph Eichler took over an ‘ailing patient’ in ETH and nursed it back to excellent health.”
A president committed to making things possible
Julia Wysling, who served as president of the students’ association VSETH from 2013 to 2014, picked up from where Peter Widmayer left off, describing how Ralph Eichler dealt with the concerns of the students clearly, openly and sincerely: “He was a friend to the students, someone they could talk to as equals.” She mentioned the open culture of communication and facilitation as one of the key aspects of Ralph Eichler’s presidency.
Speaking as a representative of the Academic Association of Scientific Staff at ETH Zurich (AVETH), Remo Senn praised the President’s honest and direct style of communication: “With his matter-of-fact, direct and responsible approach to managing ETH Zurich, Ralph Eichler exemplified the values of a code of conduct in a very pragmatic way.” He then presented the outgoing president with a gift on behalf of the University Assembly.
Ralph Eichler responded by thanking the UA for its cooperation: “The fact that, here at ETH, we can discuss things rationally with one another is what makes our university stand out. Responsibility has proved demanding at times, but I knew I could always rely on the support of a strong Executive Board team.”
Gender Action Plan and amendment of the FIT Act
The topics discussed by the UA on Thursday also included the Gender Action Plan and a planned amendment of the FIT Act with a view to making further improvements.
The Gender Action Plan is one of the new initiatives launched under Ralph Eichler’s presidency. Under this plan, ETH Zurich sets out in binding form how it intends to strike an equal balance between genders and defines the responsibility of the ETH President and the various departments in implementing this.
A proposal made by the ETH Board, suggesting that an amendment to the FIT Act could enable EPFL and ETH Zurich to limit the admission of students with foreign qualifications in the event of capacity bottlenecks in the first semester of a Bachelor’s degree programme, caused a great deal of controversy amongst the members of the UA.
The Executive Board has now put this amendment proposal forward for consultation within ETH. The UA acknowledged the proposal with the proviso that, with regard to admissions, a regulation based on quality and suitability should be chosen rather than one based on students’ origins (see the external page press release issued by the ETH Board on 19 September 2014 for background information on the proposed legislative amendment).