Selection procedure initiated for EPFL presidency
Zurich, 06.03.2015 - The ETH Board has defined the principles of the preparatory procedure for appointing a new President for the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and has initiated the appointment process. The ETH Board has also decided upon the allocation of funding to the institutions for 2016. The Board is concerned that further cutbacks for the ETH Domain are under consideration. A steady flow of basic funding for education and research is vital, and constitutes a critical success factor for competitiveness and innovation in Switzerland.
At its meeting of 4/5 March 2015, the ETH Board formally commenced the procedure of finding a successor for the presidency of EPFL and defined the principles of the recruitment process. This follows the Federal Council's re-appointment on 18 February 2015 of the current EPFL President Patrick Aebischer until 31 December 2016.
Successor to the EPFL presidency: recruitment procedure
Presidents of the Federal Institutes of Technology are appointed by the Federal Council at the request of the ETH Board. The ETH Board considers preparing for such appointments to be one of its most important tasks. The selection procedure will therefore be carried out by the Board as a whole. It will in particular be prepared with appropriate involvement of the EPFL University Assembly. For the initial preparatory phase, which is now just starting, the ETH Board is constituting an internal committee which, in particular, will draw up the requirements profile and the public advertisement for the post. The entire Board will conduct interviews and select a shortlist of candidates, as well as submitting a proposal for the appointment to the Federal Council.
The post, together with requirements profile, will be publicly advertised in the first half of this year. The intention is to appoint the new President with effect from 1 January 2017.
Funding for 2016 threatened with additional cuts
Due to the impending additional expenditure cuts in the 2016 Federal budget, it is still not clear what funding will definitely be available for the ETH Domain in 2016. After the 2015 budget of the ETH Domain was retrospectively reduced and savings were agreed for 2016, further cuts are now under discussion. The ETH Board notes this development with concern. A steady flow of basic funding for the ETH Domain is essential for quality teaching and research and, in the face of increasingly harsh international competition, constitutes a crucial success factor for Switzerland as an education and research base.
The cuts already agreed to the original 2016 budget amount to 105.8 million CHF, which would leave the ETH Domain with 2445.9 million CHF in federal funding. If there were further cuts for the ETH-Domain amounting to 50.0 million CHF, as is currently being discussed, the budget would be reduced to 2395.9 million CHF.
The majority of this funding is needed to operate and develop further the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH Zurich and EPFL) plus the four research institutes PSI, WSL, Empa and Eawag, and is allocated by the ETH Board on a performance-related basis. The Board reserves 141.0 million CHF for Domain-wide activities and projects. These include participation in research programmes, the «Coordinated Energy Research in Switzerland» action plan and national research infrastructures and major projects. At ETH Zurich's Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) in Ticino, the new supercomputing infrastructure is being operated as a long-term scientific user laboratory. The computer centre is also being used by the EPFL's Blue Brain neuroinformatics project, which aims to reconstruct the human brain using supercomputers. 20.0 million CHF has been earmarked for each of these two projects in 2016. The third major project, SwissFEL at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), becomes operational in 2016 and will be supported to the tune of 25.0 million CHF. With this X-ray laser, researchers will be able to visually track extremely rapid processes in chemical reactions and therefore understand them better.
Other business
With regard to international competitiveness and the positioning of ETH Domain institutions, the ETH Board has agreed a framework document on the international initiatives of these institutions. The focus here is on developing existing sites and evaluating possible new sites, their added scientific value and their benefits for the ETH Domain and for Switzerland as defined by the ETH Board in its strategic planning 2017-2020. The ETH Board is thereby supporting Switzerland's international strategy defined by the Federal Council in the field of education, research and innovation.
In conclusion, the ETH Board agreed the 2014 consolidated reporting. The annual report including the 2014 consolidated financial statements of the ETH Domain will be submitted to the Federal Council and Parliament, and published at the end of April.
For the appointment of professors, see the ETH Board's separate press release(publication 6 March 2015 approx. 14:00).
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
