The implementation of the Bologna reforms is reaching its conclusion at ETH Zurich. By introducing Bachelors and Masters grades, the structures of university studies will be internationally harmonised. Following an initial trial phase in a Masters course of study in information technology, with the new academic year students will be able to choose one of the eight regular Masters programmes starting in autumn (1).

By the start of the winter semester 2008/09 Masters programmes should be introduced into all disciplines. On top of this there will be Specialist Masters Programme, which will require students to sit a special entrance exam. The Department of Information Technology and Electronics and the Department for Mechanics and Process Engineering, for example, jointly offer a Master in Biomedical Technology. This degree is especially tailored to meet the demands in future-oriented professions. The very best students will have the option of linking the Masters and PhD phases of study, thereby shortening the duration of their studies.

"A Bachelor is not a Bachelor"

The demands of ETH on its future Masters' students are high. This is why, initially, the university did not want to accept every Bachelors degree as an admission qualification to an ETH Masters programme. However, the Swiss University Conference (SUK) refused to grant with the wish, expressed by Swiss universities, to choose which students they accepted for their Masters programmes. Students holding a Bachelors from any Swiss university must be accepted into a Masters programme in the same discipline at any other Swiss university without conditions, proscribes the SUK. "This is not quite what we would have wished," said Konrad Osterwalder, "but at least we will be allowed to impose certain requirements from a student with a Bachelors degree from another university for their acceptance in an ETH Masters programme". For example, students from other universities will be obliged to take complementary or supplementary courses during their Masters programme.

Permission was granted to ETH, however, for a fixed admission procedure for foreign students, as Osterwalder went on to explain. Entrance conditions for students holding a Bachelors degree from a Swiss University of Applied Science (UAS), on the other hand, were not yet finalised. "At present we are in talks with the UASs to determine how the entrance to ETH will be regulated for these students". It was clear, however, that a Bachelors in Chemistry from a UAS would not suffice to ensure access to a Masters programme in chemistry at ETH. Indeed, the UASs were not asking that it should, added Osterwalder. In the end what is decisive for admission was how much the Bachelor in question had learned. This would then be compared to what a student at ETH had learned in the same course of studies. "As a rule, 60 per cent of course material must have been covered. We can proscribe a further 20 per cent that the student must fulfil in addition during the duration of ETH studies, and 20 per cent would be 'granted as a gift'".

The introduction of a Bachelor/Master system was relatively easy at ETH Zurich. How students will react to the new offer, on the other hand, is still uncertain. large

Fostering differences!

Osterwalder thinks it is in no way unfair that a university should be able to choose its students. Already in a circle lecture delivered last year he said that he did not think it made sense to offer a top education to everyone (2). Not least for financial reasons, it was necessary to increase diversity in the Swiss education system and nurture the differences, not only between the UASs and universities, but also between the universities, themselves.

Talking to ETH Life, Osterwalder called the diversification of qualifications an "enrichment of our education system". A Masters degree, even at a UAS level–as some professonal associations are calling for–no longer appears to him to be "a totally senseless" undertaking. Such a certificate, however, would have to be far more practice-oriented than an ETH degree, as Osterwalder emphasised. The research component of a Masters degree simply cannot be catered to, as proposed in certain circles, by the UASs, said the rector.

Bologna a step towards the top

ETH wants to use the Bologna reforms to strengthen its position as a top university. In an interview with the Austrian "Der Standard", Osterwalder launched an appeal that Europe look again, without prejudice, at the notion of an elite university that, "has nothing to do with a financial or hereditary elite, but with performance elite," emphasised the ETH Rector. (3). This is why Osterwalder wanted to make the "ETH Masters“ a mark of quality and excellence, one with a clear profile that stood out from other Masters degrees.

Within Switzerland ETH is one of the first universities to implement the Bologna reforms. What is still unclear is how students will react to this new offer at ETH. Time will tell whether the new Bachelor/Master system will promote mobility, how many Bachelor students will leave ETH and how many foreign students will opt for a Masters programme at ETH. Uncertain, too, what effect the reforms will have on the reputation of the university. What is certain is that ETH is moving closer to an Anglo-Saxon university model with the implementation of the Bologna reforms, and, if one is to believe the diverse academic rankings, (4) to those countries that are home to the best technical universities in the world.