(nst) Students and professors will have to reschedule their diaries. Starting in 2007 the winter semester at all Swiss universities will commence in week 38, which means already mid-September. According to a communiqué agreement was reached at a meeting last week by the Rector's Conference of Swiss Universities (CRUS), the Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH) and the Pedagogical Universities (SKPH). In turn, this change will lead to other changes in the academic calendar; the winter semester will run until Christmas and the summer semester will begin mid-February (week 8) and run until the end of May.

This measure represents, on the one hand, "a decisive step in the direction of a common university landscape for Switzerland," writes CRUS. With the introduction of modular courses leading to Bachelor and Master degrees the harmonisation of the study process had been marked out. But it was the adjustment of schedules amongst the universities that allowed co-operation to be put into practice. On the other hand, the decision meant that Switzerland's academic calendar was now in step with those of surrounding European countries.

VSETH initiative

"We are very pleased with the CRUS decision," said Mauro Pfister when ETH Life asked what he thought of this result. Pfister is studying maths at ETH Zurich and is a member of the board for university policy in ETH's students' association, (VSETH). This adjustment of the academic calendar to the European average meant that the universities had finally gone some way to mitigating a frustrating situation. "Already at the beginning of 2004 VSETH raised the issue in various groups that deal specifically with Swiss university policy and managed to get it put on the agendas," (1), said Pfister. "Today we're proud to have provided the incentive for this important piece of university policy."

The bringing forward of semesters sweeps away the greatest obstacle to students' mobility. Students who wish to go abroad can now do so without missing the beginning of the semester at their guest university. But Pfister admits, "The implementation will be a bit of a conundrum for the Rector's Office". He says VSETH will actively help to implement the change in accordance with students' wishes with as little hassle as possible.

Remaining obstacles to mobility

For real mobility to exist, however, there were more obstacles to overcome. Generally speaking, he said, the structure of ETH's Bachelor courses of study did not fully reflect the "Bologna“ spirit. "Despite an avowal of commitment to international exchange, the modular structure and the possibility of having one's work from other universities more readily acknowledged are still more or less lacking," explained Mauro Pfister.