Category: University Politics

PAKETH stands for “Prüfungen und Akademischer Kalender an der ETH” which translates to Exams and Academic Calender at ETH. The project was initiated by Günther Dissertori and has the goal to reform teaching at ETH in a sustainable manner.

The main ideas of PAKETH are a week of vacation during autumn semester, shorter study phases in order to offer more vacation as well as making the system of exam blocks more flexible.

All details and all updates can be found on the official PAKETH website of ETH: https://ethz.ch/staffnet/en/teaching/projects/paketh.html

We’re back! After we had forgotten this blog for two years, we decided to bring it back to life.

We plan on posting short blog entries regarding topics in university politics and updates regarding everything that’s going on in VSETH here.

The quietness on the blog here is a consequence of the very busy Christmas period at VSETH. Apart from appointments such as ETH Day, IDEALiStiC, the Budget MR or the VSS DV (blog articles will hopefully follow in January), Christmas means that we, as the board, say thank you to many people and organisations who have supported us over the past year. What sounds nice at first (and it is!) means a considerable organisational effort: 311 cards were written, signed by each board member and distributed together with 143 bottles of wine, 66 small and 49 large Samichlaussäckli (bags filled with chocolates). Our evenings were filled with wonderful Christmas dinners, even if that means that by the fifth fondue (or in the case of Mara and Nils already by the first) you can no longer see any cheese. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people we had the pleasure of meeting and working with during the past semester. A very big thank you goes to the Study Associations and committees whose board members made our day with their visits to our office in CAB. Merry Christmas and we look forward to seeing you next year!

In the Associations’ Council (FR – Fachvereinsrat) 1-2 people (delegates) of the 17 student associations of VSETH meet, having one voting right per student association. In addition, the VSETH board has 1 voting right and is represented most of the time by at least one person per office. We will introduce the individual offices in a future blog post. As needed and wanted, certain Consulting Boards and committees participate without voting rights. The FR meets approximately every 3 weeks, alternating between the Center and the Hönggerberg. The meetings are conducted by the Chair of the Associations’ Council (FR-Präsidium), currently Julia Fähnrich and Leonard Knirsch, who also collect the agenda items (Traktanden) and organize the meeting. In order for the delegates to get to know each other and to exchange informally, the FR-Präsidium also organizes a common dinner (Znacht) before the meeting, as well as a wind-down afterwards. During the meeting strategic and university-political decisions are made, such as how to deal with Covid or a preliminary discussion of the ETH Store strategy. In addition, tasks between the Delegates’ Council (MR – Mitgliederrat) are undertaken, such as interim elections, i.e. provisional elections and appointments of persons who are then confirmed at the next MR, or the review of the work of the Executive Board. Also, the FR is a way to have a say in VSETH as an association and promotes cooperation among the student associations. This includes the provision of money in the FR-pot (FR-Topf) to support joint projects or the discussion of topics that affect all student associations, e.g. purchase of a coffee machine for the student associations on the Hönggerberg or the procedure in grade conferences.

The graphic below shows an overview of the structures in VSETH and may still seem a bit confusing. Therefore, we will take time in the coming weeks to bring you closer to the different bodies and connections in VSETH.

We are pleased to announce the first university politics roundtable of this semester on November 4th, starting at 7:00pm in Zentrum. You’ll have the opportunity to meet other like-minded and unlike-minded people and discuss current university politics issues. Food (minor spoiler, there will be vegan sushi) and drink will be provided free of charge. The exact location and topics will be communicated in a confirmation email next week. Participation is possible in English and German. We look forward to seeing you there! Click here to register.

From the 22nd to the 24th of October, we were in Pizol, St. Gallen, with 33 motivated and university-politically interested students from different student associations and committees for a weekend full of workshops, games and good food. Maybe some of you still know the old name, FRUKDuK, which is an acronym of the different committees (FR – Fachvereinsrat, Associations’ Council; UK – Unterrichtskommission, Teaching Committee; DK – Departementskonferenz, Department Conference) of student participation. The weekend is organized by the FR presidency with the aim of exchanging ideas and thoughts on various current university politics issues. This time, different workshops took place on the topics of participation culture in VSETH, future of digital platforms for teaching (Moodle, Ilias, …) as well as new projects such as a Festival of Nations or a VSETH Student Helpdesk. We are now taking the ideas generated there into our daily work and are trying to implement as much of it as possible in a timely manner. Apart from the content, the weekend was accompanied by the finest food (Indian paneer, crepes, scones, cheesecake, dumplings, vegan doughnuts, …), here again a big thanks to the kitchen team! Fun and fellowship were not neglected either; on Friday evening there was a torch run with stations where we solved various tasks, Saturday afternoon part of the group enjoyed the view during a hike and on Saturday evening a game in a medieval setting challenged the improvisation skills of the participants. If you are now also interested in university politics, you can already make a note of the 18-20.03.2022, because the next Hopo weekend will take place there. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us at hopo@vseth.ethz.ch.

If you want to know more about the weekend, you can read a detailed article in the next issue of Polykum (No. 2, 2021/2022).

The VSS (Association of Swiss Student Bodies) is the voice of the students in Federal Bern. Various sections (student bodies) from all over Switzerland are part of it, including us as VSETH. Once a month, one delegate from each section meets in the small legislature, the Section Council, in Bern and exchanges ideas about various concerns that affect all student bodies. At the beginning, the quorum is determined, which means that it is checked that enough sections from the French-speaking area are present. This is due to the fact that the VSS wants to live the diversity of the Swiss languages and therefore in all meetings people are free to raise their concerns in German or French. At the last Section Council, these included a position paper on the application of the Covid certificate requirement and a discussion on promoting commission work and student engagement. Twice a year, the large legislative body, the Delegates Assembly (DV), meets, where the number of voters depends on the size of the section. There, the proposals of the Section Council as well as topics of the association as a whole, such as the budget and the accounts, are discussed and approved.

In addition, there are four thematic commissions which prepare position papers and political statements. In the CIS (Commission for International Affairs and Solidarity), Erasmus+, a petition in support of students from Belarus and perspectives on studies were discussed most recently. In the CodEg (Equal Opportunities Commission), workshops on racism and studying with disabilities were recently planned. In the HopoKo (Higher Education Policy Commission), scholarships, third-party funding at universities and sustainability in canteens were discussed. In the SoKo (Social Commission) the last time the topic was affordable housing for students.

If one of the topics appeals to you and you would like to get involved, you are welcome to contact us (hopo@vseth.ethz.ch). The commissions are happy to welcome participants who are not only from the boards of the sections.