ETH ZURICh FOUNDAtION

Source: http://www.adnovum.ch/de/wissen/focus/adnovum/engagement/eth_excellence.html, 11.10.2012

Partnerarticle by Adnovum about the Initiative in the company magazine, October 2012

EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIPS

T + O + S - The Formula for more Talents

ETH Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme
The ETH Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme awards scholarships to the most brilliant master students and thereby helps to increase availability of excellent young graduates in Switzerland. AdNovum is one of ETH Zurichs promoting partners. And its worth it. A facts and background story. After the dot-com bubble burst, the IT industry faced its worst image crisis in history. The crisis also affected ETH Zurich. 2007 saw the student numbers in the department of computer science plummet to a low: only 104 students took up their bachelor studies in computer science at ETH Zurich. In 2001, there had been 340. We were facing the challenge to re-establish computer science as a serious science with career opportunities and prospects. By targeted activities, we managed to increase the interest in research-related computer science study programmes. By the end of 2011, the department counted 1171 students, 585 of which were bachelor students, 287 master stuNew Bachelor students in Computer Science dents and 247 doctoral students, with visual computing, information ETH Zurich, 2007-2011 systems and distributed systems as the most popular subjects for specialization. The ETH Zurich sees computational intelligence, wireless security and biocomputing as promising future research areas. Consequently, a new master course in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics was introduced in 2007.

T for Talent
Also in 2007, we launched the ETH-wide talent promotion programme ETH Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme. With its goals, we had the finger on the pulse. On the one hand, we wanted to strengthen ETH Zurichs attractiveness in the competition for the most talented students. Leading universities namely in the US are known for their well-endowed scholarship funds that help attract top talents. On the other hand, the programme aims to meet the acute lack of engineers in Switzerland. However, the goal is quality, not quantity. Not more than 3% of the students who begin their master studies each year receive a scholarship this adds up to a carefully selected group of about 50 students per year.

ETH ZURICh FOUNDAtION

O for Opportunity

EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIPS

We support Swiss and foreign students who show an outstanding performance in their bachelor studies and, in addition, hand in a convincing letter of motivation and a pre-proposal for a master theses. Students who manage to get shortlisted in the strict selection process then need to succeed in a face-to-face interview. The selection process is conducted by the departments admission committees. They do a great job with over 500 applicants. The results are impressive: to date,155 students, about 30% of whom female, received the exclusive scholarship. The beneficiaries represent 28 nationalities, Switzerland still supplying the largest group with 30%. They cover all fields of studies at the ETH Zurich. The department of computer science is glad to count the largest number of beneficiaries: 22. The ETH Excellence Scholarship & Opportunity Programme quickly became a true success story to the benefit of both Swiss SMEs and multinational companies active in Switzerland. Why? Because this programme achieves multiple effects: the ETH Zrich enjoys more attention by the worlds best students. In turn, the best students incite their fellow students. Thus, more excellent ETH Zurich graduates come onto the job market. And the Swiss economy highly profits from foreign students. According to the graduate survey of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, about 80% of all foreign students take up their first job in Switzerland.

S for Stimulation
The success is stimulated by the common commitment of the private sector. The programme is financed according to the US model: it receives donations by business companies, foundations and private individuals. AdNovum is one of ETH Zurichs promoting partners who support the scholarship programme. The group is heterogeneous: from traditional Swiss SMEs to multinational large enterprises of all sectors. The mechanical engineering and construction industries are committed the most. To this day, the IT sector holds back. With AdNovum and Avaloq, it is represented by only two companies. In addition to business companies, foundations from the small family foundations up to international foundations and many former graduates of ETH Zurich contribute to the programmes success. Their motives can be bundled into two categories: while business partners see their engagement as a means to promote their publicity among students and to attract the attention of potential employees, for foundations and private individuals, it is mostly a means of assuming social responsibility. But they all have one thing in common: they pave the way for young, ambitious and motivated students to their professional future. In doing so, they not only gain respect, but enjoy exclusivity: from personal meetings with the beneficiaries to being mentioned in connection with and being in close contact to the ETH departments with their professors, employees and ETH administration. In short, it pays for everyone.

CoNtAct AND INFoRMAtioN ABoUt sUppoRt optioNs

Nathalie Fontana ETH Zurich Foundation | Auf der Mauer 17 | CH - 8001 Zrich P +41 44 633 69 61 | nathalie.fontana@ethz-foundation.ch | www.ethz-foundation.ch