At its meeting of 3/4 March 2021, the ETH Board adopted the new Gender Strategy for the ETH Domain. This strategy aims to improve the gender balance further and ensure equal opportunities for women and men in the ETH Domain institutions. The ETH Board also decided how resources will be allocated in 2022 and approved the consolidated reporting for 2020, which will now be submitted to the Federal Council.
Updated Gender Strategy for the ETH Domain
The aim of the ETH Domain’s updated Gender Strategy for the period 2021–2024 is to increase the proportion of women in teaching and research, particularly in management positions. Emphasis is also being placed on equal opportunities for women and men. The ETH Domain institutions intend to apply at least 0.5% (approximately CHF 13 million) of the annual federal contribution to the various measures. Such measures go beyond providing support for childcare facilities: they encompass, for example, promoting an inclusive culture. Key aspects include raising awareness of gender bias and gender stereotypes, and taking measures to combat inappropriate behaviour. Furthermore, the ETH Domain has undertaken to follow the rules of the Swiss charter for equal pay in the public sector and strives to boost coordination between its institutions as regards dual career issues. This includes helping professors’ partners integrate into the labour market. The ETH Domain institutions have also set quantitative targets for increasing the proportion of women in academia, administration and technical professions.
Allocation of resources for 2022
The ETH Domain is expected to receive CHF 2,665 million in federal funding for 2022. Parliament will make the final decision in December 2021. The bulk of the federal funding, CHF 2,504 million, goes to the two Federal Institutes of Technology, ETH Zurich and EPFL, and the four research institutes PSI, WSL, Empa and Eawag, for the continued development of their operations and strategic projects. The rest of the funding is reserved for centrally planned, strategic projects across the entire ETH Domain. When allocating the funds, the ETH Board takes the institutions’ development plans, performance and load factors into consideration. Performance refers to the differing missions and their implementation by the institutions of the ETH Domain. The envisaged strategic measures include investments in data sciences and artificial intelligence, quantum research, cybersecurity, data-based materials research, and technology development. Load factors mainly take account of the steady increase in student numbers during recent years. Additional infrastructure is also required in connection with appointments, major construction projects and new facilities, such as at the Empa campus.
Strengthening the Swiss Data Science Center with a site at the PSI
During the fund allocation process, the ETH Board expressed support for a further strengthening of the Swiss Data Science Center in the strategic focus area “Data Sciences”. A third site will be built at the PSI in addition to the two existing ones at ETH Zurich and EPFL.
Consolidated reporting for 2020
The ETH Board approved the consolidated reporting for 2020. The annual report and the financial report will be published once they have been received and approved by the Federal Council. In these reports, the ETH Domain records how far the Federal Council’s strategic targets for the ETH Domain have been met, and describes the ETH Domain’s governance, key areas of focus and achievements. The detailed financial report covers the 2020 financial year in the ETH Domain and presents the consolidated financial statements for 2020.
