ETH Talent
ETH Zurich aims to prepare its students to become responsible and critical members of society, take on leadership roles, and tackle the most pressing issues of our time. While ETH graduates are distinguished by their subject-specific competencies, the potential for developing their transferable competencies (method-specific, personal and social competencies) had not, as yet, been fulfilled. Prof. Dr. Sarah M. Springman initiated the ETH Talent project to raise awareness and promote a more holistic set of competencies, and to maintain and strengthen the position of ETH Zurich in the educational landscape. Since the 1st of February 2022, the project has been continued under the leadership of the Rector, Prof. Dr Günther Dissertori.
The project builds upon three guiding principles for its implementation:
- Raising awareness about the benefits of a more holistic set of competencies, rather than measuring the acquisition of these competencies.
- Empowering students to actively shape the development of their competencies by providing them with the necessary information about respective ETH offering. Supporting staff in fostering a broader range of competencies in their teaching.
- Introducing feedback systems on the learning and teaching of competencies for both students and teaching staff.
The DownloadETH Competence Framework (PDF, 45 KB) is a compilation of competencies that ETH Zurich aims to foster. This compilation was derived from a review of literature and competence frameworks and from interviews with Swiss employers from different economic sectors as well as with educational and career experts. The framework consists of twenty competencies, which we grouped into four domains, representing distinct areas of application. The framework describes the knowledge, skills, and attitudes associated with each competency. The goal is to promote a common language about competencies among instructors, students, and future employers. The Competence Framework is for guiding and inspiring the work and the personal and professional development of ETH students and staff members in general.
In order to raise awareness among students, we will promote the ETH Competence Framework at information events. These events will allow students to familiarise themselves with the framework and to understand the importance of fostering these competencies. In collaboration with the administrative department Student Services, we adapted the content of the Prestudy Event to provide students with a first introduction of the framework starting in 2021. Furthermore, we plan to design additional information events to show students how to use the framework during their time at ETH Zurich.
We developed a website to provide students with easy access to the ETH Competence Framework (Competencies at ETH Zurich website). The website offers a unique opportunity for current and future students (BSc, MSc, and doctoral) to explore the twenty competencies of the framework in depth. On the website, students can learn more about the relevance of fostering a holistic set of competencies through testimonials and literature. Moreover, the website provides an overview of support initiatives that they can use to foster competencies besides their studies at ETH Zurich.
We modified three teaching-related software applications of ETH Zurich (SEMPRO, eDoz, and Course Catalogue) in collaboration with the administrative department Academic Services. Starting in 2021, SEMPRO and eDoz will allow teaching and administrative staff to catalogue the curricular activities offered at ETH Zurich according to the ETH Competence Framework. This is an important step for creating awareness among students, by providing the possibility to learn more about the competencies fostered through the curricular activities, when navigating the Course Catalogue.
Find out Downloadhow to register competencies on eDoz (manual) or visit the eDoz help page.
myPath is a platform that lists extra-curricular activities offered at ETH Zurich together with the competencies they foster. It aims at enabling ETH members to find extra-curricular activities easily and in a centralised way. At the same time, it will help create awareness by highlighting the competencies that the extra-curricular activities foster and to what extent. The activities displayed may be of interest to students, teaching staff, or ETH members in general.
We developed a website to provide lecturers and teaching support staff with easy access to the ETH Competence Framework (ETH Competence Framework website). The website offers a unique opportunity for current and future teaching staff to explore the twenty competencies of the framework in depth. On the website, lecturers and teaching support staff members have the chance to read more about the relevance of fostering a holistic set of competencies through testimonials, literature, and teaching examples. Moreover, the website provides an overview of support initiatives that they can use to foster different competencies in their teaching.
At times, good examples are more effective than words. With the goal to inspire and connect teaching staff regarding the fostering of social and personal competencies, the administrative department Educational Development and Technology developed Competence View in collaboration with the ETH Talent Team. Competence View is a collection of courses taught at ETH Zurich with a focus on social and personal competencies. The platform offers insights into the implementation of a pool of courses at ETH Zurich from the direct experience of instructors.
We improved the accessibility of the ETH Competence Framework by the means of a graphical design. Read more about how to use the ETH Competence Framework design.
We plan to expand the offering of coaching and consultation sessions for students. We expect that students will have higher needs for advice about their talent development, as they become more aware of the importance of fostering a holistic set of competencies. Together with the Team of Students Services, we are in the process of identifying future needs and extending the support available to students.
We plan to offer a software tool to our students to allow them to explore and reflect on their talent development throughout their time at ETH Zurich. The Talent Portfolio will help students familiarise themselves with the ETH Competence Framework and explore their interests and needs in terms of talent development. The software tool will also help students find opportunities to foster extra-curricular activities based on a recommender system tuned to the student’s interests. At a later stage, students will have the possibility to visualise their activities while they get ready to enter the job market.
Within a heterogeneous working group of educational developers, members from the administrative department Educational Development and Technology, and the Vice Rector for Curriculum Development, we identified the needs of the departments when it comes to integrating the fostering of a holistic set of competencies into degree programmes. Based on these needs, we suggested a set of actions with the goal of strengthening the support structure for a competence-based approach to teaching. These actions respond to the need for giving centrality to a competence-based approach during curriculum revision processes, expanding the existing support for the departments during the curriculum revisions, and integrating social and personal competencies into training and consultation of teaching staff.
The aim of the Talent Study is to test how communication about teaching may improve students’ learning experience. Based on a panel design, the study was initiated as a pilot in Autumn 2019 and will continue until the end of Spring 2021. Data include students’ data collected through online surveys and information about courses from five degree programmes (from the D-BAUG, D-MTEC, and D-USYS departments). Specifically, we look at the role of reminders, engagement of instructors, and of more explicit communication about teaching on students’ behavioural responses and learning experience. In the study, the ETH Competence Framework is key for analysing the content of the students’ learning experience and communication.
We plan to implement adaptations to the existing course evaluation in order to promote reflection and feedback about the competencies fostered in the course. Students will have the opportunity to reflect on their learning experience, while instructors receive feedback on the alignment of the learning objectives with students’ experience. The sub-project will be implemented in collaboration with the administrative department Educational Development and Technology.
Starting from 2021, ETH graduates have the possibility to evaluate their learning experience on items that cover all the competencies of the Competence Framework in the Alumni Survey. This is an opportunity for degree programmes to receive feedback on how current curricula meet the employment needs of their graduates over time. We extended the survey administrated by the Federal Statistical Office (BfS) to implement complementary questions in order to gain a comprehensive overview of all the competencies of the Competence Framework. The sub-project was implemented in collaboration with the Vice Rector of Curriculum Development, the administrative department Educational Development and Technology, and a sounding board of ETH members.
The new survey is sent to the graduates of 2021 a year after their graduation (external pageGraduates Survey 2021, BfS). The Institutional Research Team (Controlling) at ETH Zurich will process and make the results of the first survey available in 2023.
In this section, you can already download the protected pagecoding scheme for the questionnaire items on competencies used in the first survey for graduates of 2021. The document contains the coding scheme also for the items used in the survey administrated to graduates of 2019.