«Many students need guidance»

Dr Wüest, your department is responsible for organising academic operations. The coronavirus crisis has turned all of that on its head. You probably didn’t imagine your term of office ending like this…
Wüest: That’s true. There was a point at the start of March when I realised that this last semester was going to be very different to what I originally had planned. Everything suddenly changed. For one thing, I was supposed to be competing at the World Senior Curling Championships in Canada in April – that would have been a real personal highlight, but obviously it had to be cancelled too. It was quite a challenge to mentally readjust to the new situation.

How has your work changed?
Wüest: Since March, practically all of my work has been focused on managing the impact of the pandemic. We moved our teaching online, exams had to be reorganised and we had to work out how to make workspaces available for students during the lecture- free period. Most importantly, we had to start developing solutions for the autumn semester. Hermann Lehner has been involved in that work as well.

And in the midst of all that, you are giving up your role as head of Academic Services – it sounds a bit like trying to jump from a moving train…
Wüest: It’s definitely an unusual situation. On the one hand, it’s an uncomfortable feeling to simply bow out in the middle of the crisis and leave others to sort things out. But on the other hand it’s a relief to know that, for me personally, I’m coming to the end of what has been a difficult period.

Dr Lehner, what has it been like for you, having to hit  the ground running?
Lehner: It’s been very challenging. I’m essentially learning most of the role on the job, in the middle of a crisis. The advantage
is that, in some ways, you get to know people better because you have to work together so closely in order to find solutions as quickly as possible.

From your experience on the front line, how is the pandemic changing teaching?
Wüest: The current situation is not what we would describe as ideal teaching conditions. We are first and foremost a bricksand-mortar university. There’s no question that the digital world can help to improve teaching, but the pandemic has demanded that we introduce changes overnight.

Lehner: By forcing our hand, the pandemic gave us the chance to try out lots of new concepts. If we’re lucky, this will speed up the digitalisation of our teaching – not by having one replace the other, but by using digital technologies to supplement face-to-face learning so we can harness the best of both worlds. One way we can do this is by making materials available online at any time so that lecturers can use face-to-face time to expand on certain points, answer questions and encourage discussions.

Wüest: In spite of all this, my feeling is that traditional forms of teaching will continue for many years to come. We have a wide range of students here – and some of them need a lot of support and guidance. Forms of teaching which require a great deal of independence are extremely demanding. If a student’s first semester consisted entirely of teaching forms where they had to work through the content themselves and then apply it in a flipped classroom scenario, I don’t think it would work. Many of the students would fail.

What direction do you think teaching should be moving in?
Lehner: I agree with Dieter – digital teaching can’t replace trad- itional lectures, but it can complement them. Digital technologies can also help to ensure that teaching at ETH Zurich is accessible to as many people as possible. I would like the digital component of the teaching to be as open as possible so that any- one can access it. In my opinion, that’s part of ETH’s mandate.

Which projects are at the top of your list?
Lehner: The academic applications. In the future, rather than just focusing on operational tasks such as entering marks or registering for courses, they should allow students, lecturers and administrators to carry out analyses and evaluations on a day-to-day basis. The scalability of academic operations is another key point. We need to be able to accommodate more and more students – we’re not just talking about applications here, but classrooms and timetables as well. Wüest: In the past, applications were useful tools. Today, IT systems are whole environments where all of the teaching can take place, just like on a campus. This is truer than ever in the time of coronavirus. Courses are held using these systems, all of the data is stored there and all of the processes take place within them. There is still a way to go, however, before they can truly be seen as an integrated digital campus rather than a collection of tools.

Dr Wüest, what are the standout moments from the last 16 years for you?
Wüest: I don’t have one particular highlight from the last 16 years. The thing I’m probably happiest about is the way we managed to deal with any major challenges that came our way. We were always well prepared, and any significant changes that we made proved to be successful.

What was the hardest part of the role for you?
Wüest: Making difficult decisions regarding staffing. There were times when we had to break up teams, for example, and find new solutions for some of our employees. Unfortunately, those are the things you remember the most.

You both studied at ETH yourselves. How have things changed here since then?
Lehner: The structure of the courses was much more straightforward back then. How you started a degree, how it progressed and how it ended was all relatively clear. Today there are many more options and possibilities, making our degree courses more complex.

Wüest: Yes, that’s true. Switching to the Bologna system – with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees – made the study programmes much more intense. In our day, there weren’t always exams at the end of a semester like there are today. And if you don’t pass, it’s virtually impossible to catch up and still stay on track timewise. That’s why there are more students now who don’t finish their degree within the standard period of study. Even students with good marks often need longer nowadays, just because there are so many different subjects to cover. I don’t know whether the degrees have got harder, but they are definitely more intense.

And how has ETH itself changed?
Wüest: My feeling is that the university’s interests have become much more diverse. We have an incredible range of initiatives, projects and developments being launched right across ETH. I also think there is an expectation to pursue as many ideas as
possible. I welcome this hands-on approach, and we have been involved in many projects ourselves. As the department that actually puts these things into practice, however, it’s not always easy to get them off the ground.

Dr Lehner, what are your main areas of focus going to be? What is important to you?
Lehner: Our task is to make life as easy as possible for students, lecturers and administrators, and to support them effectively with the services we provide. We need to digitalise our academic operations in a way that supports our students and staff, and reduces complexity – by automating processes where it makes sense to do so. That leaves everyone room to concentrate on more important things.

What motivates you in your new role?
Lehner: I am passionate about teaching, and I have been for a long time. I come from the world of computer science – but I believe that IT is a tool and an enabler. We work with people and for people, and ultimately that’s what it’s all about.