How were things going for students and scientific staff in 2024?

ETH continues to provide its students with a motivational and supportive environment. That is according to the “wiegETHs” (HowsETHgoing) survey, in which 40.8 percent of students and scientific staff participated. The survey was last conducted in 2019, albeit only among students. In comparison to then, students now gain more enjoyment from their study programmes and seem to be able to handle the workload better. This was a critical topic in 2019. According to the current survey, 64 percent report that they can cope with the study pressure – and students place more value on their free time.

Mental health remains steady

Nevertheless, there has been a slight decrease in the students’ mental well-being. While 77 percent of respondents rated their mental state as “fairly good” to “very good” in 2019, this figure is currently still at 74 percent. The most frequent complaints are anxiety, sleep problems and low self-esteem, as well as depressive symptoms, exhaustion and hopelessness.

According to a external page report by the Swiss Health Observatory in 2023, a similar deterioration in mental health can be observed in the general Swiss population aged 15 to 24. The fact that students are a vulnerable group in terms of mental health is also substantiated by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) in the form of regular surveys. Indeed, the FSO’s external page 2020 survey found that almost a quarter of students suffer from moderate to severe depression and that 83 percent feel affected by mental health problems. Against this backdrop, the results of the wiegETHs survey can be viewed as positive.

Good working conditions, challenges in conflict management

For the first time, this year’s survey also included scientific staff. Overall, most scientific staff appear to be satisfied with their working conditions. However, the survey reveals that they experience moderate to severe psychological stress. Twenty-one percent of respondents, who typically have fixed-term employment contracts, say they are worried about unemployment, and 29 percent find searching for a new job difficult. 

It is noteworthy that doctoral students in particular exhibit significantly higher psychological stress and dissatisfaction with conflict management. “The latest rules on inappropriate behaviour and workplace conflicts are a step in the right direction,” says Lorin Schöni, a board member of AVETH. “Nevertheless, working conditions could be further improved with clearer measures to support those affected and more effective enforcement of the rules.” As well as with conflict management, half of the scientific staff are dissatisfied with how the workload is shared. However, the relationship with supervisors is good, according to the survey, and 89 percent state that the atmosphere between colleagues is often or even always good.

Low discrimination rate and an imbalance of power

The survey results suggest that scientific personnel are affected by discrimination and inappropriate behaviour more often than Bachelor’s and Master’s students. Although 73 percent of respondents said they have never experienced discrimination at ETH Zurich, 29 percent said they had witnessed it at some point. The most frequent inappropriate behaviour was verbal harassment, followed by social exclusion and unjustified criticism, especially by people with “a high level of institutional power”. The likelihood of discriminatory behaviour was found to be eight times higher with such individuals than with those with low institutional power.

Vulnerable groups need special protection

Doctoral students also report psychological stress more frequently than Bachelor’s and Master’s students. Women, people with disabilities and people from different cultural backgrounds also more frequently give a worse rating of their mental well-being. However, non-cisgender people are affected by discrimination and psychological stress particularly strongly.

“If several factors come together for someone, there is a greater likelihood that they will suffer from discrimination and psychological stress,” says Schöni. The report postulates that the development of tools and services to promote well-being should focus on particularly vulnerable groups. 

According to the survey, over 60 percent of students have no reservations about expressing their sexual orientation. “However, ETH Zurich should further explore and scrutinise existing gender norms or heteronormativity,” points out Vivianne Hanke, a board member of VSETH.

Boosting awareness of contact points

ETH Zurich offers a wide range of advice services to support students and ETH members in difficult situations. Among students, external page Nightline is particularly well known and there is varying awareness of other schemes, such as the Psychological Counselling Services or the Respect Programme. According to the survey, this awareness has decreased significantly since 2019. “It’s therefore important to continue raising awareness of this topic within ETH Zurich.

The key thing is for the advice services to further expand their low-threshold offerings and collaborate more closely,” says Hanke. For ETH Zurich, the mental health of its staff and students takes top priority. Going forward, therefore, it is important to encourage students and ETH members to address psychological problems and deal with them without fear. By fostering an appropriate environment, ETH Zurich can empower students and members to overcome difficulties and achieve success. To this end, the Rectorate works in close coordination with VSETH and AVETH.

These results were taken from the intermediate report on the wiegETHs survey.