Administrative departments
As central bodies of the university, the following administrative departments support the Executive Board and the scientific departments.
Corporate Communications (CC) manages ETH Zurich’s internal and external communications. It works in partnership with communications professionals in the academic departments, professorships and central administrative units. It engages in dialogue with the public, disseminates news about the topics that ETH researchers and faculty are working on and reports on what ETH is doing for society. This enhances the university’s reputation in the outside world and promotes society’s acceptance of science. Internally, it contributes towards ensuring that ETH members receive up-to-date information and identify with ETH.
The department Student Services (StS) coordinates all the activities and services for potential and existing students. This includes helping future students to choose a course of studies, and preparing them for the reality of the study programme they have chosen.
There are several points of contact for advice and support available for students during their course of study, such as study organization, learning, time management, student finance, housing, entry into Switzerland, etc. There is also advice for disabled students or those suffering from a chronic medical condition on how to organize their studies and for the special arrangements for performance assessments.
The Unit of Teaching and Learning (UTL) is actively involved in promoting current teaching and its long-term orientation. It supports the development of a clear vision for teaching and is committed to developing and implementing the necessary strategies. The unit initiates and leads ETH-wide initiatives for strategic teaching development, promotes teaching innovations, supports the design of coherent curricula and offers lecturers expertise, support and inspiration for their teaching activities. In addition, it develops instruments for quality assurance and management in the area of teaching as well as offerings that enrich and complement the learning experience of students.
The Grants Office supports researchers in the acquisition and administration of national and international research funds and acts as the Euresearch Regional Office. It manages ETH's internal funding programmes and the offices of the Research Commission and the Prize Commission. The Grants Office also oversees the departmental evaluations.
The administrative department Research Initiatives and Infrastructures takes care of research collaborations that cut across fields and departments, e.g. of scientific networks such as ETH Zurich's Competence Centres or national funding programmes such as NCCR. We are also responsible for ETH's Technology Platforms and the Scientific Equipment Program. An important focus currently is on medical research and innovation, as well as Open Science. We also serve as the interface to numerous other centres and initiatives such as the Singapore-ETH Centre.
Research has its own ethics, which aims, for instance, at protecting study participants or laboratory animals and at safeguarding their dignity. We coordinate the ETH Zurich Ethics Commission and offer comprehensive advice on the reduction and avoidance of animal experiments (3R Principles).
We also support researchers in living up to ETH's Integrity Guidelines. In the same context we coordinate the GSP Commission and collaborate closely with the Trusted Intermediaries.
Last but not least, we are interested in the societal impact of research. We provide advice and foster dialogues about ethical questions, e.g. via the ETHics Lunch.
We are here for you: for students, researchers and all interested persons. As the central university library of ETH Zurich, we ensure that you are provided with scientific and technical information and advocate the generation, further development and transfer of knowledge in society as a customer-centric trailblazer.
The Campus Services department supports education, research and administration by providing services related to working at the ETH. The department ensures that cooperation in areas such as logistics, mobility, mailservice or parking runs smoothly and takes pressure off organisational units by supporting them with tasks in relation to printing, ensuring the flow of information or events.
The Safety, Security, Health and Environment department advises ETH-members on how to deal with dangers, in order to protect people, infrastructure and environment. Experts are responsible for training the ETH-members in this area. They support employees and students by providing them with material and information.
The team advises full, associate and assistant professors as well as members of the Executive Board from the time of employment, through onboarding, to retirement and beyond. It is also responsible for advising the partners of professors on their professional and private integration in the context of their appointment at ETH Zurich.
HR Consulting provides consulting at eye level and excellent personnel management for the departments and central bodies.
The department consists of the following teams: HR Consulting for Departments, HR Consulting for Executive Board and Administrative Units, Vocational Education and Training, Recruiting and Case Management.
The Development and Leadership unit provides personnel development and lifelong learning services for professors, supervisors and employees of ETH Zurich and supports organisational units in their development and transformation. It also offers career and labour market counselling for students and doctoral students.
This department consists of the Development and Leadership team and the Career Center.
This unit provides concepts, programmes and measures for inclusive, non-discriminatory and constructive collaboration between members of ETH Zurich. It maintains an effective conflict management system with solution-oriented procedures and low-threshold counselling services for all ETH members in the areas of prevention and intervention. Find out more about ETH Diversity.