International Affairs - Relations Internationales - EPFL

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Progress-Report_DEF.qxd:Layout 1 5.6.2007 3:00 Page 10 A 10 VPRI International Affairs 2. Driving Forces Internationalization of Higher Education The internationalization of higher education is a great opportunity for EPFL: it gives EPFL students a chance to gain international experience and attracts a larger number of gifted international students to the campus (especially in master’s and doctoral programs). To remain a world-class university, EPFL must also enhance its international image and be competitive in global higher education, especially in the aforementioned programs. An EPFL education must match or better the quality standards of the US’s best technological universities. The EPFL campus has the advantage of a long tradition of internationality. An important objective for EPFL is to educate top international scientists and engineers. Switzerland needs young and qualified entrepreneurs to ensure its economic growth in the future. Internationalization of higher education at EPFL also includes providing aid to universities in the developing world, a role for which there is a long tradition at EPFL. Impact of the EU and EHEA 6 European policy in research and higher education has a strong impact on Swiss academic policy. EPFL is currently gathering information on three main projects. The Bologna Process: the Bologna Declaration of 1999 laid the basis of a process for establishing a European Higher Education Area. Apart from the new guidelines for the doctorate and postdoc – to be set by the forthcoming Communiqué of the Conference of the European Ministers of Higher Education (London, 2007) – EPFL has implemented all recommendations of the Bologna process. EU enlargement to the East is guiding EPFL’s promotional activities in the new member states. 6 European Union (EU) and European High Education Area (EHEA). European Institute of Technology (EIT): the concept of an EIT was first introduced by the Commission in 2005. On 18 October 2006 the Commission put forward a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the EIT. The Commission is proposing an integrated, two-level structure of the EIT that combines both a bottom-up and a top-down approach: a governance structure based on a Governing Board (GB). The GB will set the strategic priorities of the EIT and take charge of Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs). KICs are joint-ventures of partner organizations representing universities, research organizations and businesses. The participation of EPFL institutes in KICs (climate change, bioinformatics and life sciences, nanotechnology) represents a challenge, but is also a unique opportunity to enhance EPFL’s reputation and visibility. The VPRI is making use of its existing networks (CLUSTER, CESAER, etc.) to position EPFL at the top level in the EIT project. European Research Council (ERC): the European Union is taking a major step towards the realization of a European Research Area by financially supporting scientific research. The ERC will be the first pan-European funding agency for cutting edge research. Early stage as well as fully established investigators will be able to compete for ERC grants with scientific excellence as the sole criterion for funding. The acceptance of EPFL projects will increase the institution’s prestige, its presence on the European stage as well as increase EPFL’s third-party funding. In close cooperation with VPAA, VPRI aims to provide researchers with adequate and relevant information on ERC governance and programs. The promotion of PhD programs and the development of “offshore” research centers and institutions mobilize the EPFL Office for International Affairs. Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for Sciences and Research, discusses Physics of High Energy with Prof. G. Margaritondo, Vice-president for Academic Affairs, and Prof. Tran Minh Quang, Director of CRPP (November 2005). VPRI 11
Progress-Report_DEF.qxd:Layout 1 5.6.2007 3:00 Page 12 A 12 VPRI International Affairs 3. Goals, Achievements and Prospects 3.1 Priority countries: India, China, Russia India 7 Particular emphasis is currently being put on India, China and Russia. India is on the brink of a major transformation. Reforms initiated in 1991 have paved the way for a rapid development and repositioning of the Indian economy. Today, India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. India has been continuously increasing its investment in science and technology, and this seems to be garnering handsome dividends. The last decade has witnessed India becoming a global R&D center; companies from around the world are increasingly on the look-out for new business opportunities in India. EPFL has taken several initiatives to forge collaborative ties between the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). A major achievement in this respect was the initiation of an “EPFL-IIT/IISc Exchange Program” in which EPFL students enroll for one or two semesters at one of the renowned IITs or at the IISc and vice versa. Since its inception in the year 2000, around 80 EPFL students and 250 Indian students have been involved. Though the primary goal of this initiative was to benefit students by providing them with new learning experiences and networking opportunities in another country, the Schools hosting and supervising these young and motivated people often equally gained from this exchange. As a consequence, the number of Indian students enrolled in a doctoral program at EPFL has increased from one student in 2000 to 51 in 2006. 7 Dr B. Baumann and Prof. P. K. Rastogi. The two postgraduate courses on “Technology and Sustainable Development” jointly organized by EPFL and IIT Madras in 2002 and 2005 were similarly successful in establishing contacts between Swiss and Indian scientists. 20 participants from different countries attended these 16-week courses held in Chennai. Lectures were given by faculty members from Swiss and Indian universities and by representatives of international organizations, NGOs and private companies. A third course is planned for 2008. Indian PhD student and Swiss researcher, both involved in the project ’Isolation, characterization and mutagenesis of long-range acting bacterial transcription regulators with receptor domains for aromatic compounds’ supported by the ISJRP. In 2004, the State Secretariat for Education & Research (SER) mandated EPFL with the coordination and implementation of the Indo Swiss Joint Research Programme (ISJRP). This program was jointly initiated by the Swiss and Indian Governments and aims at increasing the number and scope of collaborations between Swiss and Indian scientists through the promotion of joint research projects. Currently, ISJRP is supporting nine joint projects in Information Technology and three in the Life Sciences. In summer 2006, short-term financial backing from SER enabled EPFL to start the Indo Swiss Bilateral Research Initiative (ISBRI). ISBRI’s goal is to initiate new contacts between Swiss and Indian scientists by providing travel and research fellowship grants to young faculty members and Ph.D. students who wish to visit a prospective partner institute in the counterpart country. So far, more than forty scientists from various Swiss and Indian Universities have already benefited from these grants. VPRI 13
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