D-BAUG - Departement Bau, Umwelt und Geomatik - ETH Zürich

Student Figures
1 For additional figures, see Section Facts & Figures.
12 ▪ D-BAUG Annual Report 2009
Development of Student Figures
Teaching, a key aspect of our mission at D-BAUG, focuses on three Bachelor’s and four
Master’s curricula courses to support doctoral studies and continuing professional edu-
cation: Civil Engineering (CE), Environmental Engineering (EE), Geomatics and Planning
(GP), and Spatial Development & Infrastructure Systems (SDIS, only MSc).
by Patrick Dilger, Planning & Controlling D-BAUG
From the year 2000 onwards, figures for new incoming students have shown a positive trend: they have actually more
than tripled since D-BAUG was established in 1999 (Fig. 1), clearly surpassing the figures of the early 1990’s.
In 2009, the number of incoming female students rose significantly to 81, which accounts for a good 28% of all incoming
students.This represents a vast increase of 50% since 2008 and points towards a general trend at ETH Zurich: the number
of first-year female students has never been so high. It can safely be said that the efforts made (e.g.‘ETH on the road’
to meet grammar school pupils or the annual Researchers’ Night) to attract more female students are beginning to pay
off.
By the end of the 1960’s, less than 5% of incoming students were female. This number increased to 25% by the end of
the 1990’s. Engineering, a field in which females were far and few between, has seen considerable growth in female registrants.
In fact, Civil Engineering is attracting an increasing number of women who want to take up professions that
serve society and produce results. Overall, however, Switzerland must further endeavour to draw more women towards
the engineering professions. Most female students at ETH Zurich still pursue studies in architecture, pharmacy, sport,
food science or biology.
The recently initiated Master’s degree courses have developed nicely. Since the MSc programmes were introduced in 2006,
the number of incoming MSc students has risen from 70 to 140 (Fig. 2). In the wake of the Bologna Reform, 2009 has
been the second year to award Master’s degree certificates (Fig. 3) to successful graduates. Compared to 2008, the number
of graduates completing the course has doubled.
The number of doctoral graduates has increased steadily over the years, although the increase flattened and stabilised
at 39 graduates last year. At the end of 2008, there were 204 registered doctoral students at D-BAUG. (Fig. 4). 1
While in 2009, the University of Zurich had, for the first time ever, over 25,000 matriculated students, ETH Zurich has
exceeded the impressive number of 15,000 students. Since the number of grammar school pupils completing their
matriculation examinations (“Matura”) is rising, it is expected that the overall number of students in Switzerland will
increase during the next 3–4 years. Thereafter statistics show that this growth curve is expected to flatten.