Revision of Organisation Ordinance enters into force in 2025

The new ETH Organisation Ordinance (OO) regulates duties, powers and responsibilities within the university and establishes the minimum requirements for the organisation of ETH Zurich. Since its enactment in 2003, the ordinance has undergone several partial revisions. These rules were in need of another update, particularly due to findings from the rETHink project, leading to this comprehensive revision rather than another partial amendment.

The changes introduced by rETHink are designed to enhance cooperation between academic departments, the Executive Board, central administrative units and other units, while strengthening departmental governance. This is reflected in the fully revised OO, which was approved by the Executive Board in November 2024 and entered into force on 1 January 2025.

Updates to departmental strategy and management

One key change involves the governance of ETH¡¯s 16 academic departments. As before, an academic department unites university members from a particular scientific field and ensures that they can carry out their teaching and research duties as well as provide services.

The management roles of a department continue to include the department heads, directors of studies and their deputies. One change is that the role formerly known as ¡°department coordinators¡± will in future be called ¡°managing directors¡± and are voting members of the department management. The new title emphasises the importance of this management role, which supports the committees and heads of a department.

As the highest body within a department, the department conference continues to consist of all professors and representatives from the university groups. Thanks to the new Organisation Ordinance, adjunct professors can now participate in the department conference and the professors¡¯ conference. Each department can independently decide what form this participation will take. Additionally, there are plans to establish strategy and resource committees, and departments will also have the freedom to determine the exact structure of these bodies.

New Conference of the Executive Board and Department Heads

The updated ordinance strengthens cross-departmental conferences. It was already the case that department heads meet in a conference; now this conference is anchored in the ordinance and led by a spokesperson (see Internal news article of 18.11.2024). This person must have experience as a department head and preferably should not currently hold this role. An administrative office supports the spokesperson to ensure the continuity of the work of the Conference of Department Heads. This conference  prepares important department-relevant topics to be discussed in the Conference of the Executive Board and Department Heads (SL-DV-K)

The Executive Board and the Department Heads  continue to meet regularly. The responsible body is now called the Conference of the Executive Board and Department Heads (SL-DV-K). This serves as a platform for mutually exchanging information and preparing decisions on strategic matters. Going forward, the Executive Board and the Department Heads will jointly determine the topics to be handled by the conference. The meetings are chaired by the ETH President and the spokesperson of the Department Heads.

The ETH-wide strategy board that was proposed in the context of rETHink has been abandoned following discussions with the Department Heads; strategic issues will be discussed in planning meetings of the Conference of the Executive Board and Department Heads. Both the chairs of departmental strategy committees and representatives of non-professorial university groups will be invited to these meetings.

Duties and position of the university groups

Another new chapter in the ordinance covers participatory bodies and university groups (VSETH, AVETH, PeKo, KdL). They represent the interests of students, scientific staff, technical and administrative employees and lecturers, enabling their participation in the development of the university. The University Assembly (UA) is the participatory body for all university groups. It ensures that all ETH members can exercise their participatory rights.

Mostly positive feedback from internal consultation process

Given the importance of the Organisation Ordinance, the Executive Board conducted a broad consultation process within the university. The majority of academic departments, university groups and central administrative units generally support the changes. There were some criticisms, however, that it does not make detailed statements about the form of internal cooperation. The Executive Board emphasises that the ordinance describes who has to do what, but does not stipulate exactly how something is to be done.

In some cases, there were also criticisms that the new ordinance does not sufficiently strengthen the decision-making scope of the academic departments. From the Executive Board¡¯s perspective, however, the minimum requirements of the OO guarantee wide scope for action and thus allow the departments to make level-appropriate decisions.

Transitional rules and open questions

To ensure an orderly transition, the provisions regarding academic department leadership and strategy and resource committees will not take effect until 1 August 2025. This gives the departments sufficient time to elect the members of these bodies.

The departments also have until the end of 2025 to adapt their by-laws to the new Organisation Ordinance. An informational and discussion event for managing directors and department controllers will be held on 16 January 2025. If you have any questions about the new OO, please get in touch with the working group responsible for the revision: .