ETH Zürich is an engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management university in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. Like its sister institution Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne , it is an integral part of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain that is directly subordinate to Switzerland's Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. ETH Zürich is consistently ranked by all major World University rankings among the top universities in the world. It is considered the best university in continental Europe by the Shanghai Ranking ARWU, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings Ranking and the QS World University Ranking. It is currently ranked 8th best university in the world in engineering, science and technology and 2nd in Europe after the University of Cambridge. Twenty-one Nobel Prizes have been awarded to students or professors of the Institute in the past, the most famous of which is Albert Einstein in 1921, and the most recent is Kurt Wüthrich in 2002. It is a founding member of the IDEA League and the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) and a member of the CESAER network. The school was founded by the Swiss Federal Government in 1854 with the stated mission to educate engineers and scientists, serve as a national center of excellence in science and technology and provide a hub for interaction between the scientific community and industry. History ETH was founded in 1854 by the Swiss Confederation and opened its doors in 1855 as a polytechnic institute (Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule). It comprised in the beginning six departments: architecture, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemistry, forestry, and a catch-all department for mathematics, natural sciences, literature, and social and political sciences. It is locally still known as Poly, derived from the original name Eidgenössische polytechnische Schule "Federal polytechnic school". ETH is a federal institute (i.e., under direct administration by the Swiss government), whereas the University of Zürich is a cantonal institution. The decision for a new federal university was heavily disputed at the time, because the liberals pressed for a "federal university", while the conservative forces wanted all universities to remain under cantonal control, with the goal of giving liberal thoughts no refuge. In the beginning, both universities were co-located in the buildings of the University of Zürich. From 1905 to 1908, under the presidency of Jérôme Franel, the course program of ETH was restructured to that of a real university, from its early, very schoolish agenda, and ETH was granted the right to award doctorates. In 1909 the first doctorates were awarded. In 1911, it was given its current name, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule. In 1924, another reorganization structured the university in 12 departments. However, it now has 16 departments. Since 1993 ETH Zürich, the EPFL, and four associated research institutes were joined and administered together as the "ETH Domain". Reputation ETH Zürich is regularly ranked among the top universities in the world. Typically, popular rankings place the institution as the best university in Switzerland and on the European continent, among the top 3-5 European universities, and among the best 10-20 of the world. Historically, ETH Zürich has achieved its reputation particularly in the fields of chemistry, mathematics and physics. There are 21 Nobel Laureates who are associated with ETH. The most recent Nobel Laureate is Richard F. Heck who was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2010. Albert Einstein is perhaps its most famous alumnus. In 2013 the QS World University Rankings placed ETH Zürich at 12th overall in the world, and 1st in mainland Europe, while only four UK universities performed better than it in Europe. In the 2013 Times Higher Education World University Rankings ETH Zürich ranked 14th overall, 8th in the field of Engineering & IT and 12th in Physical Sciences. According to the 2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the ETH is ranked 20th in the world, the 4th best university in Europe, and 1st in Switzerland. It is also ranked 5th in the field of Chemistry and 8th in the broad subject field of Natural Sciences and Mathematics worldwide.) In a comparison of Swiss universities by swissUP Ranking and in rankings published by CHE comparing the universities of German-speaking countries, ETH Zürich traditionally is ranked first in natural sciences, computer science and engineering sciences. Attribution: Article text available under CC-BY-SA Public domain image source in video

• published: 19 Nov 2013
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