Q&A

The Swiss Higher Education Act requires that all higher education institutions wishing to use the designation of «university», «university of applied sciences» or «university of teacher education» must undergo an institutional accreditation procedure. Accreditation is also a condition for receiving federal funding. The Swiss Accreditation Council stipulates that all higher education institutions must be accredited by the end of 2022 at the latest. For accreditation, the quality assurance system of the relevant higher education institution is assessed by external experts.

The first goal of the project is to successfully complete the institutional accreditation procedure. At the same time, the process should be used as a vehicle to critically review and optimize the current system of quality development at UZH; the focus here is on integrating complete quality cycles and developing a university-wide culture of quality.

It is important to UZH that the required accreditation process is not viewed as an obligation imposed by external bodies, but rather as an opportunity to further expand its current efforts in the area of quality development. Seen from this perspective, all the work involved in the «Accreditation 2022» project serves to establish and maintain a quality culture at the university.

The representative bodies and faculties participate in the project at various levels. The most senior decision-making body («steering group») of the accreditation project is the Extended Executive Board of the University, in which all representative bodies and faculties are represented. In addition, the representative bodies and faculties are involved in the various working groups, and two student representatives are members of the core team. Moreover, all interested persons have the opportunity to participate in the project via the public discussion events. Each working group is led by members of the Executive Board of the University, thus ensuring the active participation of this body in the project.

All members of the UZH community are welcome to stay up to date on project developments, ask questions, contribute ideas and raise concerns. The regular discussion events are a good opportunity for sharing information and ideas. You can also contact the project management team at any time. We look forward to your phone call or e-mail.