Brochure "A glimpse into the future of USI"

Università
della
Svizzera
italiana
A GLIMPSE INTO
THE FUTURE OF USI
Vision 2020
and Plan 2012-2016
1
Contents
Introduction, p. 2–3
USI Vision 2020, p. 4–9
– Computational Science
– Towards a Faculty of Medicine
– The role of the four existing faculties
– Increasing the contribution to the
cultural debate and spearheading the
defence of Italian language and culture
in Switzerland
Planning 2012-2016, p. 10–23
– Context, challenges and general
objectives
– Undergraduate courses
–Research
– Doctoral education
– Lifelong learning
– Academic staff
– Collaborations and networks
–Governance
– Financial resources
–Logistics
The content is taken from the document
“Plan 2012-2016”, discussed and approved
by the USI Board.
Introduction
Università della Svizzera italiana:
vision, ambitions & development strategy
USI is a dynamic, young university that
is not satisfied in limiting its work to
consolidate its achievements, but has resolved to take up the gauntlet of finding
new ways of enhancing its attractiveness
and of raising its profile on both the Swiss
and international stage. Unlike its sister
universities, which are firmly rooted in
the Swiss academic scene, USI has no
long and solid tradition to rely on. This is
hardly a drawback, however; a young USI
receptive to new opportunities to explore
and pioneer can but enrich and enliven
the Swiss university scene. USI is today a
teeming reservoir of ideas, source of inspiration for new and bold visions from
which future initiatives and key projects
for Ticino will sprout. What development
strategy will USI adopt in the coming
four-year period and what are the possible scenarios looking ahead to 2020? This
brochure, which has been published in
the firm belief that sharing aims is the first
concrete step towards achieving them,
outlines our university’s “Vision 2020”
and “Plan 2012-2016”.
Piero Martinoli, President
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1
USI TODAY
Università della Svizzera italiana offers
its almost 3’000 students quality teaching and conducts innovative research in
a cosmopolitan and dynamic environment. It stands out among other Swiss
Universities thanks to its original course
programmes. The presence of the Academy of Architecture and the Faculty
of Economics is well justified, the first
thanks to the glowing centuries-old tradition, and the latter thanks to Lugano’s
relevance in the local and international
marketplace. The Faculty of Communication Sciences, unique of its kind in
Switzerland, and the Faculty of Informatics answer the call for experts and
professionals in fields whose impact on
social change, and consequently on our
lifestyle, is likely to increase. Combined
with its privileged location – USI acts as
a bridge between the south (Lombardy)
and the north (the rest of Switzerland)
– these choices give our university a distinctive identity, characterised by stead-
ily rising student numbers and the most
international mix of players in Switzerland, in terms of the origins of students,
assistants, and professors. Aware of its
importance for Ticino, USI makes strategic choices able to promote Italianspeaking Switzerland on the Swiss and
international scene, validly contributing
to the region’s economic growth.
USI Vision 2020
USI Vision 2020
If our aim is to join the group of Swiss and
foreign academic elite in terms of both
teaching and research, USI has to focus
primarily on quality, aiming at excellence.
Taken the global scenario in which the
University has to excel and the resources
and potential of its territory, this goal can
be achieved only if USI chooses to contain its growth limiting admissions to no
more than 3,500 students. In other words
– and with all due modesty in comparing
USI to such a prestigious institution – the
vision is that of a university along the lines
of the California Institute of Technology
where student “coaching” is outstanding
thanks to the optimum teacher/student
ratio. Only with such an ambition can
USI continue to be a centre of attraction
for smart, motivated students and for talented researchers. These are the people
who will give Ticino a new face: with their
imagination, their enthusiasm and even
their inclination to take risks, crucial for
the regeneration of the canton’s economic
make-up. But this is clearly not enough in
itself. In order to reach levels of quality
that guarantee a high profile and the support of the political authorities and people
of Ticino, in the next ten years USI will
need to commit to projects that will give
the University a distinctive character, underlining all of the strengths that will allow
us to stand out from the Swiss University
landscape, and increasingly raise in the
world’s ranking. USI’s Vision 2020 thus
contemplates the design and development
of flagship projects in fields with a sound
future that are chosen not only in terms of
scientific interest but also for their effect
on economic development of the territory
and for the contribution they can make in
proposing solutions to urgent nationwide
problems. In all this, the University project of Italian-speaking Switzerland is unquestionably one of the cornerstones on
which Ticino’s future will be built, creating the conditions for this land to claim its
rightful place in the Swiss Confederation
and for future generations to compete on
an equal footing with increasingly aggressive competitors in a globalised economy.
While USI was born in 1996 above all as
a statement of the cultural identity of Italian-speaking Switzerland, in the medium
and long term it cannot limit its sphere of
action to this; it has to become a source
of human capital and new knowledge
which, besides contributing to scientific
and cultural progress, are indispensable
in setting in motion the innovation processes that bring economic prosperity to
our territory and its people. So, what are
USI’s visions for 2020?
Considering the global context in
which the university is called on to
perform, the potential of the territory and the resources available, USI
–aims to develop new projects which
will raise its profile in the Swiss university landscape, choosing flagship
projects (computational science and
medicine) in fields with a sound future in terms of scientific interest,
thus contributing to the economic
development of the territory and offering solutions to urgent nationwide
problems;
–intends to step up its commitment in
defence of the Italian language and
culture in our country;
– chooses to contain its growth, limiting
admissions to the 4 faculties to 3,500
students.
USI Vision 2020
Computational Science
In USI’s current course offerings, the socalled soft sciences currently dominate
the hard sciences. If USI is to become the
leader in the project aimed at giving Ticino a new face, it will have to open up to
hard sciences; that is, sciences whose language is mathematics. This does not mean
that the soft sciences will not contribute
to this ambitious plan but, without a hard
sciences component, the result would indubitably fall short. It is indeed a fact that
the technical-scientific aspect is crucial
in regenerating the economic-industrial
make-up which, in Ticino, lies (and will
continue to lie) mainly in high-tech niche
products manufactured by small and medium businesses. The recent introduction of computational science within the
Faculty of Informatics has spawned new
research which, exploiting the power of
new generation supercomputers, studies
new, complex problems of real scientific
interest in a range of subjects, from physics to finance taking in chemistry, biology,
medicine, pharmacology, climatology, meteorology, engineering sciences, material
science and so on. From an experimental
point of view, these disciplines would be
beyond the financial capabilities of a university such as ours, but become feasible
by way of a virtual lab: the supercomputer. Computational sciences allows
us to have a say in the national strategy
on high-performance computing and its
networking (HPCN) and to become a
credible partner for the Swiss Centre for
Scientific Computing (CSCS) managed
by the ETH Zurich based in Lugano. The
pronounced multi and interdisciplinary
nature of computational sciences means
that USI is able to promote and create
synergies and collaboration with the ETH
Zurich, the SUPSI -University of Applied
Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (Department of Innovative Technologies above all) and the biomedical institutions of Italian-speaking Switzerland
(IRB, IOSI and CCT). These sciences will
also become increasingly relevant for the
world of industry and economics. As a
matter of fact, sectors that are crucial to
Switzerland and Ticino such as mechanics, biotechnology, pharmacology or finance are increasingly using modelling
and numerical simulation to reduce costs,
time to market and product risks.
The Institute of Computational Science (ICS), created in 2008 within
the Faculty of Informatics
– has launched a Bachelor and a Master
programme;
–allows USI to become a key player in
national strategy on high performance
computing and networking (HPCN);
–exploits the computing power of the
Swiss Centre for Scientific Computing (CSCS) to study complex problems
through numerical simulation;
–opens up new multi and interdisciplinary opportunities in the field of research.
Towards a Faculty of Medicine
Biomedical science, which developed exponentially in the second half of the 20th
century, will undoubtedly remain the focus
of scientific interest also well into the 21st
century. USI has taken a first step towards
this field of science with the affiliation of
the Institute for Research in Biomedicine
(IRB). While crucial for the prestige of
our University and for the stability that it
offers to IRB in the Swiss university landscape, this step might remain of secondary importance if it is not incorporated in
a wider vision which embraces not only
the development of research (and immunology in particular) but also of (bio)
medical training. Indeed, it is in the field
of medical training that USI has foreseen
a unique opportunity. It is a well-known
fact that Switzerland suffers from a severe
shortage of doctors, a problem that will
undoubtedly become even more serious
in the next decade, also considering the
fact that the average age of doctors is currently around 50 years old. On top of this
there is the high and growing number of
foreign doctors-assistants (45% on average at a national level with peaks of 72%
in Ticino), while hundreds of young Swiss
people are debarred from studying medicine due to the lack of vacancies. These
considerations explain why it will be vital
to train more Swiss doctors in the coming
10-15 years, increasing access to clinical
training by at least 20%, as confirmed by
a study on incoming and outgoing flows of
medical schools. The project to introduce
clinical training (Master in Medicine, 3
year course) at USI has been developed to
help solve this nationwide problem. The
committee formed by the Ticino’s Gov-
ernment has completed the first stage of
the feasibility study and is now working
on the detailed study stage. Bearing in
mind the limits of the local structures and
medical resources, the need to avoid segregation, the legal obstacles and the need
to gather both political approval and the
one of the Swiss faculties of medicine the
most realistic scenario is that of a Master’s
course organized in close collaboration
with one or more faculties from across
the Alps. The interest shown by potential
future partners has convinced us that this
project has a high probability of success
and in the USI Vision 2020 it represents
the prelude to a fully-fledged Faculty of
Medicine: the fifth faculty at USI.
7
Switzerland has a severe shortage
of doctors, while more than one
thousand young Swiss people are
debarred from medicine due to a
lack of university vacancies. In the
coming years Faculties of Medicine
will have to increase their clinical
medicine training capacity by at
least 20%. To help meet this need
USI, commissioned by the Ticino’s
Government, has set up a feasibility study and is now working on
the detailed study stage. The most
realistic scenario is the introduction
of a Master’s course in close collaboration with one or more faculties of
medicine from across the Alps.
USI Vision 2020
Continuing to invest in the existing Faculties:
quality and an interdisciplinary outlook
While the two flagship projects illustrated
above acquire, thanks to their nature, a
key role in picturing USI in ten years time,
it is important not to underestimate the
part that the four faculties (Architecture,
Economics, Communication Sciences and
Informatics) will play in promoting USI’s
teaching and research and in the transformation and regeneration processes of Ticino. The faculties have fully demonstrated their merit in the 2008-2011 period
and their growth plans show a clear desire
to continue along these lines. A strong effort will be put in improving the academic
and scientific quality and the offering of
flexible answers. The latter will not only
be directed at the business world but at
several other fields in society, through
high-level lifelong learning initiatives.
Alongside the set up and development
of flagship projects, it will be therefore
crucial to reinforce those areas in each
Faculty that can be considered outstanding due to their originality, quality and
scientific production at both a national
and international level. Nor should it be
forgotten that USI is a privileged centre
for interdisciplinary research and training: by exploring the common areas of
the various disciplines, it will be possible,
as already done in the past, to build new
bridges between architecture, economics,
communication and informatics, opening
up the way to new knowledge and attractive opportunities.
The Academy of Architecture and the
Faculties of Economics, Communication Sciences and Informatics will
continue to invest in growth, focusing above all on raising quality:
–
by supplementing the permanent
teaching staff;
– by consolidating the quality and specific nature of their course programmes;
–by promoting competitive research in
peak or niche sectors in which they
play a leading role both nationally and
internationally.
Increasing the contribution to cultural debate and
spearheading the defence of Italian language and culture
In its Vision 2020 USI becomes the centre of scientific activity and driver of the
Canton’s cultural life: an institution not
only for field experts but open to its surroundings, a privileged meeting place for
debate and exchanges of ideas on “hot”
themes that interest and concern today’s
society, such as global warming, energy
supply, migration phenomena and the
related multicultural problems, ageing of
the population and its impact on social
insurance, globalisation and many more.
It is this mélange of science, culture and
opening up to the ideas and problems of
the world in which we live that embodies
the true definition of a “University”.
In this context the aim of fostering dialogue between science and society, with
particular attention to young people,
has become a priority both for a better
dissemination of scientific culture and
a public understanding of science, and
to stimulate new scientific careers in response of the shortage of personnel in this
field. USI picks up this challenge formally
in 2011 by embodying L’Ideatorio among
its services.
Moreover, the central role held by USI
in supporting the Italian component of
our country should not be overlooked. In
this respect the Institute of Italian Studies
(ISI) – administratively integrated in the
Faculty of Communication Sciences – has
completed its course offering in Italian
disciplines by introducing a Bachelor’s
programme, consolidating the University’s mission to protect a linguistic and
cultural heritage which is one of the cornerstones of national cohesion.
9
USI aims to become a centre of scientific activity, promoting its contribution to cultural debate in the Canton and playing a crucial role in the
defence of the Italian language and
culture in Switzerland.
The last step taken in this direction
has been the launch of a Bachelor’s
course in Italian language, literature
and civilization, to complete the
course offering of the Institute of
Italian Studies (ISI).
Planning 2012-2016
Planning 2012-2016: context and challenges
What are USI’s teaching and research objectives for the 2012-2016 four-year period? In order to describe them it is important to bear in mind the general scenario:
in today’s globalized world, universities
are in direct competition on an international level and the so called rankings are
increasingly used by the public, politicians and students to assess their value on
the knowledge “marketplace”. The state
is no longer the only patron of the university; other members of society are stakeholders, too. A university’s reputation depends to a great extent on the perception
that society as a whole has of the quality
of its teaching, of the research it carries
out and of its capacity to set in motion innovation processes. USI stands out from
the other Swiss universities thanks to its
original course programme, designed not
only around economic-financial (economics) and historical-cultural (architecture)
considerations, but also around the need
to prepare professionals with expertise in
fields that will have a growing influence
on the evolution of our society (communication sciences and informatics). USI
therefore holds a winning hand: alongside the rising quality of the four faculties and the strategic choices mentioned
above, USI is the most international of
the Swiss universities, the one which most
exposes its students to cultural diversity,
encourages healthy competition and promotes its image throughout the world. It
is a “bridge” between two economic and
cultural centres, Lombardy and Switzerland and, last but not least, it enjoys extraordinary academic autonomy and the
unwavering support of Cantonal and city
In the global village, universities
compete against each other on the
knowledge marketplace and their
reputation increasingly depends on
how they are perceived by the public. USI holds a winning hand: quality
teaching and research, internation-
alism, privileged geographic position, autonomy and full support of
the public and private sector.
political authorities as well as of numerous private foundations that believe in its
projects. USI is aware of the actual limits
to its growth imposed by the context in
which it operates and by the financial resources available but it is determined to
excel within these limits. The challenge
of achieving excellence must be faced
with a blend of realism and prudent ambition: for sure, the road is long but this
should not discourage us from making a
determined and constant effort. Although
USI’s ranking today gives little cause for
celebration there are clear signs that we
are moving in the right direction.
General objectives and strategies
Education and research are complementary activities and an essential mission of
every university. A university aims above
all to teach students how to ask “good”
questions; that is, to identify the problems that are worth tackling and solving
(knowledge over skills). A university does
not only teach students a craft or skills
that are immediately spendable on the
labour market - an essential duty for Universities of Applied Science (FHS/HES/
SUP) - but also, and perhaps above all, it
teaches them how to ask why things happen and stimulates their curiosity to amplify and deepen their knowledge. With
this, it therefore offers greater and more
diversified opportunities in the mid and
long term. Scientific research conducted
in universities has the aim of creating
authentic new knowledge which, if in-
telligently exploited, has the power to
profoundly change a country’s economic
make-up, allowing it to maintain a high
level of competitiveness. Conducting
research means exploring unknown territories of science, understanding what
is still unknown, eliciting the secrets of
nature, understanding man and society:
in other words, going beyond current
limits and horizons. For this reason, scientific research is the source of new ways
of thinking and working and a precursor
of the economic, industrial and cultural
development of a country.
11
Planning 2012-2016
Undergraduate courses :
increasingly demanding to safeguard quality
USI aims to define a high profile course
programme by carefully monitoring
both the interest that the various curricula, and the master’s courses above all,
arouse among students and the needs of
the business world. A careful analysis of
the student body shows that a high percentage arrives from outside Switzerland
(more than 60%). While on one hand
this is a reason of pride and certainly not
a problem as it is perfectly in tune with
the marked internationalization of the
university world, on the other hand the
mediocre quality of the bachelor’s degrees
awarded by some foreign universities (on
the basis of which students can apply
for a “congruent” master at USI) rises
grounded concerns because it could jeopardize the university’s image. USI must
aim at excellence if it wants to improve
its standing both nationally and internationally and it will therefore have to be
more demanding in the admission criteria
for Master’s degrees and in the selection
at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Besides raising the bar for potential
“USI students”, the adoption of stricter
admission and selection criteria will help
keep the University to the limited size
contemplated in the “Vision 2020”. The
small intake of students from beyond
St. Gotthard, above all from Germanspeaking Switzerland, not only penalises
USI in terms of its image across the Alps,
but also endangers the subsidies granted
under the inter-canton agreement. The
problem is not the language barrier - most
of USI’s master’s courses are offered in
English which is common and generally
spoken by young people across the Alps -
In general, the objectives below will
remain priority for the undergraduate courses
–applying strict admission (especially in
assessing the qualifications awarded
outside Switzerland) and selection
criteria to keep growth at reasonable
levels;
–increasing the number of students
from other Swiss cantons.
but the fact that Swiss students can access
the diverse course programmes of prestigious universities “next door”. In this light
it is legitimate to believe that the situation
will improve when the AlpTransit opens
(scheduled for 2017) as it will bring Ticino
and German-speaking Switzerland much
closer together. As regards the individual
faculties, in Architecture there is both
the need and the desire to reinforce the
historical-humanistic and technical-scientific disciplines revolving around design:
art history and architecture, culture of the
territory, process plant engineering, technology and ecology. These areas, some of
which are extremely topical and important for life on earth, will allow the Academy to gain a foothold also in the world
of research. The extraordinary increase in
the number of students (doubled in the
last four-year period) gives rise to serious
problems for the Faculty of Economics,
in which the professor-student ratio is far
from satisfactory. If this situation persists,
the effort to guarantee high quality teaching - currently sustainable only thanks
to the recruitment of contract lecturers would have negative repercussions on research in which the contribution of these
lecturers is practically zero. Top priority
must therefore be given to increasing the
number of full professors and assistant
professors in the three areas of the Faculty: economics, finance and management.
The Faculty of Communication Sciences
is facing fierce competition, not only from
other Swiss universities but also from
some Universities of Applied Science and
professional schools specialized in specific fields of communication. It is therefore
vital for the faculty to promote its uniqueness, focusing on the common theme
- communication -, and avoiding dispersion or fragmentation that could threaten
its identity. The pertinence of the various
courses has been evaluated in this light,
improving coordination and correspondence with the main lines of research, and
reviewing the Master’s courses offered,
keeping only those with a sufficient number of students and favouring synergy
among the programmes. The Faculty of
Informatics’ course programme, which is
already optimal, has improved by adapting the Bachelor’s programme to the new
Master’s courses in order to reach its
goals, by introducing a Bachelor’s degree
in computational science and by adding and harmonizing the new majors in
computational science and “embedded
systems” within the existing master structure. A technical management type interdisciplinary master will be created in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics
to answer the needs of the territory. The
Faculty intends to demonstrate that it can
achieve the status of the two federal polytechnic schools (ETH Zurich and EPFL),
an aim to which it can legitimately aspire,
by raising quality and increasing the number of students.
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In particular, for the individual
faculties
–the Academy of Architecture consolidates the historical-humanistic and
technical-scientific disciplines;
–Economics aims to increase the number of full professors and assistant
professors to respond to the growing
number of students;
–Communication Sciences strengthens
its identity, focusing on fields that are
relevant and specific to the discipline;
–Informatics completes its study programme in computational science
course, promotes collaboration programmes with the other faculties
(Master in Informatics and Economics), and is integrating the embedded
system sector.
Planning 2012-2016
Research: ongoing commitment to excellence
Research, and fundamental research
above all, is very important for USI because the prestige of the University depends to a great extent on the quality of
the results obtained in this complex and
demanding activity. The balance sheet
of the past four years showed a marked
growth in qualitatively more valid research, competitive research (financed
by the Swiss National Fund for Scientific
Research (FNS) and the European Union
(EU)) whose volume has already more
than doubled. The contribution given by
the Faculty of Informatics to this sector
is significant; indeed, thanks also to the
work of the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA), our Faculty
ranks third behind the federal polytechnics on the Swiss university landscape in
terms of projects financed by the FNS.
However, with real satisfaction we have
noted that in recent selections of the FNS
the number of projects awarded to the
other faculties has grown constantly, confirming a spirit of “contagious” emulation
which is highly rewarding: even the Academy of Architecture, until now at the margins of research, is gradually discovering
its resources. The percentage of financing for research through the acquisition
of external funds is constantly growing
and now stands at more than 12% of the
global budget of USI, a figure which has
improved the University’s competitive-
ness. Another figure? In 2011 the value
of FNS approved projects implemented
by researchers from USI stood at more
than 9 million francs, a clear demonstration that Ticino is without a doubt coming out of the scientific desert in which it
found itself twenty years ago. In this context it is not surprising that the number
of doctoral candidates, lifeblood of scientific progress, has risen steadily and now
represents almosts 10% of the student
population.
In the coming four year period, USI will
confirm its ongoing commitment to further increasing the volume of research,
above all competitive research which
is the most valid in qualitative terms. A
further substantial increase compared
to the current situation (in 2011 funds
granted for competitive research projects
amounted to 14 million francs) appears
to be a reasonable and realistic target for
2016. This would allow USI to obtain
more federal subsidies linked principally
to performance in this field. At a strategic
level research will have to be consolidated
in disciplinary areas which are already
considered strengths and reinforced in
emerging ones, as demonstrated by an
examination of the individual faculties.
In Architecture art history is a new area
of research with a high potential for development and so the creation of an Institute with its own scientific autonomy
has been more than justified. Moreover,
in the wake of projects underway subsidised by the FNS – within the framework
of the PNR65 New Urban Quality – and
by the Swiss University Conference (CUS)
– within the framework of the Swiss Cooperation Project in Architecture (SCPA)
– interesting research should emerge in
the field of culture of the territory and
restoration and re-use. In the Faculty
of Economics, research will be carried
on in three areas: finance, management
(primarily on the macroscopic theory of
organizations) and public and regional
economics. The three research institutes
(IFin, IMA and IdEP were evaluated by
international experts using a peer review
method (introduced at USI in 2008 for
quality control), and received flattering
results thanks to the works published in
the top journals of the various fields of
specialization. From a strategic point of
view IFin, besides finance based on quantitative methods (in which it excels), will
have to focus more on corporate finance,
an interesting and topical discipline, while
IdEP and IRE (Institute of Economic Research) would acquire rewards in terms
of critical mass and visibility from closer
collaboration. Some fields of the Faculty
of Communication Sciences have made
good progress in competitive research.
Health communication, new technologies
(in particular e-learning) in the knowl-
15
edge society, argumentation and some
aspects of the media are original fields of
research which are still partly neglected
in Swiss research: these are currently the
Faculty’s strengths and it is expected that
they will remain so in the coming years. At
the same time intercultural communication is a highly topical emerging area with
interesting development potential. The
Faculty of Informatics, despite being the
youngest faculty at USI, has become a real
centre of national excellence in strategic
sectors of research in informatics (the volume of acquired projects since the start of
its scientific activities equals to 15 million
francs from the FNS alone including IDSIA activities) and there is no doubt that
it can soon become an international reference point in this field. The Institute of
Computational Science will certainly contribute to reaching this aim. The CSCSICS partnership lies at the heart of the
national super-computing network – the
Swiss Platform for High-Performance
and
High-Productivity
Computing
(HP2C) – whose task is to form, through
a series of projects with marked scientific
impact, the human resources and skills required to optimally tackle the generation
jump inherent in the advent of petaflop
machines (from one hundred to one thousand times faster than today’s computers)
envisaged in HPCN’s strategy. The HP2C
programme will be continued by CUS in
the 2013-2016 period under the name
of PASC (Swiss Platform for Advanced
Scientific Computing). Moreover, in liaison with SUPSI, the faculty’s relationship
with the IDSIA will be redefined so that it
effectively becomes an institute which is
common to USI and SUPSI. USI intends
to continue periodic evaluation by external experts (peer review) of the activities
carried out by the research institutes and
laboratories based on bibliometric analysis of scientific publications, attainment
of subsidies for competitive research, the
quality of the doctoral schools and the
training of the doctoral candidates. This
tool has proved useful in understanding
the progress, quality and impact of the results obtained but still has to be refined
as regards implementation of the experts’
recommendations to enable changes in
the focus of research and fair and targeted
allocation of the available human and financial resources.
In the field of research, USI, after
having doubled its financing through
third party funds in the 2006-2010
period, considers it reasonable and
realistic to aim for a further significant increase primarily in its priority
sectors:
–art history and architecture, culture of
the territory, restoration and re-use at
the Academy of Architecture;
–finance, management (theory of organizations), public and regional economics in Economics;
–argumentation, health care communication, media economics and new
technologies in the knowledge society
in Communication Sciences;
–
software engineering, distributed
computing systems, information systems, intelligent systems, design of
algorithms, embedded systems and
computational science in Informatics;
without ruling out other new opportunities.
Planning 2012-2016
Doctoral education: a priority
Research thrives above all on the contribution of doctoral candidates to the
projects in which they are involved. It
is therefore obvious that promoting and
developing doctoral training is a priority
in the strategic plans of the Rectors’ Conference of Swiss Universities (CRUS). In
the 2008-2011 four year period USI stood
out for the specialist doctoral training offered in some sectors: the finance school
of the Swiss Finance Institute (SFI), the
school of health care economics of the
Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+)
and the 3 doctoral schools specialising
in communication and health care, in
teaching and e-learning technologies and
in reasoning financed by the FNS within
the framework of the ProDoc programme
which, however, will not continue beyond
2012. In any case, CRUS intends to con-
tinue this initiative, launching – only for
teaching as research support remains a
prerogative of the FNS – doctoral programmes in the 2013-2016 period, in
which inter-institutional collaboration
and the socialization of the doctoral candidates are central themes. USI has an excellent chance of participating positively
in this project, but in general it must pay
greater attention to improving the quality
of its doctoral candidates. In particular, (i)
“mentoring” by thesis coordinators and
their collaborators could be improved;
(ii) there should be regular evaluation by
the faculty doctoral committees of the
progress of the thesis work; (iii) doctoral
thesis must be documented through publication in scientific international peer
reviewed journals or by important publishers; (iv) doctoral candidates should be
USI currently has 264 doctoral candidates, close to 10% of the total number of students.
od, the faculties aim to improve the
“mentoring” of doctoral candidates,
introduce regular evaluation of the
progress of thesis work, promote
the publications of doctoral candidates in international peer reviewed
scientific magazines and standardize
doctoral regulations.
There are 5 doctoral schools in national networks: finance, health care
economics, health care communication, training technologies and reasoning. In the coming four year peri-
gradually introduced on the national and
international scene through presentation
of the results of their research at workshops and conferences. Finally, the doctoral regulations of the individual faculties
must be standardized as far as possible.
Life-long learning:
an imperative in an ageing country
It has been said many times: the only resource our country has is its grey matter.
The means for nurturing it are education
and research. The efforts made so far to
support these strategic sectors have allowed Switzerland to play a leading role
on the international stage. Will we know
how to hold on to this role? We will be
faced by many challenges: the rapid evolution of the markets stimulated by increasingly high-performance and sophisticated production and communication
technologies, the profound changes in
society that this revolution introduces at a
global level, the complex problems linked
to environmental protection and others.
There is no doubt that we will face these
challenges, but at the same time we must
be aware of the fact that this is an ageing
country so, along with other tools, lifelong
learning becomes strategically important
for our future. USI realized right at its inception how important lifelong learning
is, setting up a series of Executive Masters
(EM) and Masters of Advanced Studies
(MAS) specialized in fields of great professional importance: from economics
and health care management to the management of business communication via
teaching management, embedded system
design, intercultural communication and
public administration. In 2009 a MAS
was set up in humanitarian logistics and
management with the support of a private
foundation and, more recently, an EM
was launched in Business Administration
(EMBA). Moreover, since few years, USI
has offered short, 5 days interdisciplinary
courses in the field of Cardio e-TeC and
BioBusiness. Barring two regional level
programmes, all these courses have an
international orientation and attract highly-qualified participants. Aware of the
strategic importance of this sector, USI
will continue to observe the evolution of
the society it is rooted in – with a careful
eye above all to the tertiary sector where
the so-called intangible assets and virtual
communities are continuing to develop –
in order to respond rapidly and flexibly
to its needs with a high level course programme which not only meets the need
for experienced professionals but also
triggers innovative processes by opening
up to new niches of knowledge.
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Today, there are 7 programmes:
– Master of Advanced Studies in Health Care Economics and Management (Net-MEGS)
– Executive Master of Science in Communications Management (EMScom)
– Master of Advanced Studies in Training Management (MAGF)
– Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication (MIC)
– Master of Advanced Studies of Engineering in Embedded Systems Design (ALaRI)
– Master of Advanced Studies in Humanitarian Logistics and Management (MAS HLM)
– Executive Master in Business Administration (EMBA)
And two advanced short courses in biomedicine and biotechnology (Cardio e-TeC and BioBusiness).
Planning 2012-2016
Academic staff
The quality of research and teaching is
directly dependent on the talent and
teaching skills of those responsible for it.
Renown personalities from the world of
science act as a real attraction for young
talented people, creating a virtuous circle
for the qualitative growth of the university. The choice of professors is therefore of
crucial importance for the future of USI.
The regulations concerning the composition of the search committees and the
procedures governing their functioning
have been reviewed in order to raise the
scientific level, the rigour, the transparency and the uniformity of the “modus
operandi” in all faculties. It appears clear
that the work of the search committees
must be preceded by clear indications to
help verify the scientific interest linked
to the creation, confirmation or suppres-
sion of a given teaching position and/or
disciplinary areas, as well as verification
of the compatibility with the resources
available. In this sense, the set up of
“profile” commissions with the participation of experts from outside USI, already
implemented at most Swiss universities,
has proved to be an effective academic
planning tool from which USI can reap
great rewards. To favour greater commitment in the planning and development of
research projects, USI intends to accelerate the strategy aimed at transforming
the teaching staff from mainly contract
lecturers with reduced employment rates,
into a group of full professors and fulltime assistant professors. In particular,
the card of assistant professors with tenure track must be played; these individuals, having to build an academic career in
USI intends to reinforce its academic
staff by
– gradually increasing the number of full
professors and reducing the number
of contract lecturers in order to promote the growth of scientific research;
–consolidating the number and role of
the scientific collaborators (post-doc);
– promoting careers for women.
a particularly competitive environment,
can contribute significantly to the growth
of scientific research. USI has taken great
steps forward in promoting the careers
of women: the percentage of women assistant professors (now almost 30%) is in
line with national avarage, while the situation is still unsatisfactory as regards full
professors. However, the promotion of
the assistant professors to permanent positions should remedy this situation naturally. USI is firmly committed to this challenge, on one condition: there will be no
compromising on quality, skills and merit.
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Planning 2012-2016
Partnerships and networks
USI has built a sound network of academic partnerships with the other Swiss
universities and some foreign universities
and aims to expand this wherever its contribution allows its scientific knowledge
to come to the fore. It has established
institutional links and scientific collaboration projects with other Swiss universities
within the framework of the CUS Cooperation and Innovation Programmes (PCI),
taking part in various projects in SCPA,
SSPH+ and in the Swiss Public Administration Network (SPAN). The CRUS is
keen to continue SSPH+ and SPAN providing that the activities are progressively
taken up by the universities involved:
in this light USI has already decided, in
line with the principle of sustainability,
to commit to assistant professor posts financed under the two programmes. SCPA
will end at the end of 2012 and will not be
confirmed. The fruitful collaboration in
the field of finance with the SFI centres
in Zurich (UniZH and ETH Zurich) and
with the Arc Lémanique (UniGE, UniL
and EPFL) should continue smoothly in
the 2013-2016 period. Thanks to the Faculty of Informatics, in particular to ICS,
USI has set up a promising and privileged
partnership with ETH Zurich with which
it has signed an agreement concerning the
creation of dual USI-ETH Zurich teaching positions in the field of computational
science and engineering, extending also
to economic sciences. At an international
level, USI has privileged institutional relationships with the major universities in
Lombardy in particular the Politecnico
di Milano, the Università Cattolica and
Università di Pavia. With these it man-
USI takes part in 4 projects of strategic national importance (SSPH+,
SPAN, Réseau Cinema CH, Egalité de
chance), is a leader in the project set
up by the 3 schools of architecture
(SCPA) and in the HP2C project with
ETH Zurich and EPFL, is part of the
Swiss Finance Institute with centres in
Zurich and Geneva-Lausanne, has co-
operation agreements with the main
universities in Lombardy and also
internationally, with Virginia Tech
and the Communication University
of China, not to mention over 70 Erasmus exchange agreements and innumerable collaboration agreements
with professors within the framework of their research activities.
ages combined degree programmes, biennial Masters in communication, economics and informatics and doctoral
programmes. Alongside its role of “bridge
university” between Lombardy and Swiss
universities, USI will continue to pay special attention to collaboration with some
extra-European universities, in particular
with Virginia Tech on architecture and
health care communication and with the
Communication University of China in
the field of media. Alongside these partnerships which have been formalised in
institutional agreements, international
communication is above all promoted
and developed bottom up by USI professors and researchers who have forged relationships within the framework of their
projects and areas of research with their
colleagues at universities throughout the
world. At a regional level, the opening of
the Lugano-Viganello Campus offers a
unique opportunity to further reinforce
the ties and relationships between USI
and SUPSI, in particular between the
Faculty of Informatics and their Department of Innovative Technologies (DTI),
both housed in the new buildings. This
“university centre” must plant its roots in
the awareness that the two institutes, despite having different missions and objectives and clear and distinct profiles, have
the same ambition: that of taking part in
the creation of “Scientific Ticino”, a fascinating project which will contribute in a
decisive way to the economic, social and
cultural development of the Canton. The
network of Ticino’s research institutions
(IRB, IOSI, DTI, CCT) woven around
the CSCS in the field of computational life
sciences (and which has the merit of being
one of the main reasons behind the foundation of the ICS) is no longer financed
since 2011. Despite this the Faculty of
Informatics and the ICS will continue to
work alongside some of the partner institutions: with CCT in numerical modelling
and simulation of electrical phenomena
concerning the physiology of the heart
and with DTI in the field of mathematical
and physical applications in engineering.
Furthermore, plans are to strenghten the
cooperation with IRB in the field of bioinformatics. The relationships with the territory of the four faculties are described
in detail in their individual development
plans.
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Planning 2012-2016
Governance
Financial resources: the growing
importance of private support
The unique aspect of the University’s governance is the presidential system which
gathers in a single person the strategic
function (exercised as president of the
University Council) and operative function (exercised as rector of USI). While
until now there has been no need to separate these duties, USI’s growth will make
the appointment of at least one vice-president to assist the President in the operative functions a must.
Four main sources - federal subsidies,
intercanton agreement, canton contributions under the service contract and student enrolment fees - allow us to finance
the university’s development. However,
since 70% of USI’s financing - like that
of the other universities in Ticino - depends on the number of students, when
their limit number has been reached any
growth in financial resources will depend
on the amount of competitive research
carried out and its leverage in the calculation of federal and canton subsidies.
Therefore, alongside public financing,
USI aims to encourage private financing. Various foundations and associations
have already contributed generously.
The members of the University
Council are professors (rectors) of
other universities, including the
President of USI, renowned personalities from the world of finance,
the director of DECS and the Deans
representing their Faculties. It is
independent as regards academic
matters and autonomous within
the context of the service contract
with the Canton as regards the finance and planning sectors.
Logistics
Throughout the years USI has grown in
terms of student numbers, permanent
teaching staff and, above all, as regards
the intermediate staff in the wake of the
success of research. Three new institutes
have also been set up: the ISI, the ICS
and the Institute of Art History and Architecture. This success means that USI is
faced now, earlier than expected, with a
series of logistic problems that have made
the construction of new spaces in Lugano and Mendrisio a question of urgency.
One objective with top priority is therefore the construction of Campus 2 (or the
Lugano-Viganello campus, due to its location). For reasons of coherence, cohesion
and synergy it has been decided to gather
the Faculty of Informatics (including the
ICS and AlaRI institutes) and the DTI of
SUPSI, along with informatics and other
services, at the new Campus. The spaces
freed up at the current Campus will be allocated to the Faculty of Economics and
Communication Sciences. The overall
costs of the construction are estimated
to be around 100 million francs of which
45 will be borne by USI. After deducting
the financing of the Swiss Confederation
(30%) and the Ticino Canton (9 million
francs), USI will bear annual management
costs of around 1.35 million francs.
There are plans for two new buildings in Mendrisio. One called “Teatro
dell’Architettura” in the Turconi area,
comprising three above ground levels
intended as show floors, and two underground levels for educational purposes
(multimedia labs) and storage of models
and documents produced by the teaching and research work of the Academy
and the Archive of the Modern. The second building will rise in the Canavée
area. A new building for teaching as well
as reallocation of the spaces in the Turconi building to welcome the Academy
Library and the offices of the Institute
of Art History and Architecture and the
Archive of the Modern. In the Canavée
Building the works will expand the area
devoted to teaching with the goal of turning the “Academy Gallery” in a teaching
space and the classrooms upstairs in studios. The overall cost will be of around 40
million francs.
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