Monocle’s editorial director and chairman Tyler Brûlé is joined by Professor Joël Mesot, president of ETH Zürich, one of the world’s leading universities. They discuss the future of learning, Zürich’s symbiotic relationship with the institution and ETH’s impressive start-up programme, the Spin-offs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A thread that runs through almost all of our interviews here on the Chiefs is that the most successful business owners know how to use their geography to their advantage.
On today's episode, we take a closer look at one Swiss institution whose vital symbiotic relationship with the city of Zurich forms the key to its success.
Woven deeply into Zurich's fabric, ETHA, or ETH, holds an impressive graduate employment rate of 99% one year after students graduate.
It also has strong links with many of the leading multinationals found in the city and across Switzerland.
And though it's not quite the household name granted to other institutions of its caliber like Oxford or MIT, ETH ranks consistently as one of the top 10 universities worldwide.
To explain why this low profile but high performing institute prefers to keep things this way is Etihad's director, Professor Joel Meso.
A former student and Longtime professor at ETH, Dr.
Meso took over the role as chair at the start of 2019, and as you might imagine, has had a number of challenges to juggle on top of his pre existing goals for the development of the institution.
On a Snowy January morning, Dr.
Meso joined me at our studios here in Zurich to talk about the future of learning, the Institute's commitment to technical excellence, and why Etihad's infamous startup program, the Spin Offs, has had a record year.
This is the Chiefs on Monocle 24.
I'm Tyler Brulee.
Mr.
Meso, I want to start and maybe rewind two years and your arrival at ETH, tell us a little bit about the institution that you arrived at.
Its perception domestically within Switzerland, which is one thing, but also internationally.
So maybe just to clarify, I've been professor at ETH since quite a while, so I know the organization very well.
But of course, when you take the lead of such an amazing institution, what struck me most is how easy it is to get doors open.
What I needed to do before to reach certain people was months of work here.
I can get anybody within a few days, and that's everything.
Because of the reputation of this school, that makes life much more easy.