Learning to Operate in Zurich and Leipzig

When Zurich medical student Timothy Nwogor followed the first lectures on the heart surgery bridge project, he wasn’t sitting in an auditorium. He was in Brazil and set his alarm in the middle of the night to watch live. Several thousand kilometers away, students from Zurich and Leipzig were logging into the same lecture. They didn’t know each other, but worked as a team from the outset. 

That heart surgery of all things would become the testing ground for such an experiment may at first seem contradictory. Few disciplines draw so heavily on precision, dexterity and direct patient contact. And yet a teaching format has been developed that sees distance not as an obstacle but as a starting point. 

Project initiator Bettina Pfannmüller, senior physician and lecturer in heart surgery at University Hospital Zurich, brought the two university sites together drawing on her previous work in Leipzig and continued ties to the heart clinic there. “The impetus came from the funding line global_innovation from the UZH Teaching Fund (ULF), which is designed to give students international learning experiences,” says Pfannmüller. The project was also supported by the Swiss-European Mobility Programme (SEMP), the Swiss program for Erasmus+. 

Building a bridge between Zurich and Leipzig meant bringing together different teaching cultures, study regulations and ideas of how medicine is taught. As a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP), the format combined in-person short-term mobility stays with virtual components. While in Zurich it was offered as part of the Mantelstudium (specialized study outside the core curriculum), in Leipzig it ran as an elective. In the summer and early fall 2026, 24 students took part, across four groups, each made up of equal numbers from Zurich and Leipzig.  In the first week of the two-week course, they worked together exclusively online, attending lectures by specialists from the Heart Center and the University of Leipzig, discussing specialist literature, preparing content and presenting results. It wasn’t until the second week that the groups met in person in Zurich. 

Leipzig medical student Edon Rufati initially expected there to be marked differences between the two study sites, but his experience proved otherwise: “Actually, I noticed more similarities than differences.” Despite the screens and physical distance, the collaboration worked surprisingly well, he says. 

The online sessions were only one part of the project, however. Equally important was the question of how to bring a highly specialized discipline to life. In Leipzig that happened at the LernKlinik, where students trained on simulators, practiced conversations and clinical examination techniques with patient actors, and worked through realistic scenarios. The students from Zurich watched online. 

In Zurich, the approach was different. In the heart surgery simulation labs, participants practiced suturing, worked on pig hearts, and learned how heart-lung machines are used. They also did bedside rounds, took part in case review discussions and observed operations. “We got to look over the surgeon’s shoulder. That was incredibly exciting, but also took a very long time. At the end we understood why comfortable footwear is recommended in the operating room,” one student said with a smile at the closing event, where the students presented their findings as posters. 

Student Eva-Maria Riedl from Leipzig believes the strength of the teaching format is its real-world focus and hands-on approach: “So you know what you’re studying for.” Many students found the exercises on pig hearts particularly memorable. Timothy Nwogor looks back on that with enthusiasm, saying he found it “really cool”. But the participants learned more than just surgery. They experienced how treatment decisions are made, how different professions work together, and what role communication plays in everyday clinical practice. 

The project was also a success thanks to the commitment of students themselves. In Zurich, medical student Cédéric Bamert took care of organizational tasks, while in Leipzig this was done by Eva-Maria Riedl. They not only arranged journeys and accommodation, but also ensured that working groups turned into genuine encounters.

Evening get-togethers, discussions and city tours extended the exchange beyond the official timetable. Cédéric Bamert saw this as a chance to get to know students from another university, and to make friends.

For Professor Bettina Pfannmüller, the project above all showed the true value of international teaching: “Not in partnership agreements or mobility statistics, but in people actually working together, talking to each other, and learning from one another.” Looking to the future, student Eva-Maria Riedl says: “Maybe we’ve paved the way for other international projects.” 

There are a growing number of ways for students to gain international experience as part of their degree program at UZH. The most important opportunities include:

• Physical mobility programs such as exchange semesters, research stays and short programs (summer/winter schools, BIPs, etc.). They allow students to get to know international higher education and research cultures and to strengthen their intercultural skills. The Global Student Experience office provides comprehensive advice and support to students planning and organizing a stay abroad.
• Virtual and hybrid exchange formats: Online formats such as Cooperative Online International Learning (COIL) provide students with intercultural experiences and insights into different perspectives via the digital or hybrid space. Some COIL-based courses also include a short in-person phase at a partner university. On-site courses can also provide international experiences, for example, by connecting digitally with experts from abroad, or by working on case studies from other cultural contexts.
• Joint and double degree programs: Programs such as the Una Europa Joint Bachelor of Arts in European Studies (BAES) and the Bachelor in Sustainability (BASUS)  allow for structured international studies with a degree awarded jointly by several universities.

UZH supports committed instructors in developing new teaching formats to promote intercultural experiences among students. Depending on the course format, different sources of funding are available for this purpose:

• University Teaching Fund “global_innovation” (ULF): The global_innovation funding line of the UZH Teaching Fund supports the implementation of projects that allow students to gain experience in internationalization at the module level. The program_innovationfunding line makes corresponding collaborations at the study program level possible. Depending on the course format, funding from the ULF open_innovation line may also be available.
• Global Funding Scheme: The UZH Global Funding Scheme supports faculties, departments, and professional service units in developing and implementing joint initiatives with international partners
• Promoting BIP through SEMP: The Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) is a format that allows students and staff to gain international experience through cooperative teaching and learning exchanges. They are made possible by teaching partnerships within a consortium of several European universities. Since the Fall Semester of 2025, BIP funding can be combined with funding from the ULF global_innovation line. BIP funding can be requested through the Global Student Experience office.
• Continuing education: UZH offers didactica courses  on the topic of internationalization in teaching; useful suggestions and tools can be found on the Teaching Tools platform.
• Exchanges between peers: UZH encourages members of the teaching staff to discuss their experiences. For example, the UZH Teaching Day, Wednesday 28 October 2026) will be dedicated to the topic of internationality in teaching.