“With each other, not alongside each other”

Claudia Witt, how far ahead do you look when you’re discussing UZH’s digital future?
Claudia Witt: We take a broad perspective and think in broad brush strokes. We look 10 to 15 years into the future, so that we can work back from there to the present and consider what course UZH should set in the here and now. If you’re only ever concentrating on the next step, you’ve only a limited view of the long-term opportunities of technological progress.

Lena Jäger, the Board is a cross-disciplinary body. What do its members have in common?
Lena Jäger: We share a sound knowledge of digital technologies, artificial intelligence and data science in both fundamental research and innovative applications. The fact we come from different disciplines helps us to handle the complexity of our job. 

Harald Gall, what is the board’s remit?
Harald Gall: We advise the Executive Board of the University on implementing the UZH Digital Strategy that was launched last year. Our most important job is to draw up an annual agenda for this work, known as the Digital Charter. The first charter was adopted by the Executive Board in April 2024, and subsequent issues will build on it.

What was your approach to drawing up the agenda?
Harald Gall: We first looked outwards and analyzed the general trends in digitalization. To do this, we drew on a range of studies, on discussions with various experts from other universities and the business sector, as well as on a survey of employees and students at UZH. All in all, we analyzed around a dozen trends, from the metaverse to virtual reality to AI-assisted autonomous lab robots. Three of these trends are the top priorities for UZH, in our view. The first is the development and application of AI technologies, the second secure computing, and the third datafication, in other words the processing, modeling and secure use of large volumes of data. We then defined a series of specific focus areas relating to these trends. 

Does this process differ from that of other universities?
Harald Gall: Our approach is comparatively comprehensive. Some universities concentrate on digitalizing administrative processes, others devote themselves primarily to digital learning and teaching formats, and still more focus on the technological aspects of research. We look at all of the roles of higher education – research, teaching and services – at the same time.

Why did UZH opt for this wide-ranging approach?
Lena Jäger: Because we’re a research-intensive comprehensive university that covers an extraordinary range of subjects, and we can gain a huge amount from the path we have chosen. The benefit and impact of UZH’s diversity flourish when the different areas work with each other, not simply alongside each other. We want to encourage working with each other. Going forward, we want to develop the digital infrastructure so that it helps mesh research, teaching and services more tightly, facilitates more interdisciplinary collaboration, and makes it easier for those who work and study at UZH to interact and cooperate flexibly.

Claudia Witt: Digital technology can do way more than just improve the efficiency of isolated existing processes. It can create the basis on which we can organize research, teaching and services in a much more open and agile way. To achieve this we must work towards a flexible interplay of integrated digital processes, and practice joined-up thinking from the very start. That initially involves extra effort, but it’s much harder and more costly if, further down the line, you have to reconcile systems that have been developed independently of each other.

What needs to be in place for structures and processes to become more flexible?
Harald Gall: Data management at UZH is still very fragmented, and not all of the data we use is of the quality we need. We have to work harder towards a high-quality data storage system and coordinated data management. A university-wide outlook is very helpful here, as we now have thanks to the Digital Strategy. 

What else is important?
Harald Gall:  We want smart processes, digital infrastructures and software that keep the necessary computing power to a minimum. User-friendliness and sustainability are also important.

Where at UZH is the digital transformation most advanced?
Claudia Witt: In research. UZH conducts excellent research into digital topics. It covers an amazingly broad spectrum of subjects, and many disciplines are conducting high-level research into artificial intelligence, too. These range from computer science and computational linguistics to medicine and the sciences, and through to economics, law, social sciences and humanities. Meanwhile, analyzing the diverse social impacts of digital technologies is another of UZH’s strengths . Under the umbrella of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI), since 2016 alone UZH has connected more than a thousand researchers and created over thirty new professorships on digitalization subjects.

Harald Gall: UZH knows how to do technology, and it knows how to do responsibility.

Lena Jäger: And it’s good at combining the two!

How might the research framework be improved?
Lena Jäger: The focus for research is on expanding available processing power and memory capacity. Special attention is also being paid to data that requires a high degree of security, such health-related information. We also need to ensure low-threshold access to advanced AI applications. A further goal is to better coordinate AI research at UZH across the full breadth of subjects. What’s more, user-friendly digital interfaces and dashboards should be rolled out to relieve the administrative burden on UZH researchers.

How will teaching and studying change of the next 10 to 15 years?
Lena Jäger: There are more and more digital learning aids on offer, and we are seeing a rise in the availability of knowledge through artificial intelligence. This is changing the learning habits of students, and their expectations of the university. At the same time, there has been a shift in what employers want and need, and we must prepare our students for that. University studies have to empower students to adapt quickly to changing conditions and technological innovations. That’s why it’s important to teach transferable skills, for example. Interdisciplinary formats and research-linked projects in which students solve problems both independently and in teams are a good way of preparing them for future job requirements.

Claudia Witt: Students increasingly want to individualize their studies. Choosing from the full range of programs on offer, they will want to put together a curriculum that reflects their goals and needs. Lifelong learning will also grow further in importance, and we must continue to make the courses we offer more flexible in response. We could complement our present bachelor’s and master’s degrees with interdisciplinary micro-certificates. UZH’s School for Transdisciplinary Studies or the DSI’s Digital Skills minor program are already showing where the journey might take us. However, at UZH it’s still not all that easy to organize cross-faculty programs. 

To what extent are greater flexibility and personalization connected with the digital transformation?
Claudia Witt: The question is always how much organizational complexity we can handle. Making teaching and studying more flexible and personal results in greater complexity on the organizational side, and sooner or later you’ll reach your limits. Digital technology does mean that these boundaries are much more expansive than previously, however. A planned think tank on UZH’s digital future will develop and discuss ideas for how this scope can be used intelligently.

How is artificial intelligence changing learning and teaching at the university?
Lena Jäger: It is becoming ever easier to access knowledge, which makes much of student life easier, but also has upsides and downsides. One of the downsides is that it is more challenging to get students to engage in detail with course content. Up to now, term papers were an effective way of going deep into a subject, but they don’t make sense if students can get artificial intelligence to write their papers for them.

What would you suggest as an alternative?
Lena Jäger: Students will only study a subject in depth if they are self-motivated. We have to spark their curiosity and enthusiasm to encourage them to explore correlations and solve problems independently. The best way of doing that is direct dialogue between students and teaching staff. Research-linked formats, small groups and project teams all offer excellent vehicles here.

So the focus moves back to direct interaction between teaching staff and students, either despite or because of digital technology. Doesn’t that complete a circle?
Harald Gall: Direct dialogue has always been at the heart of university teaching and the crucial factor in the quality of a university education. All the signs are that it will remain so. Digital technology will never replace direct exchange, but it can complement it. Digital aids can take on certain didactic, administrative and organizational tasks, and therefore free up capacity in in-person teaching for deeper discussion, creative settings and personal support. Artificial intelligence can also be harnessed for the same ends.

Can you give a specific example?
Lena Jäger: UZH is planning to launch an AI-based “buddy” for the students by the end of 2025. The idea germinated in a Digital Society Initiative Strategy Lab. It’s an app that integrates different services. For example, the AI buddy is to support students with choosing their courses, suggest resources for further reading, or help them to coordinate in-person conversations with other students or the teaching staff. The services of the future will also include personal assessments of skills and academic achievement, and learning portfolio management functions.

Claudia Witt: Of course, the AI buddy can only work if students feed it with their own data, such as information on the courses they have chosen or their performance to date. Students should be able to decide for themselves whether and to what degree they want to use the buddy. The idea is for them to be able to share their data individually and selectively to use specific services. It makes sense with these AI-based tools for people to determine themselves which services they want to use, and which not. UZH’s job is to ensure data security and data quality, and to build and maintain trust. As with all AI-based tools, whether or not they are used is ultimately a matter of that trust.

Should artificial intelligence also be used to support administrative departments?
Lena Jäger: Yes. We’re looking into a digital assistant for administrative processes that is supported by generative AI. It’s a large language model trained specifically for the university’s internal use. 

How fast can and should the digital transformation advance at UZH?
Harald Gall: We have to stay realistic and not get ahead of ourselves. That’s why we’re setting priorities and progressing gradually. The Digital Charter 2024 proposes seven focus areas. In about a year’s time we’ll review progress and evaluate where we can move faster, and where we have to take it easier. Where necessary, we’ll also propose amendments to the Digital Charter. Decisions will always be made by the Executive Board of the University, which also allocates resources. The focus areas will then be implemented by the responsible specialist departments.