 broad framework set by the state. All new curricula and existing curricula changes should require the final approval by the Provost (Vice Rector) and President (Rector). The various degree programs should be accredited by an appropriate accreditation board regularly.
· We support the establishment of Schools or Offices of Graduate Studies in every institution. These schools or offices should be in charge of developing and proposing postgraduate qualification programs, and doctoral programs to the Senate. These schools or offices should be responsible for making sure that program requirements are satisfied for the award of graduate degrees.
F. Ethics and Transparency: Creating Trust
· In this particularly difficult period, every euro spent educating students is essential. A special public service or an independent authority should be responsible for handling and distributing public funding to institutions, for evaluating the cost of services, for processing relevant indicators and standards and collecting all necessary data from the institutions.
· It is necessary that universities create a set of rules of faculty, staff and student engagement based on a broad set of ethics. The universities should have clear clauses that define and manage conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment to safeguard against unintended misappropriations, mismanagement, plagiarism and nepotism. The universities should have a clear set of rules and processes to promote and enforce ethics in a way that brings about trust.
· Each university should perform its own audit of various financial functions and report regularly the results of this audit.
Members of International Committee
Professor of Medical Science and President of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Patrick Aebischer was trained as an MD (1980) and a Neuroscientist (1983) at the University of Geneva and Fribourg in Switzerland. From 1984 to 1992, he worked at Brown University in Providence (Rhode Island, United States), as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Medical Sciences. In 1991, he became the chairman of the Section of Artificial Organs, Biomaterials and Cellular Technology of the Division of Biology and Medicine of Brown University. In the fall of 1992, he returned to Switzerland as a Professor and Director of the Surgical Research Division and Gene Therapy Center at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne. In 1999, Patrick Aebischer was nominated President of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) by the Swiss Federal Council. He took office as President on March 2000 and since January 2004, he is a member of the ETH-Board. His current research focuses on the development of cell and gene transfer approaches for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Patrick Aebischer is a member of numerous professional societies, both in Europe and America. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a fellow of the Swiss Academy of Medicine. Patrick Aebischer is also a founder of two biotechnology companies: CytoTherapeutics (today Stem Cell Inc) and Modex Therapeutics (today IsoTis).
Professor of Mathematics and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney. (retired as Vice-Chancellor on 10 July 2008)
At the University of New South Wales, Brown held a number of academic administrative posts, including Head of the Department of Pure Mathematics, Head of the School of Mathematics, and Dean of the Faculty of Science. In 1992, he became the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of Adelaide; later, in 1994, he became the Vice-Chancellor. He took up his final position as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney in 1996. Brown was actively involved in the work of the Australian Research Council as a chairman of various funding committees from 1988-1993, and a member of the Council from 1992-1993. Brown has authored more than a hundred research papers and he is on the board of several international journals. His research areas have been broad, including measure theory 