The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Is on the Prowl for Senior Staff. (February 27, 2007)

    The Associated Press reports that the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich is head hunting senior staff at the University of California, Berkeley, considered by many to be the world's top public research university.

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), main building

Three of Berkeley's faculty in engineering and science are in negotiations and in recent years ETH has tried to recruit several faculty members from Berkeley's maths department according to the department chair, Alan Weinstein.

The AP report states, "At least five Berkeley professors have received job offers from European institutions this year amid an overall spike in bids to lure Cal faculty to other campuses. At least 17 professors have received outside job offers in the first two months of 2007, compared to an average of 42 annually."

Overall Berkeley loses 30% of staff that are made outside offers.

The competition for top university researchers throughout the developed world is increasing and this at a time when Australia's Coalition government is considering a reduction in the number of Federation Fellowships it will provide rather than turning the scheme into a system that could give significant impetus to improving the calibre of the nation's university researchers.