Academic excellence on Monte Verità
The “Congressi Stefano Franscini” has been organising successful academic conferences on Monte Verità for 25 years.
High up above Ascona, surrounded by trees and flowers and with views of the vast expanse of Lake Maggiore – the “Congressi Stefano Franscini” (CSF) could scarcely be in a more idyllic location. The site of ETH Zurich’s international conference centre is all the more appropriate because the hill on which it is situated is the famous Monte Verità, which means Mountain of Truth in English. For 25 years, CSF conferences have been famous around the world for their international approach, openness and, above all, their academic excellence. This is also reflected in the success which the CSF has enjoyed ever since its earliest days.
Every year, the CSF hosts from 20 to 25 conferences organised by researchers at ETH Zurich and other Swiss universities. Each year the conferences bring together up to 1300 professors, doctoral students and students from all over the world, who come to share their expertise and generate new knowledge.
Since 2010, ETH Winter Schools have also been taking place on the mountain, providing an opportunity for doctoral students to study scientific issues in greater depth. Despite its focus on academic events, the CSF does not want to be seen as an “ivory tower”. For that reason, it often organises public events that are open to interested visitors who are not specialists in the field.
Many competitive advantages
It is no coincidence that the CSF was established on this famous mountain, as a look in the history books shows. According to its Director, ETH Zurich Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Paolo Ermanni, three factors played a role in its location. Firstly, the canton of Ticino had long wanted its own university, in view of the growing numbers of students in the region. However, this ambition was thwarted by the voters in a referendum in 1986.
Secondly, the canton had received the land and its infrastructure as a gift from the previous owner, Baron Eduard von der Heydt. And lastly, the canton of Ticino had been working closely with ETH Zurich, as a national university, since 1989. That was when the two entities founded the Centro Stefano Franscini conference centre (renamed the Congressi Stefano Franscini as of 1 April, see text box) – named after the first Federal Councillor from Ticino to serve on the Federal Council committee.
The Director, who has been in post since 2007, knows that the success of the CSF today cannot be taken for granted. “Times have changed: participants have less time and less funding available,” he acknowledges. This has implications for the running of the centre. In the past, conferences often lasted a week, but now they usually only last three to five days. The CSF also has to survive against tougher international competition. Nevertheless, Ermanni is not worried about that: “There can hardly be another conference centre anywhere with such good infrastructure in such a fantastic location.”
The infrastructure on Monte Verità includes various conference rooms, a restaurant, a hotel and a beautifully maintained park. The hotel alone has beds for 75 people. According to the Director of the CSF, its diversity gives it an advantage over other conference centres in Switzerland and elsewhere. Quite often, conferences are organised in big hotels where the participants would hardly ever meet one another outside their shared work. “With us, everyone takes part in the conference, eats and relaxes together, which gives them more opportunity to interact.”
The high-quality service that attracts researchers from all over the world is thanks to the successful partnership between the Monte Verità Foundation and the CSF, explains Ermanni. The Foundation, as the owner of the infrastructure, is responsible for its upkeep and repair and for the hotel and conference centre side of the business, while the CSF is mainly responsible for selecting conferences and providing financial support.
ETH Zurich is an important supporting pillar
In addition to the partnership between the Foundation and the CSF, Ermanni says that the support from ETH Zurich also contributes to the centre’s success. Over the last 25 years, the university has always supported the CSF, both financially and through the personal commitment of every Rector over that time, to whom the organisation is directly subordinate. “We have always been able to count on ETH Zurich.”
To mark its 25th anniversary, Ermanni says that the CSF is inviting schoolchildren from the canton of Ticino to Monte Verità. “We are planning some presentations to teach the children more about scientific topics.”
New name from 1 April 2014
On 11 March this year, the Executive Board of ETH Zurich decided to rename the Centro Stefano Franscini. As of 1 April, it will be called Congressi Stefano Franscini. The idea behind this is to avoid confusion with the Centro Congressuale Monte Verità – another conference centre on Monte Verità. There are two advantages to the new name: firstly, it emphasises the purpose of the CSF, and secondly, it can retain the same abbreviation.