A student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) living with a disability has had his case dismissed by the Federal Court. He will not be entitled to personal assistance for administrative and technical work to compensate for his cognitive deficiencies.
Born in 1964, the student has suffered from cognitive impairments since an accident in 1995. After studying biology, he was admitted to a master’s degree in environmental sciences at the ETH Zurich in 2019. He then requested financial assistance. assistance of up to 20% to help with administrative and technical work, such as collecting, organizing and printing course materials. Request rejected by the ETHZ in 2019. The man then appealed to the ETH and the Federal Administrative Court. Without success.
Not better at TF either. A right to remuneration for assistance can, under certain conditions, be admitted, Mon Repos recognizes on Monday. But the measures must be proportionate; and a measure which would lead to an advantage for the person concerned would be inadmissible. “In the concrete case, the granting of assistance would lead to an unacceptable reduction in the professional requirements linked to studies,” he ruled.
“The master’s degree in environmental sciences at the ETH Zurich must enable students to work independently using scientific methods,” he writes again. “Among the skills required is the ability to collect information and data in order to understand given problems.” He added: “The ability to navigate a program of study is an essential skill for graduates from a higher education institution.”
