CURRICULUM VITAE
| Origin |
Geneva and Neunkirch,
Switzerland |
| Business address |
Clinique de Médecine 2, 24 rue
Micheli-du-Crest |
EDUCATION |
|
| 1945 - 1958 |
Primary School and College,
Baden and Aarau (Switzerland) |
| 1958 - 1964 |
Medical School, University of
Geneva. Degree M. D. |
POSTGRADUATE TRAINING |
| 1964 - 1966 |
Intern, Clinique médicale
thérapeutique (Prof. R. S. Mach), University Hospital, Geneva |
| 1969 - 1970 |
Senior resident, Departement of
Medicine (Prof. G. W. Thorn), Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston
and
Acting chief resident, Roxbury VA Hospital, Boston (USA) |
| 1970 - 1973 |
Chief resident, Clinique
médicale (Prof. A. F. Muller), University Hospital, Geneva |
| 1972 - 1986 |
Director, Infectious Disease
Division, Department of internal Medicine, University Hosptal, Geneve |
| 1974 |
Assistant Professor, Department
of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, Geneva |
| 1976 - 1986 |
Director, Clinical Bacteriology
Laboratory, University Hospital, Geneva |
| 1977 |
Professor, Department of
internal Medicine and Department of Microbiology, University of Geneva Medical School,
Geneva |
| Since 1982 |
Physician-in-chief, Clinique de
Médicine 2, University Hospital, Geneva |
| Since 1990 |
Chairman of the Department of
Internal Medicine, University of Geneva Medical School and University Hospital, Geneva |
| Since 1991 |
Member of the Swiss Science
Council, Bern |
| 1992 - 1995 |
Vice-President, Swiss Science
Council, Bern |
| Since 1995 |
President of the Board of the
Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology |
| April 1 to
September 30, 1997 |
Director a. i. of the Swiss
Science Agency, Bern |
|
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KEYNOTE SPEACH
"Spoken word, written word,
Cyber word:
The newest challenge of higher Education"
The process of transfer of knowledge has been the basis of any educational system - school
as well as academia. Transfer of immaterial goods such as culture requires, in addition to
a vehicle, a well organized memory system with easy access and rapid retrieval. The spoken
word was initially such an efficient system of teaching and the basis of the learning
encounter, a crucial moment in human life. The obvious limitations of the spoken word were
the need for proximity and the limited possibilities of stocking information. Many
civilizations have nevertheless managed to rely on this educational system and reach high
levels of knowledge and culture. The development of the written word, of its reproduction
and much later of its printing, has led to radical changes not only ot the intellectual,
but also of the social world and has also temporarily solved the problem of proximity and
of memory. Finally, it has allowed information and its human counterpart, knowledge, to
travel freely through society, with as a consequene, the establishment of a new societal,
political and religious system - our modern society.
The impact of the new information and communication technologies (NICT) on our society has
been repeatedly described and analyzed. Less evident, however are their consequences on
higher education: Learning is an intellectual investment, and the consequences of NICT may
be evident in a few years only, at a time when dividends - both, positive and negative -
will be paid back. This essay will try to analyze the immediate consequences of the NICT
on our higher educational system: The end of a monopoly of selected, conservative, time
honored, reproducible and conventional higher education systems. It will try to evaluate
the medium range effects of the "Cyber word" on the learning process -
information will be illimited, uncontrolled, permanently accessible, anonymous, often
wrong, and the new teacher will have to help to streamline it into a knowledge base which
will be interactive, just in time, accredited, competency-based and hopefully of high
quality. Many countries are already involved in this transformation of the higher
educational systems. The Swiss Parlament will have to decide in 1999 on a 4 years budget
of more than 50 M SFR to implement this revolution. In addition, coordination on an
international basis will be necessary in order to exchange teaching material and
acknowledge NICT obtained diplomas: The cyber world is creating a global economy, the
cyber word is fostering global knowledge |