The project proposals for the program Swiss Virtual Campus have to be prepared in accordance with the 2nd Call for Proposals (dated July 2000). For the final selection process, the project proposals will be evaluated by the Swiss Virtual Campus Steering Committee, by international experts, and by representatives from Universities (UNI), Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (SFIT), Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) as well as from the Federal Offices. Therefore, the subsequent instructions have to be carefully followed while preparing the proposal.

Projects proposals must be submitted by a project leader (professor) employed at UNI, SFIT or UAS who is responsible for the development of the project and for the coordination of project partners. The project leader is supported by a project coordinator. Each project should involve a project leader/partner network of at least three academic institutions in Switzerland (UNI, SFIT or UAS) that intend to integrate the proposed courseware in their curricula. Additional academic partners from abroad and business partners who are likely to contribute to the success of the project are invited to join as well, provided that they cover their own expenses.

Project proposals must include a summary and be written in English. An additional summary in German, French or Italian is requested. Please use the form sheet available on the web site www.virtualcampus.ch.

The deadline for project proposals is December 20, 2000. A hardcopy and an editable electronic version (Word or *.rtf format) are required. The hardcopy should be sent to

The project proposal must include the following information:

• Title of the project;
• Project leader (applicant): name, institution, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address;
• Project partner(s): name, institution, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address;
• Project description; theme / subject / field / topic;
• Pedagogical and didactic objectives;
• Course content (structure);
• Media design approach, Web-Page structure and design;
• Hardware and software planned to be used, IT tools, platform;
• Degree of e-courseware integration into existing curriculum;
• Degree of reduced classroom presence expected;
• Expected number of credit points earned (ECTS for example), recognition of qualification;
• Number of target students (for each partner institution separately: students who have to complete the course according to the curriculum and potential students from other Swiss universities);
• Work assignment of each partner;
• Content competence of the project leader and the project partners (teaching, research etc.);
• Media and new technology competence of the project leader and the project partners;
• Detailed working plan, structured into 6-month phases with major deliverables, which are subjected to a review process; and project duration (ending the latest by December 31, 2003);
• E-courseware field test planning/logistics;
• Starting date of the project;
• Detailed costs/expenses (broken down into salaries, running costs, installations and equipment), separate budget for each year (see chapter ‘costs/finances’);

• Financial contribution (real and virtual money) of the institution of the project leader and of the institutions of each project partner; financial funding requested from the Swiss Virtual Campus (see chapter ‘costs/finances’);

• A short review of similar projects/subjects available on the Internet (links/URLs).

The project proposals must be signed by the project leader and all principal partners.

Each project proposal will be assessed by the Steering Committee on the basis of the criteria indicated in the chapter ‘conditions and criteria for project selection’ and the general regulations (2^nd Call for Proposals). The Steering Committee may submit the projects to external pedagogical experts for additional evaluation.

In order to discuss specific aspects of the projects and their possible support by the institutions concerned, the Steering Committee of the Swiss Virtual Campus will contact representatives of the rectorates at all UNI, SFIT and UAS involved.

The Steering Committee will submit a list of projects selected for funding by the Swiss Virtual Campus program to the newly founded Swiss University Conference (SUC). The authors of the successful project applications will be informed by the end of February 2001. The decision on the funding of projects, which is based on the detailed financial plans, will be made by the SUC in April 2000.

The conditions of the program request a ruling based on a contract to be signed by all project partners.

• Network of participants (Professors) and institutions (Universities, etc.) and their individual contributions.

• Definition of clear pedagogical objectives, scenarios and content. Traditional course to be replaced. Ratio of: face-to-face teaching / e-courseware / seminars and tutorials.

• Integration of the e-courseware in a national (integration into existing curricula) and international context (European Credit Transfer System ECTS).

• Number of target students reached per year directly by the e-courseware and modules (i.e. students for which the proposed course is compulsory according to the curriculum). And secondly, number of target students from other Swiss universities.

• Aspects of interactivity (hyper-media and link-architecture).

• Innovation, quality and feasibility of e-courseware design: working plan containing checkpoints. It is recommended that 2/3 of the project duration should be used for the course development and 1/3 for a field test.

• Degree of multi-language support.

• Collaboration with business partners regarding content and support.

The Swiss Virtual Campus is a joint program for Universities, Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (SFIT) and Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS). The Swiss Confederation has set aside a total amount of 30 million Swiss Francs for the cantonal universities. From this budget, 10 Million Swiss Francs will be distributed among the selected projects of Series 2. Funds for the SFIT and for the UAS are provided by the ETH-Rat and by the BBT, respectively. The Swiss Virtual Campus program can also finance certain activities that potentially support all institutions of Higher Education (e.g. mandates).

The financing of the program Swiss Virtual Campus is part of the project-linked federal contributions within the framework of the new University Promotion Law.

According to the University Promotion Law (article 21, paragraph 2 & 3) and to the federal decree concerning aid to universities (article 45, paragraph 1), the university institutions participating in a project (or the cantons in charge of the universities) will be expected to contribute 50% of the project costs.

The provision of installations and equipment, meeting and travelling expenses, the cost of rooms specifically rented for the project, as well as the salaries of project collaborators can be included as part of the university’s own contribution. Overheads not included in other categories can be added up to a maximum of 20% of the salary budget. However, the contribution of the institution should include the financing of specific expenses for the project ('real money') as well as the contributions in kind made by the institution, i.e. staff or installations and equipment of the institution only in part at the disposal of the Swiss Virtual Campus ('virtual money').

The costs of the project can include following expenses: salaries according to local practice (gross salaries), installations and equipment (software/license costs included), costs for rooms specifically rented for the realization of the project as well as meeting and travelling expenses. Salaries must constitute the major part of the expenses financed by the program. Salaries of doctoral candidates may not be charged to the program since it primarily promotes development, not research, activities.

Please indicate in the form for each year of the project on the one hand the planned expenses according to the different categories, and on the other hand the financing considered. For each partner, the financing should include the contributions in cash ('real money') and the contributions in kind ('virtual money') as well as the expected financing by the Swiss Virtual Campus program.

Please note that the budget for all partners involved is needed: Universities, SFIT, and UAS. In Table 2 (‘Costs per Year’), own contributions and funds requested have to be listed separately. The funds requested have to be split up into funds for Universities, SFIT and UAS (Table 2a). The own contributions have to be at least 50% of the total project costs.

* This includes all funds requested: for Universities (from FOES), for SFIT (from ETH-Council) and for UAS (from OPET)