Roger de Weck becomes president of a new university

The Federal Council has approved CHF 50 million for a new university in Geneva and appointed Roger de Weck as Chairman of the Foundation Board. The foundation is due to start work in 2008. The university is planned as a kind of "hybrid" between a university and the ETH and will be called the University Institute for International Relations and Development (HEID) or "Maison de la paix", reports the "NZZ am Sonntag". The 53-year-old de Weck, former editor-in-chief of the "Tages-Anzeiger" and "Die Zeit", has presided over the existing HEI Institute since 2004, which is to be merged into the new university.