I recently discovered ETH World:

is a strategic program to establish a virtual space for communication and cooperation independent of time and place. The program aims to make this space widely used and accessible to all stakeholders of ETH Zurich. ETH World supports all members of ETH in their core business - teaching, learning, research and the associated management tasks. The program enables new forms of networking and cooperation with business, industry and society.

ETH World contributes to realizing the vision of a university of the future and thereby strengthens the international competitiveness of ETH Zurich.

I digged a bit on this website and came across a very interestinf report about study tour (.pdf):

In November 2004, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) organized a study trip to leading universities and research labs in the USA and Canada to learn about best practices in the use of information and telecommunication technologies (ICT) to support teaching, learning, research and services.