Study program 20 years since the first bachelor’s degree A good reason to look back and celebrate Over the course of 2005, the first stu- dents completed their bachelor’s de- grees in nanosciences at the Basel University. Back then, setting up this interdisciplinary degree program was a visionary move. Today, the program is well established and has been run- ning successfully for many years. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first bachelor’s degree, around 160 “nanos” gathered at Volkshaus Basel in summer 2025 to look back on the many shared experiences, reconnect with existing contacts, and make new ones. Die Jubiläumsfeier des Studiengangs bot eine exzellente Gelegenheit das Nano-Netzwerk zusammen zu bringen. As one of Switzerland’s first National Centers of Competence in Research (NCCRs), the NCCR Nanoscale Science was launched in 2001 with the University of Basel as the leading house. One objec- tive of this initiative, which was funded by the Swiss National Science Founda- tion (SNSF), was to set up and push ahead with training in the interdisciplinary field of the nanosciences in Switzerland. Professor Andreas Engel was a driving force when it came to developing the in- terdisciplinary degree program in nano- sciences on a professional basis. With support from colleagues from the Biozentrum and the Departments of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, a combined bachelor’s and master’s pro- gram in nanosciences was then founded at the University of Basel in 2002 –– one of the first such programs in the world. Whilst other universities didn’t offer nanosciences until the master’s level, the University of Basel sought to provide young nanoscientists with a solid ground- ing in all natural sciences from the out- set — and that remains the case today. Only with this broad knowledge base and interdisciplinary understanding can 24 SNI INSight December 2025