Planned cuts to education and research funding in Switzerland spark concerns

Switzerland is often ranked as one of the world’s most innovative and competitive countries, with a reputation for excellence in science and education. But financial pressures have squeezed the upcoming federal education, research and innovation budget. Critics fear the quality of Swiss research and competitiveness will suffer. Last month the Swiss government announced plans to spend a maximum of CHF29.2 billion ($32 billion) over the next three years for Switzerland to “remain an international leader in education, research and innovation”. This is an increase compared to the federal budget for 2021-2024 (CHF27.8 billion). But Swiss academics and researchers are unhappy. An earlier higher budget proposed for 2025-2028 was slashed by CHF500 million against a backdrop of federal budgetary pressures. Average annual growth of 2% (in nominal terms) in funding for the education, research and innovation sector has therefore been lowered to 1.6%. Taking into account Swiss inflation ...