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A new agreement between Bern and Brussels is still a long way off – and with it the resumption of Switzerland in the EU research program Horizon. This is painful for researchers in this country. Especially when it was announced this week that Great Britain will probably be back soon: London and Brussels have agreed on a draft contract.
Sunday view: Mr Flückiger, this week you were able to congratulate your research colleagues in Great Britain: the British will probably soon be participating in the EU research program Horizon again.
Yves Fluckiger:Of course I am happy for my colleagues in Great Britain. But this is not a good development for Switzerland.
Why?
Now we are the only country that remains outside Horizon. There are even states like Israel, Georgia or Turkey. This reduces the pressure in Brussels to take back Switzerland. That worries me – the outlook is bleak anyway.
What do you mean?
When the Bundesrat starts negotiations with the EU, it will be 2024. But if we are not connected by the end of next year – which is how it looks at the moment – we will probably stay out. The EU Horizon research program will only run until 2027. It would be the first time that Switzerland has been excluded from a research program for the entire duration.
Yves Flückiger (67) is rector of the University of Geneva and former president of Swissuniversities, the association of Swiss universities. Flückiger has degrees in economics and sociology and a PhD in economics.
Yves Flückiger (67) is rector of the University of Geneva and former president of Swissuniversities, the association of Swiss universities. Flückiger has degrees in economics and sociology and a PhD in economics.
The Bundesrat is trying to compensate for Horizon’s exclusion with extra resources and new agreements. Doesn’t that do anything?
In financial terms, the bilateral agreements with countries such as the US, Israel and Great Britain are just a drop in the ocean. The Bundesrat wants to show that it is active. But unfortunately such similarities do not have the same effect as an association with Horizon. In addition, we are receiving less money than the federal government originally intended for Switzerland’s participation in Horizon Europe.
Do you think the universities don’t get enough money?
If Switzerland remains excluded from Horizon, it is all the more important that we are internationally attractive. Our goal must be to attract the best researchers in the world. This is the only way we can maintain our competitive position.
What is your message to the Bundesrat?
We have no time to lose! This is also evident from the fact that Swiss universities lose places in international rankings.
They refer to an international university ranking published last week: ETH Lausanne and the University of Zurich are doing worse than the year before. Is there really a connection with Horizon?
Of course, this is hard to prove – we’ll have to see if the trend continues. But the signal is not good. And we see in practice that competition is getting fiercer: many of our top professors are getting offers to teach and do research elsewhere. Other researchers do not come to us because Switzerland is no longer allowed to carry out EU research programmes.
Is that really true?
Yes, unfortunately. We recently wanted to hire a young, promising economics professor from Spain. She could have – but then she had the opportunity to take over the management of a major EU research program in Barcelona. In the end she canceled on us again.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
