Higher education

and Research

in Switzerland

Anouk De Bast, 23 May 2016

Short courses for science administrators

The 28 EU countries

EEA

EU membership candidates

Switzerland at the heart of

Europe

© EDA, STS KMZ-Geodienste

General Information

3

CH Vietnam Indonesia Malaysia Thailand Philippines

Surface

area (km2) 41 280 331 210 1'904'570 329 850 513 120 300 000

Population

(million) 8 94.35 255.99 30.51 67.98 101.00

GDP

(billion

USD)

488 511 2'676 767 1'066 691

GDP per

capita

(USD)

59 540 5 630 10 520 25 640 15 740 6 970

GDP

annual

growth

rate (2014)

1.9 % 6.0% 5.0% 6.0% 2.5% 6.1%

Unemploy

ment rate 4.5% 2.3% 6.2% 2.0% 0.9% 7.1%

Education: VET sector most

popular option in Switzerland

4

VET sector: around 70%

of young people choose

this option

General education sector:

around 30% choose this option

Transition from lower- to upper-secondary level

5

Swiss education system

VET sector

PET sector

General education

sector

Higher education sector

(academic & applied sciences)

Swiss higher education landscape

12 tier-one universities (10 cantonal + 2 federal)

8 universities of applied sciences UAS (7 public + 1

private)

6

University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland

Zurich University of Applied Sciences

University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Switzerland

Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts

University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland

Bern University of Applied Sciences

University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland

Kalaidos University of Applied Science

Total number of students in UAS: 72,568

Total number of professors in UAS: 3,855

Total number of students in tier-one universities: 137,714

Total number of professors in tier-one universities: 3,357

1

2 3

4

5

6

7

8

Univ. St. Gallen:

7,809 students,

80 professors

Univ. della Svizerra italiana;

2,918 students,

69 professors

ETH Zurich:

17,309 students,

428 professors

Univ. Zurich:

26,351 students,

526 professors

Univ. Basel:

12,982 students,

260 professors

Univ. Neuchâtel:

4,345 students,

112 professors

Univ. Bern:

15,406 students,

374 professors

Univ. Fribourg:

10,084 students,

221 professors

Univ. Geneva:

15,514 students,

486 professors EPF Lausanne:

9,395 students,

290 professors

Univ. Lausanne:

12,947 students,

454 professors

Univ. Lucerne:

2,654 students,

57 professors

1 2

3

4

5

6

7

8

7

Federal public funding

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1991-1995 1995-1999 1999-2003 2003-2007 2007-2011 2011-2015

Social Welfare

National Defense

Transport

Finances and Taxation

Education and Research

Agriculture and Food

Foreign Relations - Int. Coop.

Instit. and Finan.RequirementsOrder and Public Safety

Economy

Environmental Protection andSpatial PlanningCulture and Leisure

Health

% of GDP

8

Principles of the Swiss system

Principles

Openness

Bottom-up

Autonomy Competi-

tion

Quality

9

Principles of the Swiss system

Openness Bottom-up Autonomy Competition Quality

Principles

Openness

Bottom-up

Autonomy Competi-

tion

Quality

Openness

Key figures: academic human resources in

the higher education Tier-one universities (i.e. cantonal

universities and FITs)

UAS and universities of teacher

education

Total Foreign (%) Total Foreign (%)

Students 144,000 29 89,600 13.3

Bachelor’s degrees 14,362 16.8 15,252 1.3

Master’s degrees 12,948 27.4 3,513 33.3

PhDs 3,849 53.7 - -

Assistants/

researchers 19,699 63.1 3,602 25

Professors 3,600 50.1 2,109 23

Other lecturers 2,651 38.3 5,285 20

Adm. and technical

personnel 12,788 22 4,777 14

Source: Federal Statistical Office (2015)

10

Key figures: Cooperation partners – over 2/3

from abroad

11

Cooperation partners of Swiss researchers, 2005-2011 in % of all cooperation initiatives. Source:

Bibliometric study of research in Switzerland, 1981-2011, SERI 2014

28.30%

14.40%

9.50%

7.60%

7.60%

5.60%

1.90%

1.00%

0.90%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%

Switzerland

USA

Germany

Italy

France

ASIA

Japan

China

South Korea

12

Principles of the Swiss system

Openness Bottom-up Autonomy Competition Quality

Principles

Openness

Bottom-up

Autonomy Competi-

tion

Quality Bottom-up

Swiss education and research policy and

economic policy follow a similar strategy

…

• Little steering and interference by the State

• Favourable framework conditions

• Healthy domestic competition in order to remain internationally competitive

• Decisive infrastructure measures

• Social, legal and political stability, protection of the intellectual property, good living conditions, etc.

• International peer review: evaluation of the proposals

are conducted by researchers themselves

… 13

14

Principles of the Swiss system

Openness Bottom-up Autonomy Competition Quality

Principles

Openness

Bottom-up

Autonomy Competi-

tion

Quality

Autonomy

Federal Funding

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000

EU research

EU education

Space affairs

International cooperation

Management of education system

Umbrella associations for CET

Scholarships

Institutions under art. 16

Science and society

CTI

SNSF

Universities of applied sciences

Cantonal universities

ETH domain

VET/PET

2013-2016

2008-2011

15

Total 2013 – 2016: CHF 26 billion

International context ~20%

Source: Swiss ERI Dispatch 2013 – 2016

Promotion of research and innovation:

Complementary set of instruments

Applied research

Fundamental research

16

17

Principles of the Swiss system

Openness Bottom-up Autonomy Competition Quality

Principles

Openness

Bottom-up

Autonomy Competi-

tion

Quality

Competi-tion

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

70%

11.25 billion

30%

R&D expenditure

18

In Switzerland

(CHF 18.5 billion)

From Swiss companies

abroad (CHF 15 billion)

Private

sector

Public

sector

Key figures: Patents per million

inhabitants

19

Source: OECD, Factbook 2015-16

148

125

68

67

65

63

46

40

39

28

13

11

1

[VALEUR].4

Switzerland

Japan

Germany

Sweden

Denmark

South Korea

United States

OECD

France

European Union

Australia

New Zealand

China

India

20

Principles of the Swiss system

Openness Bottom-up Autonomy Competition Quality

Principles

Openness

Bottom-up

Autonomy Competi-

tion

Quality Quality

Key figures: International comparison of

research expenditure

21

In % of GDP. Source: OECD, Main Science and Technology Indicators 2014

2.02

2.13

2.40

2.81

2.81

2.94

2.96

3.06

3.30

3.32

3.49

4.15

4.21

Singapore

Australia

OECD average

USA

Austria

Germany

Switzerland

Denmark

Sweden

Finland

Japan

Korea

Israel

International ranking lists Over 60% of students attend a “Top 100”

university (Shanghai ranking list)

22

EPFL ETHZ Basel Berne Fri-

bourg Ge-

neva Lau-

sanne Neu-

chatel St.

Gallen Zurich

Shanghai ranking list for 2015 (Top 500)

101-150 20 87 151-200 - 58 201-300 - - 54

QS Ranking 2015 (Top 500)

14 9 139 166 - 89 143 - 329 85

Times Ranking 2015 (Top 800)

31 9 101 120 201-250 131 144 401-500 351-400 104

Source: SERI, 2015 (Only universities that are listed in at least one of the international ranking lists are shown)

Thank you for your attention !

23

State Secretariat for Education Research and Innovation

Division for International Relations

Anouk De Bast – anouk.de-bast@sbfi.admin.ch – www.sbfi.admin.ch

Swiss higher education landscape / 2

Cantonal universities and FITs

24 Source: Federal Statistical Office (2014)

Swiss higher education landscape / 3

Universities of applied sciences

Regional presence

25 Source: Federal Statistical Office (2014)