Switzerland: "Budgets for ERI are not expenses but investments into the future" (M. Hengartner)

"It is a strong and positive message from the Parliament that, even in the difficult situation the country is in, they realise that education, research and innovation are the keys to future prosperity and they are willing to support it", declares Michael Hengartner, President of the ETH Board in an interview with News Tank on 01/11/2024.

He reacts to the decision of the Swiss Parliament on 24/09/2024 to increase the ETH Domain's payment framework by CHF 50 M (€53.12 M) for 2025-2028, after the Government initially offered "financial numbers for ERI much lower than they had asked us to plan for. Obviously, we were disappointed".

"We understand the government needs to balance its budget, it’s a law requirement, but we feel it’s unfortunate that they target education disproportionately. We see these budgets for ERI not as expenses, but as investments into the future and the prosperity of the country", states the President.

The ETH Domain, which is made up of two universities, EPFL in Lausanne and ETH in Zurich, and four research institutes (Eawag, WSL, Empa and PSI), is a public…