swissuniversities affirms academic values and scientific integrity. swissuniversities has adopted two documents that underline the importance of academic values for higher education institutions and which formulate standards for academic integrity.
With a jointly developed code on scientific integrity, swissuniversities, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse and the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences are committed to ensuring that integrity is practised throughout the scientific community and misconduct is avoided.
The code is addressed at all parties involved in the generation, dissemination and promotion of knowledge in the Swiss university system. Institutions, and thus also higher education institutions, have the task of ensuring optimum framework conditions so that researchers and lecturers – including, in particular, junior scientists and academics – can contribute and develop equally in the academic world. The code defines common standards that are indispensable for a culture of scientific integrity.
It also recommends structures and benchmarks for procedures to deal with any violations.
The Board of swissuniversities calls on the higher education institutions to review their guidelines against this code and to supplement them or adapt them as necessary.
Core academic values
In this regard, swissuniversities recalls the values of academic freedom and cooperation, which are not only the cornerstones of the higher education sector, but also make a fundamental contribution to the stability of society and democracy. In view of the numerous global developments in recent years that threaten these fundamental values, it is all the more important that swissuniversities and the individual higher education institutions clearly commit to protecting them.
Read the complete declaration here.
The Code can be found here.