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Programmes and Projects
Higher education institutions receive federal project contributions (in accordance with Article 59 of the Higher Education Act, HEdA) that enable them to conduct innovative projects – either jointly or individually – which are of Swiss-wide relevance to higher education policy. Half of the funding for the projects and programmes comes from the federal government and half from the higher education institutions.
As part of its planning, swissuniversities proposes the strategic direction of the programmes and projects every four years and applies for funding for them from the Swiss Higher Education Council.
swissuniversities coordinates the larger programmes and distributes the funds, among other things by means of project calls to the institutions eligible for contributions. In the case of smaller projects, one higher education institution assumes the lead role. Below is an overview of past, current and planned programmes and projects.
If you have any questions regarding the conditions of eligibility to contribute or participate, feel free to reach out to the mentioned contact persons.
2017–2020
On November 26, 2020, the Swiss Higher Education Coucil decided to extend the programmes P-1, P-5, P-7, P-8, P-9 and P-11 until December 31, 2021 because of COVID-19. Further information on the individual programmes and projects is provided on the relevant project pages.
| No. | Project | Lead | Funding for projects 2017–2020 (CHF) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PhD programmes and development of third-cycle education | swissuniversities | 27,000,000 | |
| 3 | Strategy to Combat Lack of Qualified Workers in the Healthcare Industry Summary Project proposal (German) | Berner Fachhochschule | 2,999,653 | |
| 4 | Swiss Learning Health System (SLHS). A national platform for health systems and services research, policy and practice Summary Project proposal (German) | Universität Luzern | 4,400,000 | |
| 5 | Scientific information: Access, processing and safeguarding Summary Project proposal (German) | swissuniversities | 30,000,000 | |
| 6 | swissuniversities Development and Cooperation Network (SUDAC) Summary Project proposal | swissuniversities | 4,000,000 | |
| 7 | Equal opportunities and university development Summary Project proposal (German) | swissuniversities | 12,000,000 | |
| 8 | Enhancing digital skills in teaching 2019-2020/2021-2024 | swissuniversities | 2019–2020: 10,000,000 | |
| 9 | Development of academic skills in subject-specific didactics Summary Project proposal (German) | swissuniversities | 24,000,000 | |
| 10 | Development of a National Network to Promote STEM Education – Teacher Training and Further Training for Teachers within all Types of Higher Education Institutions Summary Project proposal (German) | FHNW | 3,000,000 | |
| 11 | Pilot programmes to strengthen the dual competencies profile of young talent at universities of applied sciences and arts (UASAs) and universities of teacher education (UTEs) | swissuniversities | 7,000,000 | |
| 12 | Swiss Centre for Islam and Society Summary Project proposal (German) | Universität Freiburg | 1,600,000 | |
| 13 | AGE-NT Age(ing) in Society: National innovation network Summary Project proposal (German) | FHO | 3,987,311 | |
| 14 | Innovation in Biocatalysis: Toolbox for Sustainable Bio-Based Production Summary Project proposal (German) | ZHAW | 2,000,000 | |
| 16 | Proposal and Implementation of a Swiss Research Centre for Barrier-free Communication Summary Project proposal (German) | ZHAW | 578,000 | |
| 18 | Sustainable Development at Swiss Higher Education Institutions – Student Projects Summary Project proposal (German) | Akademien der Wissenschaften Schweiz | 1,500,000
| |
Special Programme: Increasing the number of medical school graduates | swissuniversities and participating institutions
| 100,000,000
|
2013–2016
The Swiss University Conference supported ten programmes and nine projects during this period (in accordance with the Federal Act on University Funding, (UFundA).
SUC programmes
| No. | Title | Participating institutions | Amount 2013-2016 (CHF) |
|---|---|---|---|
| P-01 | Doctoral programmes | all universities | 22,917,000 |
| P-02 | Scientific information: access, processing and safeguarding | all universities | 36,312,000 |
| P-03 | Research in the humanities and social sciences | all cantonal universities | 4,368,000 |
| P-04 | Equal opportunities for women and men at universities / gender studies | all cantonal universities | 13,740,000 |
| P-05 | SystemsX.ch: The Swiss Initiative in Systems Biology | Universities of Basel, Bern, Freiburg, Genève, Neuchâtel, Lausanne, Zürich, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zürich | 48,775,000 |
| P-06 | Nano-Tera.ch | Universities of Basel, Genève, Neuchâtel, Lausanne, USI, EPFL, ETH | 15,556,000 |
| P-07 | Sustainable Development in Teaching and Research at Swiss Universities | all cantonal universities | 3,927,000 |
| P-08 | Swiss Public Administration Network SPAN | Universities of Bern, Lausanne, USI, IDHEAP | 4,908,000 |
| P-09 | Swiss School of Public Health SPPH+ | Universities of Basel, Bern, Genève, Neuchâtel, Lausanne, Zürich, USI | 6,871,000 |
| P-10 | Konsolidierung von Lehre und Forschung im Bereich medizinische Grundversorgung / Hausarztmedizin | Universities of Basel, Bern, Genève, Lausanne, Zürich | 3,000,000 |
Joint projects and innovation projects
| No. | Title | Participating institutions | Amount 2013-2016 (CHF) |
|---|---|---|---|
| KIP 02 | Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics | Universität Bern (Leading House) | 1,987,000 |
| KIP 03 | Centre du droit des migrations | Universities of Neuchâtel (Leading House), Bern, Fribourg | 2,000,000 |
| KIP 04 | Center for Religion, Economy and Politics | Universities of Luzern (Leading House), Basel, Freiburg, Lausanne, Zürich | 2,000,000 |
| KIP 05 | Swiss Earth Observatory Network SEON | Universities of Zürich (Leading House), Basel, Freiburg, Lausanne, ETH | 1,500,000 |
| KIP 06 | Center for Advanced Surface Analysis CASA | Universities of Lausanne (Leading House), Genève, EPFL | 2,000,000 |
| KIP 07 | A Swiss Platform for Advanced Scientific Computing PASC | USI (Leading House), all universities | 12,000,000 |
| KIP 08 | Swiss Non-Human Primate Research Competence Center | Universities of Freiburg (Leading House), Zürich | 1,400,000 |
| KIP 12 | Centre de compétence en sciences du sport | Universities of Lausanne (Leading House), Genève | 4,000,000 |
| KIP 18 | Platforms for translational research in medicine (SwissTransMed) | Universities of Bern (Leading House), Basel, Genève, Lausanne, Zürich, ETH, EPFL | 7,000,000 |