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ABSTRACT
Academic freedom, a deep-rooted right in the Swiss Constitution, is endangered. Private sponsorship agreements, secretly negotiated between university leaders and big companies, become increasingly vital for universities in Switzerland. Swiss authorities are pushing this development: not only are they taking austerity measures, but also rewarding growth in private third-party funding with even more federal subsidies. This essay presents, after citing a few examples, a short overview of the state of academic freedom with regard to private monies in Switzerland. Introducing academic freedom as a constitutional obligation, it analyses the dangers of private sponsorship for independent universities and then tries to give some insight into the development of necessary framework conditions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Note on contributors
Manuela Hugentobler is a Ph.D. student and an assistant in teaching and research at the Institute for Public law at the University of Berne. She holds a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of Basel. Prior to her Ph.D. Position, she worked as Secretary General for the Swiss Student Union and as a Scientific Advisor for the Swiss Science and Innovation Council.
Markus Müller took over as chair of Public Law at the University of Bern (CH) after having worked in public administration for 10 years in 2004. From 2014 to 2015, he was Dean of the Law faculty. One of his research interests centres on the psychological dimensions of the law. In 2013, he launched the international appeal for the protection of academic independence (www.zuercher-appell.ch). Its main purpose was to sensitize the universities, educational politicians and academics to the long-term dangers of private funding for academic independence and credibility of university research and teaching.
Franz Andres Morrissey is a linguist by training, a teacher by profession and fascinated by language, by its sounds and its potency, he loves words and exploring ways in which they can be combined to the best effect in society, in academic and in artistic writing. His current interests are the sociolinguistics of (folk) song performance, the phonology of rock, story-telling and the stylistics of oral literature, and the future of minority languages and language minorities.
Notes
1. Switzerland is a federal state and consists of 26 cantons. They are granted a great amount of autonomy and act as the responsible body for most universities.
3. UBS was founded in Switzerland and is a global financial services company based in Zurich. See also Schütz (Citation2000).
5. Lehmann-Maldonado (Citation2013) ‘Switzerland is tops for education!’ Mauro Dell’Ambrogio, State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation, explains why Switzerland is a knowledge leader, UBS magazine ‘Ideas for your money’ 3: 8–12.
6. Alliance Agreement between Nestec Ltd., Avenue Nestlé 55, CH-1800 Vevey, Switzerland and Ecole Polytéchnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland, November 21 2006; see also: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/academic-autonomy_regulator-slams-terms-of-nestl%C3%A9-sponsoring-deal/38602922.
7. Medela AG, https://www.medela.com.
8. The following remarks are based on Müller (Citation2014).
9. Art. 20 Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999, CC 101. See for a list of similar legal provisions in European Countries the Annex of the ALLEA Statement of Principles: http://www.allea.org/statement-of-principles-released-private-sponsoring-in-the-science-enterprise-trust-in-science-and-academic-freedom/.
10. The American Association of University Professors focuses on the term ‘significant’ financial interest and defines it as an interest, that ‘is valued at or above $5000 per year and it is not controlled or managed by an independent entity such as a mutual or pension fund’ (AAUP Citation2014,117).
11. Needless to say that similar problems arise when the State, its research funding agencies or the European Commission increasingly promote research through project funds and cut core funding (cf. Etzkowitz Citation2004, 69f).
12. The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999, CC 101, stipulates under Article 27(1), Economic freedom: ‘Economic freedom is guaranteed’.