National Council sets budget priorities in the education sector
Published: Thursday, Dec 5th 2024, 11:30
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When discussing the 2025 federal budget, the National Council slightly increased spending on education compared to the Federal Council's draft. However, there is less money for scholarships for foreign students and for exchange programs.
During the two-hour debate on Thursday, the large chamber followed the proposals of its Finance Committee - with one exception: at the request of a minority, it decided to reduce the contribution to Pro Helvetia by CHF 1.5 million.
At the request of the conservative majority, loans for scholarships for foreign students in Switzerland will also be cut by CHF 4.8 million and funding for international mobility and cooperation activities in the field of education will be reduced by CHF 2.6 million.
In addition, the National Council no longer wants to know anything about the financial aid of CHF 2 million for the digital transformation of society and the economy of high public interest. This contribution to the Federal Chancellery is to be scrapped completely.
More money for daycare places
Otherwise, the National Council implemented the parliamentary resolutions passed in the fall on the Education Dispatch (ERI Dispatch) and the Culture Dispatch. The Confederation is to support the ETH Domain with an additional CHF 12.5 million and the research promotion institutions with an additional CHF 3.4 million.
The Grand Chamber also allocated more money than requested by the Federal Council for museums, collections and third-party networks (+ CHF 0.5 million), for newly created daycare places (+ CHF 6.9 million) and for the promotion of extracurricular work with children and young people (+ CHF 0.3 million).
Other minority motions that sought to either increase or reduce funding for various items in the education and culture sector were unsuccessful. For example, the SVP parliamentary group tried unsuccessfully to cut around CHF 40 million from the ETH Domain and around CHF 30 million from research funding.
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