Council of States committee wants to save more on education than the National Council
Published: Wednesday, Aug 21st 2024, 14:50
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The responsible Committee of the Council of States largely supports the Federal Council's efforts to cut costs in education, research and innovation. It wants to reverse many of the National Council's decisions to increase funding.
Specifically, this concerns the dispatch on the promotion of education, research and innovation in the years 2025-2028 (ERI dispatch). The Federal Council plans to invest around CHF 29.2 billion in this. The National Council increased this amount by a good CHF 150 million in the summer session.
This goes too far for the Council of States' Committee for Science, Education and Culture (WBK-S). It is asking its Council to follow the Federal Council on most of the proposals and confirm its proposed payment framework for the years 2025-2028, as announced by the parliamentary services on Wednesday. It is therefore of the same opinion as the majority of the Finance Committee of the Council of States (FK-S).
No more money for ETH and Co.
In particular, the WBK-S opposes the increase of CHF 23.4 million in the payment framework for vocational education and training approved by the National Council. It also rejected the National Council's planned CHF 100 million increase in the budget for the ETH Domain. According to the press release, the two decisions were taken by 8 votes to 4 and 7 votes to 5 respectively.
In contrast to the National Council's decision, the Council of States Committee does not want to increase funding for the promotion of cantonal universities and specialized universities, nor does it want to reduce funding for infrastructure. The WBK-S also says no to the credit increase of CHF 9 million for the "Switzerland Innovation" innovation parks decided by the National Council.
A minority of the Commission would like to maintain the increases decided by the National Council. It considers these to be appropriate. The education dispatch will be discussed in the Council of States in the first week of the 2024 fall session.
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