The latest information bulletin INFO-18 from our partners at swissfaculty is now online. It features an article written by former actionuni co-president Salome Adam on why we need structural improvements for mid-level staff employed at Swiss universities.
New bulletin from swissfaculty-INFO-18
The latest information bulletin INFO-18 from our partners at swissfaculty is now online. It features an article written by former actionuni co-president Salome Adam on why we need structural improvements for mid-level staff employed at Swiss universities.
«Er deutet damit an, dass es an der ETH Zürich einen Kulturwandel geben wird.»
Salome Adam, co-president of actionuni, recognizes the positive intentions of ETH-president Joël Mesot in a recent interview with züriost. Joël Mesot publicly apologized “to those affected by the unprofessional conduct of their supervisors” and presents a set of measures to improve prevention, leadership and the handling of conflict situations.
Read the full article here (German only).
«Die komplexen Abhängigkeiten begünstigen Ausbeutung extrem»
Salome Adam, co-president of actionuni, was invited to comment in the Zürioberländer News on the recent cases of mobbing and plagiarism at EMPA, the independent materials, science and technology research institute of the ETH domain.
Salome states that the complex dependencies of young researchers from their professors aid to cases of exploitation. At EMPA, two professors are being accused of mobbing, inexplicable cases of dismissal of employees, and copying of material from Phd-theses for publication under their own name without citing of the original author(s).
Read the full article here (German only).
actionuni in SRF Kontext – Forscherkarriere: Gefahr für Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden?
Salome Adam, co-president of actionuni, participated in a discussion with Prof. Aguzzi from University of Zurich on the misuse of power and mobbing at universities. Some real cases are reported but also ways are discussed of how pressure in research can be mitigated without compromising scientific quality.
VAUZ and AVETH have published three reports on the current situation of their doctoral and postdoctoral researchers
The associations of non-professorial academic staff of the University of Zurich (VAUZ) and the ETH Zurich (AVETH) have published three reports on the situation of their doctoral and postdoctoral students based on surveys at both universities.
Please find the press releases and links to the reports here: VAUZ / AVETH
NZZ dossier – Young academics for research
On 5 April 2017, the NZZ has published an extensive dossier on the situation of the non-professorial academic staff in Switzerland. Co-president Florian Lippke took part in a dispute with swissuniversities president Michael Hengartner; co-president Andrea Tamas via telephone interview gave additional positions on the situation of the non-professorial academic staff at Universities of Applied Sciences and Universities of Teacher Education. The full dossier can be found here.
Mittelbau at University of St Gallen wants a stronger voice
Young researchers at the University of St. Gallen will give themselves a new organizational structure. A telephone interview by the responsible journalist from the St. Galler Tagblatt with Florian Lippke gave us the chance to welcome these new developments and to stress the importance of well-defined conditions for the researchers who are actively involved.
The article can be found here.
Full association to Horizon2020 is important
Just before the discussion on the mass immigration initiative in the parliament, actionuni co-president Andrea Tamas gave an interview to the German radio station Deutschlandfunk. She stressed the relevancy of the ratification of the Croatia protocol within the timeframe given by the EU to not loose association to the European research program Horizon2020.
The short broadcast can be found here.
The federal message on education, research and innovation policy has been published
The BFI-Botschaft / message FRI / messaggio ERI has been defined on 25 February 2016 by the Federal Council. According to the government, in the next four years investments in research and education shall grow 2%, which is significantly less than in the previous period. This is stated in the federal message on education, research and innovation policy for the years 2017-2010 (BFI-Botschaft), which was passed on 24th February. Back in November 2015, in the course of the stabilisation programm for the national finances 2017-2019 which is currently being negotiated, growth in investments had already been reduced from 3.2 to 2.2 %. According to a response by swissuniversities, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the ETHs and the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences this puts the role of Switzerland in the area of research, education and innovation into jeopardy at a moment in time in which the country threatens to lose its access to European research programmes. The total budget projected for research and education amounts to 26 billion CHF. Continue reading The federal message on education, research and innovation policy has been published
actionuni warns against admission of the “Durchsetzungsinitiative”
Two years after the vote on immigration restriction, the Swiss Institutions of Higher Education warn against the consequences of the enforcement initiative, which will come to the vote on 28th February 2016. They publish a joint declaration dedicated to keeping Switzerland in the centre of a European environment of research and education.
swissuniversities warns against the dire consequences for Swiss education and research if the EU, in a worst case scenario, should make use of their option to cancel all bilateral agreements at once – among them the one that ensures scientific and technological cooperation. This would mean the definitive exclusion of Switzerland from the Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ programmes. Continue reading actionuni warns against admission of the “Durchsetzungsinitiative”