Humanitarian crisis, Swiss style

Science projects are squeezing out the humanities in the race for Swiss funding. Paul Bompard reports

The education ministers of the Swiss cantons of Fribourg, Berne and Neuchatel have protested to Ruth Dreifuss, federal minister for higher education, after all humanities research projects were excluded from a list of ten research topics that will receive special federal financing.

In an open letter to Ms Dreifuss, the three cantonal ministers protested:

"The recent decision on research poles shows that the importance of the humanities is grossly underestimated by the Confederation."

The Swiss University Conference has scheduled a discussion on the issue at a forthcoming meeting. The Swiss Academy for Human and Social Sciences has repeatedly added its voice to that of the cantonal education ministers.

Augustin Macheret, education minister of the Fribourg canton, said that "the federal decisions benefit essentially the technical sciences", while social or cultural knowledge is "ignored". Each of the chosen projects will be based in a Swiss university but will operate within a network of other universities and research institutions.

Financing, which is in addition to the normal federal and cantonal research budgets, is substantial and scheduled to last for a number of years.

A shortlist of 18 projects was drawn up last year by the Fonds Nationale de Recherche Scientifique.

The final selection was made by Ms Dreifuss, a former president of the Swiss Confederation, and by her deputy, secretary of state Charles Kleiber in December.

The Swiss human and social sciences, which cover everything from literature, history and philosophy to psychology, law and sociology, were not included in the selection.

Kleiber, in an interview with the Swiss newspaper, Le Temps , pointed out that, although federal financing per student is falling because of increased student numbers, the Federal Council and Parliament will vote in June on an increase of resources that could add another four research poles to the existing ten.

This would favour the humanities, he said. "Switzerland cannot do without strong human and social sciences," Mr Kleiber said.

The lucky Swiss ten

Moleculare oncology
Frontiers in genetics
Materials with novel electronic properties
Nanoscale science
Quantum photonics
Neural plasticity and repair
Plant survival
Computer-aided and image-guided medical interventions
Climate variability, predictability and risk

Financing for each for the 2001-03 period ranges from 15.3 million Swiss francs (£6.8 million) for molecular oncology to 8.2 million Swiss francs (£3.3 million) for climate variability.