Sponsoring for universities – purchased research – the end of academic freedom? – News


contents

The protest against the increasing private financing of research and teaching seems to have faded away. An inventory.

Today Nestlé sponsors professorships at the EPF Lausanne, Syngenta at the ETH Zurich, Credit Suisse at the University of St. Gallen and so on. The 100 million gift that the big bank UBS made to the University of Zurich in 2012 was not the beginning, but an accelerator of private sponsorship at public universities.

The architect behind UBS’ commitment to the University of Zurich was Ernst Fehr, Professor of Economics and now Director of the “UBS Center for Economics in Society”. Thanks to this money, the economics department at the University of Zurich is now one of the best internationally: “Interestingly, the science market works in a similar way to the market for football players,” says Fehr.

In the German-speaking world, we are number one by a huge margin. Paris St. Germain wins the championship in France practically every year because they have much better players than the others.

In science as in football, the achievements are visible to everyone – in science through publications, Fehr notes: “That’s why it’s so important to be a good university. Because that’s where good researchers want to come to.” That would be completely impossible with public funds alone, says Fehr. «In the German-speaking world, we are number one by a huge margin. Paris St. Germain also wins the championship in France practically every year because they have much better players than the others. »

Legend:

Ten years ago, UBS donated CHF 100 million to the University of Zurich. This set up the “UBS Center for Economics in Society”. In the «Zurich Appeal», well-known voices spoke out against the increasing private financing of research and teaching.

key stone

Matthias Binswanger, Professor of Economics at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland in Olten, publicly criticized this cooperation in 2012. Together with 26 other professors from all over Switzerland, he signed the “Zurich Appeal”.

The problem was the “complete lack of transparency” about what the funding should look like, says Binswanger in retrospect. “Not least because of the pressure from the Zurich appeal, the University of Zurich then decided to make at least large parts of the contract public.”

Ernst Fehr: “Nobody can be silenced”

Since 2019, the University of Zurich has published all third-party donations. That is right and important, emphasizes Ernst Fehr. At the same time, he attaches great importance to the fact that his institute is completely independent of UBS: “The bank had zero influence on the appointment processes for the professors. That was the sole concern of the University of Zurich.” The bank also has practically no influence on what is done at the UBS Center. “Nobody can be silenced here. We have proven that we are independent.”

The critic from back then, Matthias Binswanger, confirms this. He observes that UBS does not seem to have any influence and that the department’s research is very broad and sometimes also critical of banks.

Defense of Academic Freedom

This is certainly also the case thanks to public pressure, which Binswanger emphasizes: “Academic freedom must always be defended, and historically it has always had to be defended. But it can also be endangered by the state, in which political tendencies gain in importance and try to influence research through the state.”

Defending academic freedom remains an ongoing task for universities, especially since not all disciplines find it as easy as economics to find private sponsors. Incidentally, UBS has donated a further 30 million francs, thereby securing the existence of the “UBS Center for Economics in Society” for another 10 years.

source site-72