Recent Swiss-EU developments suggest that an end to Switzerland’s exclusion from key European research and education programmes may be discussed next year, says Luciana Vaccaro, head of swissuniversities, the umbrella group of Swiss universities.

“The two programmes [Horizon Europe and Erasmus+] finish at the end of 2027. If we want to be part of the discussions which will build the research and training programme after this date, we really need to be able to join the boat next year,” the president of swissuniversities told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Monday.

She was interviewed in Delémont ahead of the 25th anniversary of the University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland (HES-SO) this Tuesday. She has been rector of the HES-SO for the past ten years. …