Key challenges/priorities for education
Overall Federal policy on research and development is fixed in a framework document entitled “The Message of the Federal Council on Education, Research and Innovation” The most recent version is to cover the period 2008-2011. A total budget of about 20 billion Swiss francs (12 billion Euros) is to be voted for the four-year period. Two underlying principles govern this policy framework:
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Ensuring the sustainability and the quality of education;
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Stimulating competitiveness and growth via research and innovation.
The Swiss Education Server
Within this framework, the federal contribution towards the Swiss Educational Server (as well as the participation in PISA and the monitoring of the education system) is to be funded via the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET).
The State Secretariat for Education and Research supports the international activities of the Swiss Centre for Educational Technologies in Teaching (CTIE) in the area of ICT and education. These activities aim at:
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ensuring that Switzerland is represented on the EUN and assuring the exchange of information between Switzerland and other European countries on ICT and education issues;
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coordinating the possible participation of Swiss Educational System institutions (co-coordinating institution, departments, schools, classes) in international projects in the fields of ICT and education and ICT;
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allowing Swiss Education System institutions, especially schools, to benefit from the country’s participation in international projects, particularly such concerning electronic resources for teaching and learning
International
The CTIE has created an section within the Swiss Educational Server dedicated to international collaboration. This includes descriptions and analyses of official documents linked to ICT as well as to the principal international programmes, and will be online by December 2008.
Teacher Training Universities
The recent foundation of Teacher Training Universities has led to a general rise in the quantity and comprehensiveness of Swiss educational research. But until now only a few projects were focused on the use of ICT in K-12 teaching and learning. Only one Teacher Training University has set up a dedicated research institute on this topic: the Institute for Media and School Education (IMS) at the Teacher Training University of Central Switzerland (PHZ).
Educational Research
To encourage the development of research in vocational training, six networks of competence (or leading houses) have recently been created by the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET). One of these, called DUAL-T, is dedicated to new technologies and brings together CRAFT (EPFL), Futura (University of Fribourg) and TECFA (University of Geneva). The process of creation of these leading houses was particularly praised in the recent OECD national review of educational R&D in Switzerland as one of the potential solutions to shortcomings in applied research.
