Concerns over corporate cash channelled to universities

SwissInfo.ch 13 June 2021

The news that banking giant Credit Suisse is to invest millions in the University of St Gallen has once again raised the thorny issue of private funding and academic independence, writes Isobel Leybold-Johnson for SwissInfo.ch.

Credit Suisse and the University of St Gallen (HSG), well known for its business and law studies, announced in March this year that they were entering into a strategic partnership, in which the bank would contribute CHF20 million (US$22 million) over the next 10 years. This includes CHF10 million towards establishing the HSG Center for Financial Services Innovation, which focuses on “interfaces between finance, management and law” as well as several professorships.

HSG has made its contract with Credit Suisse public, and many other Swiss universities have done the same in the name of transparency. This follows the lessons learned after the University of Zurich (UZH) was obliged to publish its once secret sponsoring contract with UBS in 2013. But risks remain, says Markus Müller, a public law professor at the University of Bern and one of the original founders of the Zürcher Appell – an online petition calling for the protection of academic independence established in the wake of the UBS/UZH deal.
Full report on the Swissinfo.ch site

Receive email updates from UWN

Global newsletters    Africa newsletters    Other
    (other includes related events and webinars)

Data will be processed according to our standard terms & conditions.

Research focuses on production of jet fuel from halophytes

UAE University staff

With an eye to developing a clean, alternative aviation fuel to reduce carbon emissions, researchers at the United Arab Emirates University have been focusing on the production of jet fuel from sustainable resources such as halophytes, which are salt-tolerant plants that could be cultivated on a wider scale in the region’s coastal areas.

The value of being human: How teachers can work alongside AI

Michael Milligan

Artificial intelligence is now a part of our evolution in technology and teachers need to be encouraged to find ways to bring AI into the classroom and have students use it in a way that is beneficial to them in the long term.

Ground-breaking research on seawater biodesalination

UAE University staff

As water scarcity reaches critical levels globally, a research team at the United Arab Emirates University seeks to revolutionise seawater desalination practices, offering a path to mitigate water scarcity while championing environmental preservation.