Evaluations

Evaluations are a core element of the SSTC’s activities, as they contribute significantly to ensuring the quality of scientific activity in our country. As an independent consultative body to the Federal Council, the SSTC organizes, or rather supervises, evaluations and passes the results on to the Federal Council, along with its recommendation. Evaluations can be of three objects: an institution, a discipline, or measures for the promotion of science.

Evaluations are usually commissioned by the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER), typically after consultation or in cooperation with other interested federal offices. Generally, other bodies (e.g. cantonal authorities, the institutions themselves) are free to apply to the SSTC to carry out evaluation projects. The SSTC may also undertake evaluations on its own initiative. Overall, an evaluation is an asset.  It helps establish the needs and profile of an institution, and helps deepen the knowledge of the state of science in Switzerland in an illustrative manner.

In keeping with the Research Act, the SSTC must undertake assessments of the multi-year plans of institutions federally supported under Article 16 of this Act.  These are similar to evaluations.  Under Article 16, the Confederation can also support independent research institutes and infrastructure organizations which lie outside the university system and that make a significant contribution to Switzerland as a research location (State Secretariat for Education and Research, SER).

Under this heading, one also finds the evaluation of the effectiveness of federal measures(Wirksamkeitsüberprüfungen).


The following evaluations have been carried out in recent years:

• Research of the federal administration
• Fondazione Istituto Ricerche Solari Locarno (FIRSOL), 2009
• Centre suisse de recherche sur le vitrail et les arts du verre (Vitrocentre Romont), 2009
• Strategy of the Federal Council for an Information Society in Switzerland (January 2006), and  federal administration activities based on this strategy , 2008
• Swiss Vaccine Research Institute SVRI, 2007
• Centre for Applied Biosciences International, Europe - Switzerland Center CABI, 2007
• Assessments of the Article 16 institutions, 2006-2007
• Evaluation of the Effectiveness of National Research Programmes NRP, 2006
• Swiss Theatre Collection Foundation, 2005
• Communication and Media Sciences in Switzerland, 2003-2004
• Cultural Research Institute of Graubünden, 2003
• Evaluation of Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency CTI, 2001-2002