Together with Canada and New Zealand, swissuniversities has signed, on behalf of the rectors and presidents of the Swiss higher education institutions, a statement by the Russell Group — the association of 24 leading UK universities — regarding the EU’s FP10 research framework programme.
Horizon Europe is the world’s largest collaborative research programme.
In the letter, the Russell Group highlights the importance of FP10 and Horizon Europe, with particular emphasis on the role of associated non-member countries — including Switzerland. These countries now contribute substantially to the success of Horizon Europe, accounting for more than one-third of the programme’s funding.
The signatories therefore call on the European Commission to:
maintain a research-driven and collaborative Pillar II;
preserve the role of observers from associated countries unchanged;
protect fundamental and exploratory research across all pillars;
safeguard the independence of grants awarded by the European Research Council;
preserve the researcher-led measures of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions;
limit thematic restrictions and ensure equal treatment of associated countries.
To enable associated countries to continue fulfilling this role, it is crucial that the 10th Framework Programme remains attractive to them and meaningfully open to their participation.