Scholarship Initiative
The scholarship initiative was a Swiss popular initiative that wanted to regulate the scholarship system in Switzerland no longer at the cantonal level, but at the federal level. The initiative was launched by the Association of Swiss Student Unions and rejected by the Swiss electorate on May 14, 2015.
poll
The Federal Council and Parliament recommended that the initiative be rejected.
The National Council rejected the initiative by 135 votes to 58 with two abstentions, the Council of States also by 32 votes to 12 with one abstention.
Initiative text
I
The Federal Constitution is amended as follows:
Art. 66 Training fees
1 Legislation on the allocation of training grants to students from universities and other institutions of higher education and on the financing of these contributions is a matter for the federal government. The federal government takes into account the concerns of the cantons.
2 The training contributions guarantee a minimum standard of living during recognized tertiary initial training. The recognized tertiary initial training includes both levels for courses that are divided into bachelor and master levels; these can be completed at different types of universities.
3 The Confederation can make contributions to the cantons towards their expenses for training contributions to persons at other educational levels. In addition to cantonal measures, it can promote the intercantonal harmonization of training fees; he maintains the cantonal school sovereignty.
4 The cantons are responsible for implementing the system of training fees, unless the law reserves it for the federal government. The cantons can pay training contributions that go beyond the federal contributions.
II
The transitional provisions of the Federal Constitution are changed as follows:
Art. 197 no. 8 (new)
8. Transitional provision to Art. 66 (training contributions)
1 If the implementing laws for Article 66 paragraphs 1-4 do not come into force within four years of their adoption by the people and the cantons, the Federal Council shall temporarily issue the necessary implementing provisions by ordinance.
2 In the case of a temporary prescription, the minimum standard of living is calculated based on:
a. basic material security in accordance with the guidelines of the Swiss Conference on Social Welfare; and
b. the training costs.
1 SR 101 2 Since the popular initiative does not want to replace any transitional provision of the Federal Constitution, the transitional provision for this article will only receive the final number after the referendum, based on the chronology of the constitutional amendments adopted in the referendum. The Federal Chancellery will make the necessary adjustments before publication in the Official Collection of Federal Law (AS).
"Students against the scholarship initiative"
A student committee «Students against the scholarship initiative» opposed the VSS popular initiative. The committee was chaired by ETH student Simon Scherrer , who was also co-president of the liberal independence party . The initiative "destroys any incentive to work for students, deprives the cantons of breaking new ground in awarding grants and conceals the financial responsibilities between the Confederation and the cantons", causes unacceptable additional costs and would displace private offers of help for students. Based on the text First study, then pay: more market in university financing thanks to subsequent tuition fees (2011) by Kurt Weigelt (* 1955), the committee argued that the choice of study was a “classic investment decision” related to the demand for qualifications the job market. Instead of the “granting of scholarships” with the watering can ”[…] it proposed a“ subsequent tuition fee ”in the form of a doubling of the direct federal tax after graduation, also known as the“ university tax ”; the university tax would have flowed into a national fund to finance the universities.
literature
- Elena Obreschkow: Training creates the future! La formation c'est l'avenir! Interview with Dominique Arlettaz and Anja Schuler. In: SAGW Bulletin , 4/11 (2011), pp. 11-12.
- Romina Loliva: "The scholarship system in Switzerland will change in a positive way!" . In: SAGW Bulletin , 1/12 (2012), p. 10.
- Elena Obreschkow & Thomas Leibundgut: Scholarship initiative - because training creates the future. In: VSH-Bulletin / AEU-Bulletin , Volume 38, No. 4, November 2012 , pp. 62–69.
- Michael Guery: Scholarship law - in the tug-of-war between educational, social and financial policy. In : recht: Journal for legal training and practice . 1/12 (2012), pp. 16-29.
- Romina Loliva: How do we achieve equal opportunities? Interview with Manuela Hugentobler. In: vpod education policy , No. 182, July 2013, pp. 12–13.
- Lea Oberholzer: The problem of the Swiss scholarship system / La Problematic des bourses d'études suisses. In: fh-ch , November 2013, pp. 10–11.
- Pascal Michel: VSZHAW digs deep into the fund for the scholarship initiative. In: Brainstorm: The student magazine of the student association of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. No. 88, November 2014, p. 9.
- Scholarship initiative - for a Switzerland with a future / Initiative sur les bourses d'études: pour l'avenir de la Suisse !. In: fh-ch , November 2010 , p. 20.
Web links
- The scholarship initiative on the website of the initiators ( Association of Swiss Student Unions )
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.admin.ch/gov/de/start/dokumentation/abstektiven/20150614/stipendieninitiative.html
- ↑ http://campus.nzz.ch/stipendien/stipendieninitiative-die-results
- ↑ Federal Popular Initiative 'Scholarship Initiative' on the website of the Swiss Federal Chancellery
- ^ Michael Schoenenberger: Student Resistance . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 19, 2015.