For the past three years, the national agency Movetia has been promoting exchange, mobility and cooperation in all areas of education and training and has grown quite spectacularly. In 2019, Movetia supported more than 26,000 mobility projects in all education sectors, including 13,500 training visits and courses in Europe within the framework of the Swiss programme for Erasmus+ and almost 11,000 class exchanges in Switzerland. The agency has also developed a range of exchange and mobility programmes serving to generate added value for the education system and broaden international collaboration. Although the current crisis is temporarily curbing this momentum, it also serves to underline the importance of exchange, mutual understanding and collaboration.

The intense work of the past three years since the establishment of Movetia is paying off: each year the number of exchanges and mobility projects across all sectors and degrees of training is increasing at the national, European and international levels. In 2019, Movetia financially supported 26,262 mobility projects, up 16% on the previous year.

And what is the situation at the higher education level in particular? The balance of mobility activities in the academic year 2018/19 (Call 2018) is positive: In general, all types of mobility (outgoing and incoming) increased slightly. However, if one takes a closer look at the mobility activities per type of higher education institution, the picture is rather mixed, especially for student mobility for studies, the main business:

• The research Research Universities close the academic year with a significant growth of +10.5% in outgoing mobility. The negative trend reversal of 2017/18 (-2%) was successfully turned. Incoming mobility also increased by +5.1%.

• In contrast, the Universities of Applied Sciences recorded negative results of -6.9% for outgoing mobility and -6.6% for incoming mobility. Incoming figures in particular are still at the same level as in 2013/14.

• The Universities of Teacher Education were able to slightly increase outgoing mobility with +2.1%, but again showed a strong decline with -7.8% in incoming mobility.

2020 will be a crucial year for the internationalisation of the Swiss education system. The Federal Parliament has to decide on the renewal of two dispatches on the Promotion of Education, Research and Innovation (ERI) and the Promotion of Culture in the years 2021-2024, which set out the framework conditions and the budget for activities in the next for years.

The activities report 2019 and statistics are available here.