\u231a\ufe0f Meet at the EPFL Metro at 14h40. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83d\ude82 3:08 p.m. train, Track 3 at Renens Station.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2003, Switzerland has had a debt brake in place to ensure sound public finances. During COVID, Switzerland took on exceptional debt to keep the country and its services running. The Federal Council therefore commissioned experts to draft a report with recommendations for reducing Switzerland's debt, with the aim of cutting federal spending by CHF 4 to 5 billion. The Gaillard report proposes budget cuts in both related and unrelated spending and is therefore the subject of heated parliamentary debate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Types of federal expenditure in Switzerland<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Related expenses: These are set by law or even the Constitution, preventing the federal government or cantons from deciding to reduce them in the short term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Non-mandatory spending: This is referred to as \u201cbudget flexibility,\u201d meaning that Parliament or the government can adjust it more freely from one year to the next according to priorities. These expenditure items are: training and research, the military, agriculture, and international cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (The military budget has been increased and farmers have a much stronger lobby than ours in Parliament, so we'll let you figure out who's getting hit hard \ud83d\ude09 )<\/p>\n\n\n\n \" The expert group sees potential in higher education institutions to increase user financing, for example by doubling tuition fees for domestic students and quadrupling them for foreign students. It recommends reducing contributions to the Federal Institutes of Technology and basic contributions to cantonal universities in line with the additional revenue that could be generated by this measure.<\/strong><\/em>\" <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Excerpt from the Report \u201c2024 review of tasks and subsidies,\u201d says the Gaillard Report,<\/a> page 43<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let's go protest together! On Wednesday October 1st in Bern<\/strong>, the National Union of Students in Switzerland (UNES) organises a big protest on the Federal Place<\/strong>. Let's go together: Meet at 14h40 at EPFL Metro. We will take the train at 15h08, Track 3, at Renens Station !<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you would like to learn more about the mobilization: Education should not be a luxury \u2013 students gather in Bern | VSS UNES USU<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you would like to participate in related events, check out the program of activities organized at UNIL by the FAE: Mobilisations contre la hausse des taxes et les coupes dans la recherche \u2013 FAE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rejoins nous \u00e0 Berne, mercredi 1er octobre \u00e0 17h ! \ud83e\udea7 Retrouve nous sous la b\u00e2che AGEPoly. \u231a\ufe0f Rendez-vous au m\u00e9tro de l\u2019EPFL \u00e0 14h40. \ud83d\ude82 Train de 15h08, Voie 3 \u00e0 Renens Gare. Depuis 2003, la Suisse poss\u00e8de un frein \u00e0 l\u2019endettement qui a pour but de garantir des finances publiques saines. Pendant le… Read More »Student protest against the increase in tuition fees<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2781,"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions\/2781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/agepoly.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Reunion-Veronika-Permamedova.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhy oppose these measures?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/strong>Students must have equal access to education regardless of their social background. Equal opportunities and inclusivity are threatened by these austerity measures, as people with lower incomes will no longer be able to attend university. 25% of EPFL students say they work to finance their studies, which is a huge burden on top of the 60 hours of work required for their courses. These measures risk further destabilizing students, a social class already in financial difficulty.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Ce n\u2019est pas normal de s\u2019endetter sur des dizaines d\u2019ann\u00e9es pour pouvoir faire ses \u00e9tudes ! Dans certains pays, il est commun de payer plusieurs dizaines de milliers de francs pour poursuivre des \u00e9tudes sup\u00e9rieures. Ainsi, une partie tr\u00e8s privil\u00e9gi\u00e9e de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 ne peut s\u2019engager dans cette voie. Ce ne sont pas nos valeurs ! Inspirons-nous plut\u00f4t de nos voisins europ\u00e9ens comme l\u2019Allemagne ou les pays scandinaves o\u00f9 les \u00e9tudes sont presque gratuites.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Students are seen as users of universities rather than as people who contribute to and improve society. We deplore this growing reluctance toward the academic world. Education is the foundation of a strong and sustainable society.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nYou disagree with these measures ? Just like us ! <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What are others doing ?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n