1848–1855: The polytechnic realisation of a long-held dream

On 7 February 1854, the Swiss Federal Parliament enacted a law on the foundation of a “federal polytechnic school in association with a school for higher education in the exact, political and humanistic sciences”.

The Federal Polytechnic School opened its doors in autumn 1855.

Historial picture
The vision of a national educational institution goes back to the 18th century.

Key dates during this era:

A national educational institution is born

The founding law marked the start of a new era, but it also brought an end to a long debate. From as early as the 18th century, proponents of the Enlightenment such as Isaak Iselin had been harbouring patriotic dreams of a united Swiss higher education establishment, and during the period of the Helvetic Republic, the Minister of Sciences and Arts Philipp Albert Stapfer drew up a concept for a Swiss national university. These ideas were given fresh impetus in 1848 with the foundation of the Swiss Federal State. In only its second session, the new Parliament argued at length over whether a national educational institution should be established in addition to the existing cantonal universities. The issue of higher education was closely linked to the development of Switzerland as a federal state.

Several committees of experts tackled this issue, but it took years of negotiations before a solution was finally found. The proposal proved extremely controversial due to the multilingual nature of Swiss society. Moreover, the Catholic rural cantons were keen to avoid a cultural diktat from the largely Protestant urban centres of Geneva, Bern, Basel and Zurich. For their part, these cities feared the competition to their own existing universities from a national institution. The project only gained the support of the majority once it had been scaled back to focus on technical subjects.

The foundation of the Federal Polytechnic School in 1854 could therefore be regarded as the polytechnic realisation of a long-held Helvetic dream of a national university.

Dispensing with the traditional curriculum

The move to dispense with the traditional range of university subjects was not just a prerequisite for ensuring that the project could be realised at all. Tailoring the curriculum in this way tied in directly with the ambitious ventures of the modern age of technology and industry. The purpose of the Federal Polytechnic School was to generate the knowledge needed to develop a national infrastructure for the future. At the same time, it set out to offer an outstanding educational programme with the aim of improving the professional and career opportunities of Switzerland’s elite.

Benefits of the foundation debate

Three benefits emerged from the great debate surrounding the foundation of the Federal Polytechnic School:

  • It clarified the project’s links with tradition and established a reputation of university standing for the rather prosaic-sounding polytechnic institution even before it was opened.
  • The debate thoroughly examined the relatively constrained institutional conditions in which the university would have to be established, taking foreign models, cantonal requirements, professional aspirations and the demands of industry and commerce into account.
  • The debate defined a sound federalist approach, which formed the basis for establishing the Federal Polytechnic School as a Swiss niche product providing education for engineers.
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