Politics and administration
A visit from Federal Councilor Viola Amherd
The university in the capital cultivates contact to the highest decision-makers in Switzerland. Federal Councilor Viola Amherd (The Centre (DM/LC)/Canton of Valais) attended the lecture “Swiss Political System I” and faced questions from the students.
Every year, the Institute of Political Science of the University of Bern holds an exceptional lecture attended each year by a Federal Councilor. In 2023, the Institute of Political Science welcomed Federal Councilor Viola Amherd. Around 250 students took part in the event held in the large lecture theater of the vonRoll area. Before the event, Adrian Vatter, Professor of Swiss Politics at the Institute of Political Science, had collected more than 100 questions for the Federal Councilor. Viola Amherd answered questions on her role as head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (VBS) and on the proportion of women in her department. In addition, the Federal Councilor provided insight into the partial mobilization of the army during the COVID crisis, the first time that had happened since World War II. “We didn’t know whether it would really work,” Ms Amherd admitted, “because mobilization had never taken place by text message before.” It could well have been that many cell phone numbers were no longer valid. But everything worked out well. More than 90 percent of those called up reported in within 24 hours, and within two days, more than 80 percent had reported for duty.