Switzerland

Abstract

Evaluation in Switzerland is well established, with diverse institutions and practices that have progressed strongly since the 1990s. The level of evaluation activity is constantly high, educational and training programmes are in place, the Swiss Evaluation Society SEVAL is highly committed, and Swiss scholars contribute regularly to the international debate. While this is remarkable in many respects, evaluation in Switzerland still shows significant weaknesses, of which two are particularly important: First, how evaluations are designed remains very heterogeneous in the country. Second, efforts to professionalise evaluation in Switzerland have to be viewed with scepticism. There are still numerous evaluations, carried out by laypersons, which contain grave weaknesses. In trying to counteract, the evaluation community has adopted a strategy of bureaucratic routinisation and closing off the market. This ignores that for evaluation to continue to flourish, it absolutely needs to involve a lively exchange between practitioners and social scientific research.