There are three samples of Switzerland's academic elite made available on SWISSUbase:
1/ All University Professors
Universities full and associate professors represent the stable members of the academic community. They exert a considerable institutional and scientific power within the academic field and in certain cases enjoy a relatively high social prestige as experts or intellectuals. Therefore, the sample of Swiss University Professors consists of full and associate professors at Swiss universities and Federal Institutes of Technology at six dates: 1890, 1910, 1937, 1957, 1980, 2000. All professors from the eight cantonal universities (Zurich, Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Fribourg, Neuchâtel, and St. Gall) and the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (Zurich (ETHZ) and Lausanne (EPFL)) were selected for 1910, 1937 and 1957. For 1980 and 2000, considering the large increase in the number of professors, we carried out a stratified sampling. The stratified samples for 1980 (1152 individuals) and 2000 (1135 individuals) are representative of the existing gender, university, and discipline proportions of the general population of Swiss university professors on those dates (2027 professors in 1980 and 2471 in 2000).
2/ Professors of power disciplines
Previous studies on Swiss elites showed that Swiss political and economic elites are frequently trained in law, natural sciences and economics and that professors in these disciplines are particularly well-connected to other social spheres (extra-parliamentary commissions, boards of directors of companies or political mandates). Therefore, a second sample includes all full and associate professors (in 1910, 1937, 1957, 1980 and 2000) in the following disciplines with a close link to the field of power:
1. Law
2. Biology, life sciences & chemistry
3. Economics and management.
3/ Members of the top academic elite
The third sample represents all the individuals - in 1890, 1910, 1937, 1957, 1980, 2000 and 2010 - occupying the most powerful positions within the Swiss academic field. All individuals who had one of the following functions were included, even if they were not university professors:
o Rectors, vice-rectors, and deans
o SNSF: Foundation Council (only committee as of 2010)
o SNSF : National Research Councils
o SNSF: Research Commission of the individual universities
o Members of the ETH Board, from 1969 onwards ETH Board
o Members of the Swiss Science and Innovation Council
o Members of the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI)
o Member of the committees of the four main scientific academies: Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences, Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences and Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences + Swiss Association of University Teachers
o Members of the committees of certain scientific disciplinary associations: Swiss Society of Jurists, Swiss Society of Statistics and Political Economy
The purpose of this narrower sample of academic elite was also to make it more comparable with the economic, political, and administrative elites, whose numbers are smaller. In addition, this sample captures particularly well the scientific prestige (Academies and SNSF) and the institutional power of professors (rectors and deans).
