Go East: BFH strengthens commitment to India

04.07.2025 India is one of BFH’s priority countries. As a result, Bern University of Applied Science wants to expand its cooperation with Indian universities across various sectors, including virtual education.

Key points at a glance

  • In terms of international cooperation, BFH concentrates its efforts on a select group of countries and regions.
  • Following the signing of the free trade agreement with India, BFH has decided to intensify its cooperation with Indian universities,
  • The focus is placed on virtual education, innovation ecosystems and corporate social responsibility.

A milestone in Swiss trade policy: in March 2024, the Confederation signed a free trade agreement with India together with the other EFTA states (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). This was preceded by 16 years of negotiations. The current tariff turmoil highlights the importance of this deal with the world’s most populous country and its rapidly growing economy.

Opportunities in the growth market

“The changing world order has an impact on the expectations placed on education systems. The universities are striving to diversify their partnership portfolios. Given our education and research focusses, there are good opportunities to strengthen our cooperation with India,” emphasises Brigitte Kürsteiner, Head of the Global Engagement Office GEO at BFH. BFH has defined India as a priority country to strengthen its cooperation with local partner universities.

Increased cooperation

On 16 and 17 June 2025, a two-day colloquium was held at the Business School to promote Swiss-Indian academic cooperation. Cooperation with India offers researchers, lecturers and students a range of new opportunities for field experience as well as global knowledge and technology transfer. To capitalise on this, projects and exchanges with India will now be further promoted.

An opportunity for the economy

The economy should also benefit from the free trade agreement. “The number of Swiss companies in India is expected to double over the next ten years,” stresses Jonas Brunschwig, CEO of Swissnex and Consul General in India. “Both India and Switzerland are start-up hubs, and India is the third largest start-up ecosystem in the world,” he adds. “In Switzerland, universities play a key role in the start-up ecosystem. So it’s good to see that BFH is giving more weight to its partnerships in India.”

Learning from each other

In addition to ecosystems for innovation, the colloquium focussed on corporate social responsibility (CSR). India is one of the few countries in the world to have introduced a CSR obligation for large and medium-sized companies. “We must be mindful of the things that have been achieved thus far, but also of the distances that we have to cover,” stressed Prof. Amlan Bhusan, Director of the Oxford-based consultancy MBI Global. The training of CSR managers at universities is rather recent, but it is essential, as Prof. Dr David Risi from the BFH Institute for Sustainable Business emphasised: “They are, and will continue to be, the driving force behind organisational change.”

Consistently pursuing international orientation

In terms of international cooperation, BFH focusses on a select group of countries and regions, including Europe and Canada.

BFH’s Global Engagement Office carries out a thorough analysis of opportunities and risks, which forms the basis for defining priorities. Thematic areas in the field of cooperation and the relevant organisational units are identified for each of them.

Long-term contacts put to use

BFH has already achieved notable success in its cooperation with India. Prof. Dr René R. Schmidpeter, a sustainability researcher at BFH, is a pioneering figure in this field, having conducted research and published alongside Indian researchers for nearly ten years. “Responsible leadership and sustainable management are key to establishing new economic and social connections between Europe and India,” says Schmidpeter. Judging by the commitment of the colloquium participants, enhanced cooperation is well underway.