State Secretary Martina Hirayama to travel to China on science mission and attend WorldSkills Competition
Bern, 17.09.2026 — From 21 to 28 September, Martina Hirayama, State Secretary for Education, Research and Innovation, will lead a science mission to China. The programme includes ministerial-level meetings and visits to science and technology institutions in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai. At the end of the mission, she will attend the awards ceremony of the WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai.
The aim of the mission is to consolidate and expand existing cooperation between Switzerland and China in the fields of education, research and innovation. The state secretary will be accompanied by a high-level Swiss scientific delegation.
The Swiss delegation will meet with representatives from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education, as well as with stakeholders in education, research and innovation, to explore mutual interest in new areas of cooperation. The programme includes visits to research institutions, higher education establishments and companies, as well as meetings with their management. Ms Hirayama will devote the second part of her visit to China to the WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai. Switzerland will be represented at the event by 42 participants competing in 38 disciplines as part of the SwissSkills National Team.
Valuable cooperation with China in education and research
Cooperation between Switzerland and China in the field of science is based on a bilateral agreement concluded between the two countries in 1989. It is on that basis that cooperation in education and research has gradually been expanded. Between 2018 and 2025, the Swiss National Science Foundation funded more than 460 Swiss research projects involving Chinese researchers, making China the second most important partner country in Asia. Furthermore, Swissnex, the global network that connects Switzerland with the rest of the world in the fields of education, research and innovation, and which has had a presence in Shanghai since 2008, is helping to foster relations between the two countries.