The committee has exchanged informations about the different master programs in statistics that have started or are planned at Swiss Universities. This has resulted in a note published in the Bulletin. We also initiated a modification in the concept of the Swiss Statistics Meeting in the sense that a joint meeting of all the sections should only be held every second year. This proposal has been welcomed by the other sections.
Jacques Zuber, a member of the committee, has given workshops in Swiss gymnasiums in cooperation with the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. Statistics is insufficently present in educational programs in our country. Often, statistics is only an optional course. In the mentioned workshops, the important role played by variability in education analysis, business and industrial production was demonstrated to teachers in mathematics.
The committee plans further efforts to coordinate and inform about education in statistics in our country. The Swiss Academy of Exact Sciences (scnat, www.scnat.ch) undergoes substantial organisational transformation as a reaction to new conditions and expectations set by the Federation. The representation of the SSS in scnat has been delegated to our section, who sent Werner Stahel to the Senat meetings.
Note that the Section holds a General Assembly only every second year. In 2006, there is no such meeting, the next one being due in autumn 2007.
For the Committee of the Section Education and Research
Werner Stahel, Seminar für Statistik, ETH Zurich, stahel@stat.math.ethz.ch