Spreading of study programmes for a “digital” world in Switzerland: Critical observations between state and market

“Digital transformation” has rapidly become a key topic of higher education policy and institutional development. This paper presents a remarkable trend in the announcement and creation of study programmes in Switzerland: An increasing number of study offerings refer to subjects of digital change and thus assert a sense of special relevance. We present data from our national study programmes inventory and discuss some striking results in the Swiss context. Significant disparities were observed between degree programmes (BA, MA) and other forms of further education, as well as between traditional universities and universities of applied science. We discuss these observations in terms of the system’s ability to adapt to new trends by highlighting both the market-like response and the reaction to policymaking.