He had left to follow the path of his father and, before him, his grandfather, both architects who had left their mark on the region. But Charles Kleiber, born in Moutier on December 9, 1942, ultimately forged his own path. And not least.
Although he did indeed train as an architect at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), with a diploma obtained in 1968, he gradually moved towards the field of health.
Was it his participation in the construction of the Pays d’Enhaut hospital in Château-d’Oex, in 1978, which would act as a trigger? The fact remains that some time later he embarked on a doctorate in social sciences at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Public Administration (IDHEAP), devoting his thesis to the Vaud health organization. Various mandates in this area will naturally follow.
In 1981, he became head of the Public Health and Health Planning Department of the canton of Vaud. He will also direct the Vaud cantonal hospice service, within the framework of which he will undertake the networking of the hospital establishments in this canton, before taking the head of the CHUV in the early 1990s.
From architect to senior civil servant
In 1997, he was approached by the head of the Federal Department of the Interior, Ruth Dreifuss, who asked him to head what would later become the State Secretariat for Education and Research. In this context, he will notably lead the reform of the Swiss university system, in connection with the signing of the Bologna agreements. It will also participate in reshaping the university landscape of the Lake Geneva region, by redistributing the cards between the universities of Geneva, Lausanne and EPFL. It will also play an important role in the establishment of specialized universities. Reforms which were not self-evident at the time.
“Charles was a man who loved debate. He had ideas. Some turned out to be visionary. But he knew how to defend them,” testifies his younger brother Laurent, based in Develier.
