Publisher Swiss Learning SA Rue du Rhône 11 1204 Genève Christophe-Xavier Clivaz www.swisslearning.com info@swisslearning.com Editing & writing Poppydinh Studio Camille Bozonnet Graphic design Poppydinh Studio Annick Demierre Illustrator Julien Mouron Cover ECAL/Lauris Paulus Photographs Carlo Chanez, Christophe Clivaz, Annick Demierre, ECAL/Sami Benhadj, ECAL/Florian Joye, ECAL/Milo Keller, Yoko Kobayashi, Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz, Sandra Pointet, Tania Prill, Edouard Rieben, Mathias Stich, Studio Patrick Villars et Beau Soleil, Università della Svizzera italiana, Université de Genève, Jacques Erard, Université de Genève, Christian Lutz Proofreading Elena Ineichen
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Editorial The status and importance of art in education are often subject contradictions ; at times repressed, limited or marginalised, yet on the other hand having excellent virtues and being a positive educational tool, it is with this in mind that we have designed the new edition of our Swiss Learning magazine. You will be able to see that this subject occupies a very important position in our educational institutions. On a university level the programmes proposed by ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne and the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) can be considered amongst the top in the world in their field. Not to be left out, Architecture boasts some of the most prestigious teachers, such as Mario Botta and Peter Zumthor at “L’Accademia”– the Mendrizio Academy of Architecture. In this time, when school programmes are becoming more and more demanding and personal development is put to one side, art allows students to have more confidence in themselves and to develop their critical sense. The article on Carlo Jean-Paul Chanez, a jingles and film music composer, relates the story of a resounding success. This new edition also includes the prestigious participation of Mrs. Doris Leuthard, Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs. The words “Switzerland an innovative and creative nation” spoken in the interview will convince the reader to discover the excellence of Swiss education. With our best regards,
Christophe-Xavier Clivaz
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Swiss Deluxe Winter.
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Contents Winter-Spring 2008
A group of 36 luxury hotels.
1 Editorial By Christophe-Xavier Clivaz 4 In brief Higher Education in the News 6 Exclusive Interview with Doris Leuthard, Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs
8 High Schools On with the Show ! 14 Academic Personality Professor Valentin Bearth, Science and the Art of Architecture 19 Career Swiss Design Still Feeling Good 20 Gossip Swiss A to Z : the Unofficial Glossary of Heidi’s Country 24 Portfolio Sandra Pointet
Unique on earth.
swissdeluxehotels.com
28 Higher Education Taking Risks, Striving for Excellence 35 Abroad By Paul Fivat, Ambassador of Switzerland to Japan 36 University When Tradition Makes of the Future its Ally : Arts and Letters at UNIGE 39 Postgraduate Programme Mastering Spatial Environments 40 Research HyperWerk Designs our Post-Industrial Times 43 Headmaster’s Corner Nowhere Else... 45 Students’ Guide 46 The Educational System in Switzerland, an Overall View 48 A Panorama of the Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences 52 High Schools and Hotel Schools : Portrait Gallery
Higher Education in the News
In Brief |
Four Young Professors Honoured
Since the beginning of 2007, the Arc University of Applied Sciences (HE-Arc) has successfully been leading MULTIPOL, a 2.2 million European research programme funded by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Program. Born of a close collaboration between the Arc Institute of Applied Microtechnologies and COMELEC SA, the project now gathers ten scientific and industrial partners in eight European countries. MULTIPOL develops multifunctional parylene-based polymers and systems with a range of tailored properties (e.g., conductivity, insulation, size, weight, density, biocompatibility, toxicity, environmentally friendly synthesis and processing, etc.) designed for applications in the fields of electronics and biotechnology, such as LEDs and solar cells.
Assistant Professors Karl Gademann (chemical engineering), Matthias Lütolf (bioengineering), and visiting Associate Professor Anastasia Ailamaki (computer science) from the EPFL, together with Dr Gregor Rainer, a neuroscientist at the University of Fribourg, were among the 20 laureates of the fourth European Young Investigator Award (EURYI). Designed as a highprofile incentive to build careers and research teams in Europe, EURYI rewards researchers under the age of 40 with at least 1 million over five years, providing them with the resources they need to move ahead with their programs.
www.he-arc.ch & www.multipol.eu
http://actualites.epfl.ch
Leading a European Program
Sharing in the Nobel Peace Prize
C3i, Professor Martin Beniston’s Research Group on Climate Change and Climate Impacts at the University of Geneva is proud to be linked to the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). C3i has participated in IPCC activities since 1992, holding the vice-chairmanship of the IPCC Working Group II from 1992 to 1997 and making author contributions to the second, third and fourth IPCC Assessment Reports.
www.unige.ch/climate
ECONOMICS AND DISABLED PEOPLE
The University of Saint Gallen intends to establish itself in the field of disability research from the perspective of management and economics. Thanks to a personal donation by Joachim Schoss, chairman of MyHandicap.com, a 14-year tenure-track professorship will soon be funded in the Departments of Management and Economics to answer questions such as how social insurance systems should be structured to ensure they will be conducive to the reintegration of disabled people while remaining fundable, and how corporate culture, the make-up of teams, and working hours can be planned to satisfy disabled people’s requirements. “We are pleased and proud to be able to make a practical contribution towards the improvement of the situation of people who have often suffered great misfortunes,” announced St Gallen University President Ernst Mohr.
www.unisg.ch
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A little Sun at Hand
Informatica08
2008 has been declared Year of Information Technology ! Facing an incredible lack of students – although the needs of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector keep on growing, a group of prominent players in the field have decided to act. Under the name Informatica08, the Swiss Association for Information and Communication Technology (SwissICT), together with the Swiss Association for Information, Communication and Organisational Technology (SWICO), and the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (ASST) have set up a series of lectures, theme days, and events throughout the year to promote information technology as an exciting science as well as an attractive professional field. Star entrepreneurs such as Daniel Borel of Logitech have joined the movement, as they are very concerned with the current vacuum of Swiss talent in the ICT sector.
www.informatica08.ch
Great success for Akhtis, a startup of the University of Applied Sciences of Vaud specializing in thermal plasma lamps! This new generation of lamps already meets the needs of industries and sport infrastructures as it drastically reduces the costs of maintenance and energy consumption. So much so, that Akhtis now cooperates with a large South Korean electronics firm launching research to develop this new technology for different market segments, such as low-powered urban lighting.
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www.akhtis.com
GLION AND LES ROCHES IN TOP THREE
The Glion Institute of Higher Education and Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, members of the Swiss Learning platform, have just ranked second and third respectively among the Top 10 schools of hospitality education worldwide. Laureate Hospitality Education commissioned the world-renowned custom research and analysis firm Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) Travel & Tourism (UK) to conduct a broad industry survey among a large sample of hiring managers from leading hospitality organizations around the world. A total of 275 respondents from 52 countries and 40 leading international organisations participated. “It is not a surprise that our exceptional student bodies, coming from over 80 countries, have been recognized by industry for their outstanding management performance in international careers. Glion and Les Roches will continue to work closely with leaders in the hospitality industry to understand new trends and to meet future global requirements,” remarked David Graves, president of Laureate Hospitality Education.
www.glion.edu & www.lesroches.edu
Swiss AFM on the Road to Mars
On board a Delta II rocket, an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is heading to Mars, where it is expected to land in the arctic plain in May 2008. It was developed and built by the Institute of Microtechnology (IMT) of the University of Neuchâtel, the Institute of Physics of the University of Basel, and Nanosurf AG, Liestal, in close collaboration with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), both in the USA. The Swiss AFM will be the first instrument of its kind to operate in space, and producing images with the highest resolution and magnification so far achieved it will help trace the geological history of Martian arctic soils, particularly whether water played a role.
www2.unine.ch & www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html
Exclusive |
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“ A Swiss diploma opens many doors to the business world.”
reputation as an innovative and creative nation. Being internationally oriented is an important criterion, especially in art and design. On the other hand, the need for a university to have solid local roots should also not be underestimated. Ideally, it should foster constant dialogue with regional partners.
By Doris Leuthard, Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA)
You are responsible for labour, professional education, technology and innovation could you describe your role ? For me, labour, vocational education and the development of technology and innovation are the essential building blocks of Switzerland’s economic success. It is in these areas that I set priorities. We can only raise prosperity, employment and standards of living if we are able to compete on all levels of the global market. My areas of responsibility range from broad economic affairs and education to agriculture, housing and issues surrounding fair competition. One of my main policy goals in the FDEA is to create a favourable environment for generating employment through flexible labour market conditions, and to facilitate access to the labour market for young people, women, and older workers. The Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) are celebrating their 10th anniversary: seven public schools, almost 50,000 students, 13 BA degree programs, and four Master degree programs. How do you feel about this last decade ? We have achieved a great deal. The Universities of Applied Sciences have
managed to organize themselves, evolve, and cope with the increase in student numbers and have become equal partners to the universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH). Their particular plus is the bearing they have towards practical application and the needs of the economy. In addition, the university landscape has become more diverse : a private University of Applied Science has also now been acknowledged as a recognized university.
Master’s level. It is also worth mentioning the path of higher vocational education and training which can lead to further qualifications even for those without a professional baccalaureate. The success of our system can be put down to the fact that it is supported and financed by all of the partners involved (the federal government, the cantons and the private sector). That way we have people with the right skills and qualifications for every job.
Apprenticeships, the professional baccalaureate and the UAS are often quoted as examples on the international scene, could you explain the reasons for their success? Vocational education and training, which incorporates apprenticeships, is the most popular educational route that many young Swiss take. Two thirds begin their vocational education and training after completing their compulsory schooling. This training guarantees practical experience as well as offering real career opportunities. The wide range of offerings is continuously being refined and adapted to new developments. Furthermore, the path ranges from vocational qualifications to UAS degrees, and soon also to
The Universities of Applied Sciences and the 12 traditional universities are not under the same minister. Could you explain to readers why this is? In Switzerland, responsibility for education is divided between different levels of government. The cantons are responsible for general schooling (primary and secondary) and for the 12 traditional universities. Responsibility for the various levels of vocational education and training falls to the Federal Department of Economic Affairs because of its bearing on the labour market. The two Federal Institutes of Technology are covered by the Federal Department of Home Affairs due to research. On the whole the system that has evolved over a number of years still functions well.
Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs Attorney Born in 1963 in Merenschwand (Canton Aargau) Married 2006– Head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (responsible for economic affairs, trade policy, employment, technology, agriculture, innovation, vocational education and training and the universities of applied sciences)
2004 Elected President of the Christian Democratic People’s Party (CVP), Switzerland
2001 Elected Vice-President of the CVP, Switzerland
1999 Member of the National Council, CVP, Switzerland
1997–2000 Member of the Aargau cantonal parliament, Switzerland
1993-2000 Member of the Muri District School Board, Switzerland
What role do you feel Switzerland should play in the education and training sector, which is in the process of becoming more and more international? It encourages us to excel in science and education and offer an attractive location for the best researchers. We currently invest around 2.96% of our GDP in education and research. In order to maintain our leading position we have topped up the credit for education, research and innovation by a further 6% over the next four years. Over the next few years we also want to reform the Swiss university system so as to coordinate it more efficiently, while granting the universities greater autonomy. That should make us more competitive internationally.
1991Partner at Fricker+Leuthard, Wohlen & Muri AG, Switzerland Degree in Law, University of Zurich, Switzerland
www.evd.admin.ch
What do you think of ECAL (University of Art and Design Lausanne) being among the world’s Top Ten D-Schools ? Is this your goal for each UAS? We are proud of leaders like ECAL. They contribute to Switzerland’s
What role do private schools play in the economic development of a region, and how important are they in a multinational company’s decision to set up a base in Switzerland? Private schools have a long tradition in Switzerland and should not be underestimated as an economic factor. These schools have an impact on the image of Switzerland abroad and on its appeal as a business location. We strive to ensure that such schools have a good framework within which to operate and maintain their high level of quality. How would you convince a foreign student to choose Switzerland over another country? The opportunity to get to know Switzerland with its four language regions and high standard of living is a special experience for any foreign student. Switzerland is a safe and politically stable country. Furthermore, our Universities of Applied Sciences and traditional universities enjoy an excellent reputation. A Swiss diploma or study visit opens many doors to the business world.
On with the Show !
High Schools |
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High school is not just about academics. The performing arts also play a role in pupils’ education – and not a minor one either. Given the chance to catch a glimpse of the works students are required to perform, you’d discover how they are encouraged to strive for a diversity of practice and interpretation as well as experimentation and critical dialogue. Underpinning this approach is an educational policy that allows the limitless potential of individual talents to blossom. By Camille Bozonnet
B
lack Box Theatre, Leysin, Wednesday 21 November, 6:30pm. There’s a crush to get in. Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “50s style”, performed by Leysin American School’s (LAS) drama students is about to begin. Pressure is high. The students are very excited. Lights switch off. Someone knocks three times. At one end of the stage, a balsa-made set dominates: a palace façade flanked by two columns and a triangular pediment. Nearby, a sign reads: “A really magical forest”. Theseus enters in a black suit and starts his lines: “Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour/Draws on apace; four happy days bring in/Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow/This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires/ Like to a step-dame or a dowager/ long withering out a young man revenue.” Laughter bursts forth regularly, especially when Flute (alias Gordon Smith dressed as a charming blond lady-love) dramatically kills herself on her fiancé’s dead body. So do shouts of admiration when sexy queen Titania, muffled in her feathered boa and surrounded by her pink-attired fairies, sashays down the stage to the tune of “Fever” by Peggy Lee. The least one can say is that the ebullient
audience reacts straight off. Two hours later, it’s a tremendous success! Still in his knight costume, Bottom, alias Fares Boulos, confirms that he’s “felt good vibes from the caring crowd who was listening. I love playing Bottom because he’s an energetic character, very full of himself; he allows me to sing, dance, jump, run, and make the crowd laugh. Being there with others was amazing. It was a great opportunity to take the role.” Although she usually doesn’t watch opening nights so that her students feel it’s entirely their show, drama teacher Carolyn Swanson is here tonight and enthusing about the performance, in which she’s found the expected high energy. She has chosen to transpose Shakespeare’s play to the 1950s because it reminded her of that era when teenagers became powerful and independent. How does she consider her teaching experience so far ? “It’s my first year here. Previously I taught in a California public school for eight years. I discovered there are such individuals here, and we are in the mountains, a bit far from everything. I could see how important it is to be involved in something collaborative. I purposefully cast over 20 students
in the show and ten in technical support, which equals almost 10% of the whole school. The effort needs to be part of a group, a family, something bigger than an easy play with three people, so that success depends on everybody,” she says.
Expressing Oneself While the theatrical experience may always remain an exceptional event for the student actors involved, it does not rank as one for LAS, because instruction in the performing arts, including drama, is part of a school policy rooted in a philosophy of holistic education that is shared by a number of institutions, including LAS. Holistic education prepares students to meet the challenges of living wellrounded lives in addition to providing them with a firm foundation in academic subjects. It believes to be
crucial that young people discover life basics in order to succeed in the world of work, and these include learning about themselves, about healthy relationships, and about social and emotional development. It despises conservative policy “exclusively focused on learning by heart, and the ability to develop concepts,” says Oliver Schmid, Director of Institut Montana Zugerberg. “We ought to allow the soft sides of personalities to express themselves. Artistic skills have to be acquired,” Schmid believes. In other words, there’s no “spare part”. As Beat Sommer, Director of Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz puts it: “artistic teaching intends to be a balance in relation to other educational pillars, such as academics and sport. It is an essential counterpart to which students react very well and through which they discover their talents.” So much
SEVEN PIECES OF ART by Beat Sommer, Director of Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz…
… a work of architecture? The Church of Saint John the Baptist by Mario Botta … a sculpture ? “David” by Michelangelo … a painting ? “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso … a ballet/choregraphy ? “The Nutcracker” by Peter Tchaikovsky … a piece of music ? “Imagine” by Lohn Lennon … a poem ? “If ” by Rudyard Kipling … a movie ? “Amarcord” by Federico Fellini
High Schools | 10
“
THE THREE MAIN TRAITS NECESSARY TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE TODAY ARE SELF-CONFIDENCE, CREATIVITY, AND ENERGY. THE TRICK IS TO FACE UP TO AND MASTER A CHALLENGE. THE PERFORMING ARTS ARE PERFECT FOR THAT. YOU CAN START WITH A WALK-ON PART AND END UP WITH THE LEADING ROLE. YOU JUST HAVE TO MOVE ON.
”
Jérôme de Meyer
so, that Zuoz’s Little Shakespeare Company has been working for three years with well-known Swiss theatre director, Giovanni Netzer, recipient of the 2007 Hans Reinhart-Ring given by the Swiss Theatre Society and the Swiss Federal Council for Culture for his work in Rhaeto-Romanic theatre at Burg Riom Castle in the canton of Grisons. Together, Netzer and the Company last December opened their third season with “Othello”, a three-monthlong project to which a lot of free time was dedicated. But it was worth it for both students and staff. “Shakespeare is a world of its own,” Sommer says, “and characters can be directly transposed into everyday modern society.” Obviously students gain multiple benefits from the experience. It’s not just about working on topics, learning lines and acting in relation to scenography. It goes beyond technique to deal with the psychology of human nature, relationships, and values attributed to friendship, passion, manipulation, jealousy, hatred and betrayal. Drama helps students to take moral subjects into account and to wonder what will become of them when they grow up, without suffering endless moralising lectures. Besides, when
facing a demanding audience, actors express themselves, push their limits and improve their self-confidence. A genuine school of life.
An Amazing Therapy Collège Beau Soleil exemplifies this commitment to the value of performance, with its “Tread the Boards” personal challenge programme. Two years ago the school purchased a discotheque and converted it into a dual purpose theatre and cinema auditorium. The ambitious project, resulting in a versatile space with 225 seats, a technical box equipped to the highest professional standards and extensive off-stage spaces, has provided both the school and the local community with an exceptional facility. “Le Broadway” is the first professional theatre housed in a Swiss private school and open to the public. It hosts not only the school’s own productions but also performances by professional groups attracted by its exceptional facilities. These visitors perform for the benefit of the Beau Soleil Foundation, “Le Solstice”, which supports underprivileged children in Switzerland and abroad. Beyond its function as a theatre and
cinema, “Le Broadway” is a valuable educational springboard for students of all ages. Every Monday morning, one or more students go on stage for free speaking: a personal passion perhaps, a musical performance or even a comic sketch – anything that pushes them to open up. And what of the students who struggle with shyness and cannot face a public appearance? “They train for weeks, cry for nights, go on stage, then step off the boards
SEVEN PIECES OF ART by Jérôme de Meyer Director General of Collège Beau Soleil...
… a work of architecture ? ECAL by Bernard Tschumi … a sculpture ? “The Thinker” by Auguste Rodin … a painting ? “Les Dents du Midi” by Ferdinand Hodler … a ballet/choregraphy ? “Swan Lake” … a piece of music ? “Bolero” by Maurice Ravel … a poem ? “The Flowers of Evil” by Charles Baudelaire … a movie ? “La Mome” by Olivier Dahan
… only to come back because they’ve found out it’s an amazing therapy,” explains Beau Soleil’s Director General Jérôme de Meyer. In his opinion, “the three main traits necessary to be successful in life today are self-confidence, creativity, and energy. The trick is to face up to and master a challenge. The performing arts are perfect for that. You can start with a walk-on part and end up with the leading role. You just have to move on”, he says. Other schools are emulating this approach. Institut Le Rosey is actually building its own arts centre, comprising a performance hall seating up to 800 persons, to be named “Carnal Hall”… that’ll take some doing!
To Gain Mass Appeal If acting is not every Beau Soleil student’s cup of tea, there are other enticements: the gallery exhibiting both students’ and artists’ works; the professional recording studio; numerous music workshops; photography; sculpture; painting and drawing; dance; and cookery classes. There’s a suitable field of self-expression for every person. And that’s exactly what’s at stake in the end – the blossoming of each individual. Jérôme de Meyer
says: “We want each student to be brilliant in one field: art, sport, academics, etc., and to share their knowledge with others. We do find an area where each student can be successful and find their own way.” No matter which way that may be. And there’s more to come! Educational concerts as well as musical events are scheduled to include: Mondo Musica; Die Gitarre concerts; a didgeridoo workshop; the Battle of the Bands, a rock concert featuring four bands from the Freies Gymnasium Zürich; and concerts by the school choir, the village choir, local music groups and a grand finale of Händel’s “Hallelujah Chorus”, performed by all music groups together at Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz. A variety of top-notch cultural outings have also been organized: students of the Brillantmont International School will attend a “Stars of the Russian Ballet” performance, and “Sleeping Beauty”, as well as the Knie Circus, and Riverdance. They’ll also attend a Chagall exhibition at the Pierre Giannada Foundation in Martigny and enjoy guided visits of Bern, Switzerland, or Lyon, France. On top of this, students are exposed
Famous Zuoz alumni
Peter-Christian Fueter Swiss, Producer, C-Films AG Born in 1941
2006 “Grounding : The Last Days of Swissair” > Nominated for the Swiss Film Prize for Best Film 2005 “Mein Name ist Eugen” > Awarded the Swiss Film Prize for Best Fiction Film > Actor Mike Müller nominated for the Swiss Film Prize for Best Performance in a Supporting Role > Recipient of the Cinekid Film Award – Honourable Mention www.c-films.ch
High Schools | 12
“
I LOVE PUCK, HE’S CHILDISH, FOOLISH, AND FULL OF ENERGY. AT FIRST I WAS NERVOUS, BUT WHEN YOU GET INTO IT, YOU HAVE TO JUST LET GO – AND I DID.
”
Rory Thost
to relevant theories on aesthetics to stimulate provocative discussions and to develop critical thinking that “is part of the concept of every openminded school,” says Oliver Schmid of Institut Montana Zugerberg. A major imperative is widening intellectual horizons, if not feeding a natural cultural appetite.
A Stringboard for Eventual Careers “I always perform in plays. I love acting, engaging with the audience, and feeling connected. I like Helena ; she’s a crazy character and there’s a lot I can relate to in her. I may consider an acting career – in music halls”, shares student Sarah Hara after the Black Box Theatre’s curtain has gone down. Indeed, artistic callings have been revealed. Mark Johnson has taught art and theatre courses at Institut Montana Zugerberg since 1979. In spring 2001, he and a colleague – a composer and music teacher – decided to form the “Strings Attached” company to perform original shows that Johnson would write and his colleague would score. Alumni were involved from the beginning : “The shows were to
be performed by former Montana students who were pursuing studies and/or careers in the arts and theatre. Costumes were designed and made by a student just finishing her studies in fashion design, and sets were created and constructed by a former student completing his studies in installation art at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). We’ve performed in both Zug and Zürich, but by far the bulk of our performances have been in either Edinburgh (2002-2004) or Avignon (2005).” Oliver Schmid recalls the story of a gifted Russian student with a stunning singing voice who took afternoon classes at the Zurich Opera House: “She was so talented that she finally gave up the International Baccalaureat programme to devote herself to opera. Her choice was to pursue a career.” Nevertheless, examples of this are few because a career in the arts has never, ever, been the focus. One shouldn’t forget the governing word – balance. High schools never push students of unusual promise or allow them to skip classes. On the other hand they are eager to support them by organising extra classes or providing budding artists
with adequate teaching and coaching during free time. As long as doing so gives students pleasure, as evidenced by Rory Thost, one of Leysin American School’s rising stars from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. “I love Puck,” he says, “he’s childish, foolish, and full of energy. At first I was nervous, but when you get into it, you have to just let go – and I did. I really enjoyed it. Of course I’ll do it again!”
SEVEN PIECES OF ART by Oliver Schmid Director of Institut Montana Zugerberg...
… a work of architecture ? KKL, Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern by Jean Nouvel … a sculpture ? Jean Tinguely … a painter ? Salvador Dali … a ballet/choregraphy ? Capoeira … a piece of music ? “The Wall” by Pink Floyd … a poet/writer ? Jean-Paul Sartre … a movie ? “Finding Neverland” by alumni Marc Foster
Alumni Corner
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Passion. A word that comes naturally to this sounds enthusiast’s tongue again and again during the conversation. If you listen to the music of his voice while his rapid, warm delivery shapes his modulated speech with laughter never far off, you understand he cannot help but be carried away. Carlo Jean-Paul Chanez, 40, Swiss, Composer/conductor, jingles and film music composer, producer 1984-1985, Brillantmont International School
What’s a typical day ? I get a commercial via the Internet, say, on Tuesday morning. A 30-secondseries of images. By Tuesday evening, I send three samples back to the client. I receive his feedback on Wednesday morning , usually offering a compromise solution – a mix between two samples. I recompose according to the comments and by Wednesday evening, 85-to-90% of the work is done. On Thursday morning, I just need to put voices on it. And Saturday morning, people can watch the commercial on CNN. It’s quite a quick process. Are you as efficient composing for a movie ? In a way, although it greatly depends on the budget. The average is about three months. I compose here, in Saint-Saphorin, and then I spend one week in the United States to record the music… finally, I glue. Do you ? Yes, we call it “cinematic glue”. Imagine a great movie without music : it’s still missing something. A kissing scene for instance, as moving as it can be, needs support from a tune. My part is to package the whole thing nicely.
How did you come to compose jingles and film music ? I started in college in Colorado, USA, with totally open teachers willing to embrace all the possibilities. My first project was to make a student film. I’ve always liked music and I discovered I was a dab hand at putting music to a movie. Then I moved to LA and all the pieces of the puzzle came together. I first thought I would arrange pieces for piano and conduct orchestras for the film industry and then I went into jingles. Any trick to share ? It’s almost instinctive. As soon as I see the pictures, it’s crystal clear. And I must say that my background at Brillantmont helped tremendously. To which extent ? Being introduced to different cultures, different people, and diverse ways of thinking fills you with a lot of enriching experiences you can use during the creative phase. It’s like a sensory, intellectual and emotional databank. What did it bring you ? I was looking for the international environment I found there. It was
“Acoustic book”
Movies : orchestration and conducting for composer George S.Clinton 1997 “Austin Powers” 1995 “Mortal Kombat” 1995 “Top Dog” Feature films : 2007 “Self Portrait” 2005 “Virgin Red” 1998 “The Shy and the Naked” TV series : Tarzan, Mac Gyver, Baywatch… TV Commercials : American Airlines, Chrysler, Samsung, Sunrise, Nissan, Renault, BMW…
Bluegreen Digital
SA Production
Feature film and documentary : 2006 Amnésie Internationale 2- d’un Mur l’Autre 2003 Une Chienne Catalane TV Commercials : Securitas Direct, Le Gruyère (3 year-campaign), Caterpilar…
www.bluegreendigital.com
very much like a family school, I knew everybody. There are still friends I met there that I see quite often. It suited me a lot more than Swiss schools given that I wasn’t such a great student, and so much more into organizing artistic events or performances. Above all, they introduced me to US colleges, among them Colorado College, where I attended drama and music classes. Do you feel like you owe Brillantmont something ? Definitely. It triggered everything. I found a way to exercise my passion. I’ve been given the opportunity to do something I really, really, really enjoy !
Science and the Art of Architecture
Academic Personality | 14
Dean, Academy of Architecture, University of Lugano (USI) Council member, Academy of Architecture, Born in 1957 in Tiefencastel (GR) 2007–
“Architecture combines rationality with irrationality to give concrete expression to an abstract original idea. That’s exactly what a student project embodies”, Professor Valentin Bearth, Dean of “L’Accademia”. By Camille Bozonnet
I
t’s already so famous that it’s known simply by its name “L’Accademia”. Part of the 11-year old University of Lugano, the Mendrisio Academy of Architecture is a young yet highly praiseworthy institution that shows it doesn’t need to be big to run ahead among the leaders ; a glance at its Council members reveals that such big names as Mario Botta and Peter Zumthor preside over its destiny. Appointed Dean last September, Professor Valentin Bearth, the discreet but brilliant founding partner of a multiple prize-winning studio, perfectly represents “L’Accademia”. He shares with us his enthusiasm for its dynamic international orientation, his plans for the future, and his deep attachment to teaching methods that strike a balance between student projects and humanistic themes. After all, architecture is about thinking and challenging oneself. The number of registered students has jumped from 70 to 700 in 11 years. How do you explain its success ? It results from our academic offer, the core of which is the student project, representing 50% of the course load. The other half is devoted to theoreti-
cal fields (e.g. philosophy, mathematics, technology, ecology, and town planning…) with a unique emphasis on a humanistic set of themes. Why this specificity ? To begin with architecture you must think. Understand a society and its mechanisms. Historical and sociological trainings are thus necessary to go forward. But it doesn’t mean that we train theoreticians. On the contrary, our graduates develop strong practical skills in order to build once they enter the job market. Besides, our students have to take individual initiative to frequent libraries and exhibitions, to travel – anything that stimulates curiosity and the spirit of discovery. Ultimately an architect is self-taught. Could you explain this paradox ? At the end of his degree, a graduate has actually reached the beginning. He has to start an on-going process of building his own experiences with people, places, and landscapes – all that will make up his store of references. Architecture is not a mechanical occupation. There’s not a single recipe to use in every circumstance. Each mandate is different. So you can’t help
but keep on trying something new. It is the purpose that projects serve. In what way ? Our architects who manage the workshops where student projects are elaborated run their own studio. There’s no exception. In this way, workshops are laboratories recreating the atmosphere of a real studio, where you learn to confront various themes, to interact with different guilds – to conduct a project from the beginning to the end as if you were working for a client. The average size of workshops is ideal, comprising one professor, two assistants and 25-to-30 students, thanks to our small campus. We insist on protecting this way of teaching. That’s the reason you just introduced restricted enrolment ? Indeed. We have to face really strong demand, particularly from Italians whose universities are too big to offer such steady teaching. Each year, they’re 250 to apply for a hundred available places. So we set up an admissions test based on an interview, drawing abilities, mathematics and geometry, as well as architectural and artistic culture.
Besides Italians, you welcome a lot of foreign students, don’t you ? Absolutely. Thirty nationalities mix at Mendrisio, including Koreans, South Americans and Russians, for instance. All the different languages represent our campus’ “Esperanto”. Mendrisio is not located on the world map, it is not a metropolis, it kind of belongs to Milan’s outskirts (although defining “outskirts” is challenging for an architect !) and still, it is international. It also applies to our staff. Regular and visiting professors come from all over the world, from Portugal and Spain, to Austria, Italia, and England… You cannot expect from students to open up and widen their horizons without setting an example for them. The multiplicity of teachers’ identities guarantees the multiculturalism in which we believe. As Head of “L’Accademia”, what are your plans ? We look forward to bringing our project of creating a centre of research in architecture focusing on an interdisciplinary approach to a successful conclusion by the year 2009 or so. We also want to create a museum of architecture and a gallery/research centre for
Dean, Academy of Architecture, USI, Switzerland Member of the jury, Gottardo Architectural Award by Banca del Gottardo
2003–2005 Visiting Professor, School of Architecture, Università di Sassari, Italy
2001 Firm recipient of the Beton 01 award, Zurich, Switzerland
2000– Full Professor of Architectural Design, Academy of Architecture, USI
1999 Firm finalist, Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture, Barcelona, Spain
1997–2001 Member, Federal Commission for the Protection of Monuments in Switzerland
1994 & 2001 Firm recipient of the Auszeichnung für guter Bauten, Graubünden, Switzerland
1992 & 1996 Firm recipient of the Neues Bauen in den Alpen award, Sesto, Italy
1988 Founding partner of the Bearth & Deplazes studio together with Andrea Deplazes, Chur and Zurich, Switzerland
1983 Graduated in Architecture, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Academic Personality | 16
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BA-3 years PANTONE 1795 > CMJN
1st year : Mathematics, philosophy, technology (physics and construction physics ; law and legislation ; materials and construction elements), structures, theory of art and architecture (history of architecture, models of the historical city).
visiting international experts. In the image of the Gottardo Architectural Award, we wish to intensify international dialogue about architecture. Again our campus is small: we cannot indulge ourselves in over-diversifying. On the other hand, we meet the essence of architecture – multiply and channel themes instead of atomizing. Finally, we’ll put energy into the CUS project to increase university collaboration with the Lausanne Institute of Technology (EPFL) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (EPFZ). What research themes are you looking at, for instance ? The future of Tessine, once construction of the 57km Saint-Gotthard Tunnel between Tessine and Italy is achieved. Territory will change drastically as it will endure a great pressure. With the boom of exchanges and mobility, density has to be wisely managed although it’s not a Swiss priority nowadays. Eighty per cent of the buildings are actually built by “state servants”. Not by architects.
What do you mean ? Public responsibility has been delegated to the private market. Speculation dominates architecture as value optimisation dominates cultural debates, whereas architecture aims to build living spaces reflecting one’s desires, one’s dreams, one’s needs in a nature both original and shaped by man. You struggle for a Master of Science and Art of Architecture. Why ? Architecture combines rationality with irrationality to give concrete expression to an abstract original idea. That’s exactly what a student project embodies. At the beginning, you need an idea that is indistinct, unimproved, irrational. Then you think and find rational methods to realize it. That’s the Renaissance’s legacy. Is this legacy up-to-date ? Yes, it is. The Renaissance architecture is an art where rationality and irrationality represent parallels that are bound to meet at their end. It drives you to be filled with wonder. One ignores why one finds a place beautiful, but the reason lies in this secret. It’s still the case today.
Favourite architectural time ? The Middle Ages Medieval architecture concentrates on basics : walls, windows, and light while generating a mysterious atmosphere, a mystical one in churches. Near Tiefencastel, the place where I was born, there’s a small Carolingian church that has fascinated me ever since. The medieval monument you wish you had built ? I wish I had reached beyond the Middles Ages to find the Renaissance. Favourite city ? London It is an impressive melting pot that topography reveals. The architecture and the conflicts between housing and industry express this multiculturalism. There’s also a 19th-centurylike English generosity that you feel in sizes. Dimensions talk about the human intention of always going farther. Living place ? Chur I live in the mountains. Although it’s a small town, I have the liberty to take the night train to Paris, France. Holidays’ destination ? Cities I look for confrontation, extremes, and the paradox with nature.
François’ point of view François Steul, of both German and French heritage, has just started his fourth year at “L’Accademia”. He discovered he was an architecture fanatic. The contemporary project he’d have dreamed to be part of ? The Bibliothek Universität Utrecht (UBU), by Wiel Arets, because Arets used a silicone negative to print a picture of bamboo on concrete, and then painted it in black – what Steul had never imagined possible before having seen it. The kind of discovery that nurtures his passion. Why did you choose “L’Accademia” ? A haphazard choice… I wanted to study art although I had no idea of the field. I needed to be supervised. And I was looking for training given in a different language than my mother tongues – an extra challenge. Architecture was the closer discipline. I visited Mendrisio during a training period in Limburg an der Laan, Germany. After one week, I knew where I would spend the next few years. What does it bring to you ? Studies’ framework is very well coordinated. You easily pass your diploma
PANTONE 2747 > CMJN
MA-2 years 1st year : Theory of art and architecture (critical instruments of the 20th century, theory of reuse and restoration), culture of territory (the industrial city), technology (project management), horizontal design studios.
2nd year : Technology (housing, construction systems and processes), computer sciences, structures, mathematics, theory of art and architecture (Renaissance and Baroque), horizontal 2nd year : design studios. Culture of territory (the contemporary city), theory of art and architecture 3rd year : (Contemporary architecture). Technology (technical plants), ecology, theory of art and architecture (Medieval art history), structures, horizontal design studios.
if you’re motivated. And I fell in love with the Italian language. You’re attending Professor Valerio Olgiati’s workshop. What’s your project about ? You have to challenge yourself and set up a project based on a given general subject. It can be anything : a material, a colour, an atmosphere, or a kind of building. Then you choose the scale you wanna work on between S (up to 100m2), M, L and XL categories. This semester’s theme is “wood”, implying the subsequent question : how do you build with wood ? I chose a medium surface area – 250m2/2,718sq ft – to develop a house&studio for a married architect. The project ends with the public brief representing the reallife meeting when you give your client your plans, models, and photomontages. What’s its purpose ? You learn how to translate an idea into architecture. We go deeper into concepts, the sensuality of materials, the treatment of surfaces, etc. Professors pass on their thinking methods and professional experience as they run their studios.
You’re strongly encouraged to take personal initiatives. What are yours ? I write articles and interviews for the Universo review shared by the University of Lugano (USI) and other high schools from Tessine. The last subject dealt with the typology of chalets : a refuge in the mountains turned into a holiday house. I’ve also been involved in setting up a group that organizes a series of conferences about Como architect Giuseppe Terragni. USI’s 2007 survey of graduates reveals 95.4% of them are employed. Are you going for a Master’s degree ? Basically I go on by passion ! You study architecture for life. I also find the figures for this degree to be heartening. It’s like medicine or law : you want your work to be respected by professionals. Do you plan to stay in Switzerland ? Still hesitating. One of my dreams is to do an internship in a studio in Japan. For the time being, I wish to pass my diploma, then travel, and then find a first job in Switzerland or in Holland. In the long term, I would like to open a European-based studio with a couple of friends and be involved in teaching and research.
Career | 19
Our open-air cinema.
17 October 2007–17 February 2008 Swiss Federal Design Grants 2007 at the mudac, Lausanne
www.mudac.ch
Swiss Design Still Feeling Good Blausee, Melchsee-Frutt
MySwitzerland.com Rediscover nature – by revelling in the silence of an unspoilt mountain wilderness. By swimming in cool glacier meltwater under the hot Alpine sun. Or by gazing up at millions of stars in the clear night sky. You’ll find wonderful ways to experience Switzerland’s natural beauty in our new Alpine Summer brochure. Plus lots more holiday and excursion ideas. It is our pleasure to help plan your holiday. Call us: 00800 100 200 30 (freephone).
The recipient of the 2007 Swiss Federal Design Contest, German-born graphic designer Tania Prill, 38, was awarded a six-month stay with a London studio. It has given her a rare opportunity to work abroad on self-commisioned projects besides her studio projects for Prill & Vieceli, Zurich, and to mix with creative talents in London as well as finding time and inspiration for personal projects. Camille Bozonnet : Tell me about your path in Switzerland… Tania Prill : I started my studies at the University of Fine Arts, Bremen, in 1990. In the first term I joined a workshop given by Hans-Rudolf Lutz and Jul Keyser, both teachers at the School of Art and Design Zurich (HGKZ). The students’ projects impressed me. They showed fresh approaches. From that workshop onwards I knew I had to study there, at least for an exchange – which I did two years later. C.B. What did you enjoy ? T.P. I’ve had fabulous teachers such as designer Hans-Rudolf Lutz and artist Aldo Walker. We also had small classes of about ten students. It was a creative atmosphere where we learnt a lot
from each other. Although the Zurich system seemed more institutionalised than the one in Bremen, the students’ output was incredibly varied and individual. C.B. How do you explain it ? T.P. HGKZ focuses on the “Meaning of Images and the Power of Visual Communication”, as well as the impact that experiments and research have on our work. We were taught a special approach to design theory, which equals practical work. We reflected a lot about working methods and new technologies. Still, the School left us with enough freedom to play and push boundaries and to never get stuck in our design and communication ways. C.B. What happened then ? T.P. After six months I returned to Bremen, where I couldn’t go on working with my newly acquired methods. I decided to go back to HGKZ to deepen my knowledge. I then achieved my diploma at the University of Fine Arts in Bremen because I knew I’d need this university degree for my future career. I know I’ve greatly benefited from both experiences. Two
Recipients can choose between a price of CHF20,000 ; a sixmonth training period with Barber Osgerby, London (industrial design) or Industrial Facility, London (graphic or industrial design) or Value and Service, London (graphic design) or Christian Wijnants, Antwerp (fashion design) ; or a six-month stay with a London or New York studio.
years ago, I did the Executive Master’s degree of the University of Art and Design, Basel, where I studied “Design, Art + Innovation”. C.B. Is there a “Swiss design” ? T.P. Definitely. It developed in the late 1950s emphasising cleanliness and readability with the use of sans-serif fonts, for instance. Today you’ll find numerous publications and exhibitions all over the world focusing on contemporary Swiss design. Yet again, you need to evolve and break the boundaries. Swiss design is created within networks of internationallyorientated people. C.B. Why did you take part in the 2007 Swiss Federal Design Contest ? T.P. The Federal Office for Culture promotes graphic design within the country and abroad. There are not so many countries that support graphic designers. How Swiss design is received internationally has to do with this. It’s great to be part of the exhibition and the publication they’ve organized. C.B. What are your plans ? T.P. I’ll return to Zurich in February and then... let’s see !
Gossip | 20
Swiss A to Z
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The unofficial glossary that immodestly dissects Switzerland. Step through the looking glass and find out from this survey of customs, cultural phenomena and historical anecdotes what really makes this country so unique. By Camille Bozonnet
Bearded vultures Pornstars Hi guys, a teaser to begin this issue with. Why were bearded vultures reintroduced into the Swiss National Park in the 1970s? You’re thinking a WWF-like act of do-goodery. Please, forget hypocritical prudishness. ‘Sexual revolution celebrating free sex’ – does that ring any bells ? Well, these bloody smart (they change their feathers’ natural colour by bathing in iron-rich water), bleached-bone-loving, 2.7meter-wing span birds don’t only breed in pairs, but also in threesomes – two males and one female, both males mating with the female, all three looking after the nest throughout the breeding season. Scientists ignore the true reason of this hot behaviour. The hypothesis focusing on a competition between bearded vultures and golden eagles for the best nesting sites is nevertheless favoured, the female thus keeping a dedicated bodyguard for the fledgling while the other male plays Rambo. But there’s still room for doubt. Now that takes the drudgery out of the research duty.
Catherine de Grandson Prom Queen She once came this close to celebrity. Why she failed remains a mystery. But the little story goes that she is the reason why the Most Noble Order of the Garter was created. Wife of Swiss heritage of Guillaume de Montagu, Earl of Salisbury, she reportedly was one of the most gorgeous women of her time,
so much so that no sooner had King Edward III’s gaze met hers than he fell desperately in love. Thus, when she dropped her blue garter at a court ball, blushing deeply, Edward flew to her assistance, picked it up and bound it around his own leg replying to sniggering courtiers : “Honi soit qui mal y pense”. Added he : “I shall turn it into the most honoured garter ever worn” – which he did that famous 23 April 1348 when he founded the noble fraternity consisting of the King, the Prince of Wales and 24 Knights Companion. The English deny it had so frivolous a beginning, believing it originated in France to bring discredit to the world’s foremost order of chivalry. Pity, isn’t it ?
Freitag bags Recipe for success Take two bikers bros, Daniel and Markus Freitag, watching the Zurich transit bridge from their kitchen window on a dreary 1993 Friday afternoon in November. Then, the idea : ‘Green’ – unique messenger bags manufactured from 100% recycled materials such as colourful, used truck tarpaulins ; used airbags for the panels ; car seatbelts for the straps ; and bicycle inner tubes for the trim. Next, the marketing policy : strictly a word-of-mouth phenomenon and no advertising. Finally, the making of the buzz: provide tools for fans (e.g., a broad range of tarps) to create their own personalized bags and experience the “I-did-it” syndrom. And you get a “must-have” product raised to the rank of a piece of art that has famous critic Michael Agovino proclaiming they’re “like bits of pop art ; they recall not only the sensibilities of Warhol and Lichtenstein, but the aesthetic of Rothko, Barnett Newman’s zip paintings and Ed Ruscha”… to say the least !
Grunge fashion The price of defeat Mankind is full of forgiveness. That the army of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, took a bashing from Swiss troops at the battle of Grandson (1476) was not enough. They also had to suffer the ‘slashing’ fashion they created on the battlefields : when silk and other costly materials fell over to the victors, they slashed the booty to pieces and used it to patch their own ragged clothes. Cutting slits in the material in order to bring the lining out became an über-hot practice. German mercenaries were hooked, and so was the half-German Guise family who introduced the ‘slashing fashion’ to the French royal court, whence it spread to the English court when Mary Tudor, Henri VII’s daughter, married French King Louis XII. Ridicule never killed anyone. Still, I’d have felt insulted dressed like a Swiss mercenary in his Sunday’s best. But one’s cup has to be drained to the last dregs at times.
Jean de Léry Nature vs culture Always the same old chorus… and yet this guy seems to score a point against the supporters of ‘cultural superiority’. A French Protestant refugee in Switzerland during the Reformation, Jean de Léry (1534-1613) was among the dozen guys sent by Calvin to the “Antarctic France”, alias Rio de Janeiro Bay. Chased out by the local Catholic potentate, he spent a few months among the Tupinambas – cannibals living naked. He observed, understood, and described their life and manners in a book he wrote 20 years later. Despite the fact he was a simple cobbler, he’s considered
the very first ethnologist, his methodology and accurate observations commanding admiration, his book honoured by the mega-star Claude Levi-Strauss as a “masterpiece of ethnographic literature”. But he couldn’t help making a few judgements on Christians “who wouldn’t stop sucking others’ blood and marrow”. What’s bred in the bone comes out in the flesh.
Mother Realm’s pot Fortune favours the brave Since the mid-XVth century, big guns have ruled the day in battles. Nevertheless, a very few, either ahead of their time or 100 years behind it, favoured the ecological style, pouring boiling oil on besiegers. That’s what the Escalade (“scaling the walls”), Geneva’s most popular celebration, commemorates every December. According to tradition, the 1602 Duke of Savoy’s bitter defeat at the bottom of the Geneva walls is due to the brave Mother Realm who poured a pot of boiling soup over the Catholic besiegers. Nowadays, people remember it by buying chocolate pots, stuffed with marzipan vegetables, that they break while solemnly declaring “Thus die the Republic’s enemies !” You could think people jump at the opportunity to honour the heroic deeds of their saviour. You could also pay attention to the chocolate makers who rub their hands with a nasty smile.
Mount Pilatus Lucerne Dwimorberg How would you re-vamp a place spoilt by one of the shortest period of sunshine ? By launching a dramatic piece of propaganda. Hence the uncanny Lucerne mountain – said to host no other spirit than of Pontius Pilate himself.
Gossip | 22
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In the best tradition of publicists, two stories compete over the hazardous legend’s origin. One says that Judea’s Roman governor, thrown into jail after Christ’s crucifixion, committed suicide, and that the embarrassing remains were hidden in the dark lake of a remote mountain after all sorts of incidents. From the Middle Ages onwards, this tittle-tattle was picked up, repeated and snowballed into a local nightmare as Pilate’s spirit was held responsible for triggering off fantastic storms if something pissed him off, and supposedly it appeared once a year, sentencing his witness to a less than twelve-month lifetime. Still a hot spot for a ghost hunter as cool as a cucumber.
Niggli-Luder, Simone Jamie Sommers’ daughter Remember the tennis pro who nearly died from a skydiving accident and was saved by the US Government, offering her special surgery that replaced her ear, an arm and both legs with bionic ones that gave her a range of super powers ? She was the better-stronger-faster TV heroine. Well, you see, Simone has a lot in common with Jamie, in the sense that she’s the leading female orienteering athlete, heading the world rankings since 2002. Moreover, as she has won 16 gold medals since 2001 – 14 of them in the World Championships – she may also be the athlete holding the most medals. Her powers seem undoubtedly indomitable. Kind of freaky when reality is closely akin to fiction, isn’t it ?
Punctuality Do you like to play God? It is everyone’s dream to have a great, invisible, and insidious hold over people, preferably without spilling blood.
Jean Calvin brilliantly mastered it between 1540 and 1570, when he turned Geneva into a secular monastery. He invented punctuality, inculcating in local guinea pigs the idea that God didn’t give time but lent it to them – with interest. He then valued minutes and elaborated a daily template where everything was organized from morning till night so that the faithful could justify their timetables to the minute. To be crystal clear, it supposed waking up at 4 a.m., listening to sermons to the very last word for fear of being fine, business dealing until 8 p.m., giving thanks, eating, and sleeping at 9 p.m.. Anything else meant wasting the divine gift. Simply a stroke of genius, isn’t it? Especially since it involved the lucrative clock-making industry’s set up. God’s purposes are unfathomable.
The National Hideout Cosy little nest I can’t help it if I drop a brick but this one is really a megahit. In the 1930s, when the threat of WWII was hanging over Europe, General Henri Guisan, commander-in-chief of the Swiss army, imagined a breathlessly original strategy in case the future Axis powers invaded Switzerland. Assuming the enemy would covet transport routes through the Alps (that is, the Saint-Gotthard, Simplon and Grand-Saint-Bernard Passes), he made sure that final control of the routes would come at the highest price – the biggest struggle ever. He had fortresses built inside the mountains to hide underground air bases, fighters-bombers and aircrew. Hospitals – with one bed for each Swiss citizen – troops, furniture and supplies were to be scattered in caves. From 1940 to the end of the war, the Swiss army thus built 21,000 of those fortresses – amazing slog, isn’t it? Well, don’t want to rock the boat
but the big plan missed one little detail : the population left at the mercy of the enemy while Guisan’s troops safely played hide-and-seek in the Alps. Might is right.
Tschäggätta Neanderthal match.com You’re the new cute kid in the Lötschental, a cul-de-sac valley in Valais surrounded by four 3,000m-summits, with no easy access. It’s February. Your place, Kippel, 500 inhabitants as of today, quietly hibernates under cover of snow. You wanna date. Jeez ! Had you cried for the moon instead, you would have got it in the minute… Your only way out is to join the Tschäggätta (obscurely referring either to witches or simple-minded women), the local tradition where unmarried men reportedly roam the streets of the villages, wearing handcarved, wooden demonic masks and tunics made of sheep or goat skins, ringing bells, and scaring young ladies. If you do not meet an attractive girlfriend during this girl-trap-a-thon that reflects the untamed nature of the valley, you might win the wood sculpture contest with your mask. What more could you ask for ? Come back to earth, it’s the Lötschental, babe.
Winter hour CSI’s trick Thieves are wily old foxes… this according to a praiseworthy report the Vaud police department made on the hunt to reduce petty crime. Months of pernickety inquiry revealed that the average number of minor crimes ritually doubles during wintertime. And why’s that ? Because people are still at work when the “twilight burglars” try their luck. An efficient, à-la-Grissom investigation has thus proven that
with lights turned off, the latter immediately realize the way is clear. And help themselves to whatever interests them. Sadly, the report tends to elude special measures to combat this phenomenon. Perharps the police prefer to shelter behind yet more brilliant research that requires doing, say on the full moon’s influence on bad behaviour. There’s no panic!
Witch hunt Improvement in acupuncture I never end with a sad story. But innermost habits are bound to be replaced. If anything, with worse ones. So, here is a staple of Inquisition tale : Michée Chauderon’s suffering. She was arrested on 4 March 1652 on the word of two neighbouring silly gooses convinced of being possessed by devils that asserted she was their mistress. She dared to deny the bewitchment – big mistake. She went through excruciating torture in search of the devil’s sign, her whole body being pricked with a needle. As she turned out to be stubborn, persistently denying the charge, she was subjected to strappado twice. This manoeuvre proved successful ; she finally confessed to whatever her judges wanted to hear. She was hanged and then burnt, on 6 April. Obscurantism killed 70 scapegoats in Geneva between 1527 and 1681. Just to remind you to be wise enough to pick up your battles.
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Portfolio Vintage Mania for F.Fashion Sandra Pointet finished the Sion School of Fine Arts in 1995. She then learned photography with Cyrille Girardet in Geneva and graduated from the Vevey School of Applied Arts/Photography in 1999. She shot fashion series for the Swiss French-language women’s magazines Edelweiss, Femina and Profil ; architecture series for the Frey Architectes studio and the Swiss French-language daily newspaper Le Temps ; and realized posters for the international campaign of the World Heart Federation and the Geneva campaign for sustainable development. She already has several prestigious mandates to her credit, including the Geneva International Airport as well as famous clockmakers – Swatch, De Witt, Vacheron Constantin. Without forgetting successful collaborations in diverse fields, including ad firms Saatchi&Saatchi Simko, Young&Rubicam Brand ; artists Angela Marzullo, Zorro&Bernardo and JM Gerber ; product designer Gertrud&George ; graphic designers Schaffter Sahli ; and the Contemporary Publishing Centre (CEC). Since 2004, she’s had a part-time activity of photography at the Geneva University of Art and Design.
spointet@bluewin.ch
Caroline, Sophie, Maude, Blondeau Gallery, Geneva
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Higher Education | 28
Taking Risks, Striving for Excellence
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1- ECAL/Gaëlle Girault 2- ECAL/Delphine Frey
Twelve years. That’s exactly how long ECAL Director Pierre Keller needed to turn the formerly unknown ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne into one of the world’s most forward-thinking design schools, listed among the Top Ten D-Schools for 2007. The recipe for success by an agitator bubbling over with energy. By Camille Bozonnet
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ECAL, Architects BERNARD TSCHUMI AND CLAUDE FEHLMANN
Renovation/building duration :
18 months hen Pierre Keller agreed in 1995 to head ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, he had three missions to fulfil. First, to raise the number of students registered ; to increase its budget; and to obtain for it University of Art and Design status. Second, to boost its reputation from that of a cantonal institution to that of Switzerland’s foremost design and art school. And third, to place ECAL among the world’s leading international design schools. What verdict should be returned after his first decade of service ? He did it. At the start of this winter semester, ECAL’s 425 students are competing head-to-head with the 2,480 students of Arizona State University’s College of Design in the US, with the 700 enrolled at the Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, and with the 3,789 registered at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in the UK, to mention but a few. Of ECAL’s student population, the henceforth world-renowned UAS Department of Visual Communication has the lion’s share with no less than 167 registered in its programme. In overview, 105 students have entered foundation courses, 307 the Bachelor
and Master degree programmes, and ten the postgraduate programme in Design. The school welcomes some of the most brilliant brains and renowned names in their fields, such as Stephen Shore and Ronan Bouroullec, this partly thanks to a budget that has jumped from CHF7.35 to 12 million.
area has been allocated to the ECAL+EPFL Lab – a unique unit for training, research and development that mixes engineering and design in shared programmes such as the innovatively named “Variable Environment/Interactive City & Crossovers”. Another 550m2/5,920sq ft are devoted to the Elac gallery, housing exhibitions of contemporary art bound to attract an international audience. Even the 1,000m2/10,800sq ft basement is put to good use – the Foundation of Renens Workshops has rented and divided it into eight areas dedicated to young artists, designers and architects.
Never Enough ? Yet it has all seemed a bit too easy. Indeed, Keller had challenged himself to move ECAL to a brand new site that would bring together the different parts of the school. And sure enough on 29 September 2007 he inaugurated spectacular new ECAL facilities housed in a former stocking factory masterfully converted by architect Bernard Tschumi. Results equal all expectations – and perhaps exceed them. A huge 14,000m2/151,200sq ft area – the size of four football fields – boasts an impressive technical infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities comprising three auditoria with seating for 352, 106 and 60 persons, respectively ; one film and four photographic studios ; sophisticated computer equipment ; a print shop ; and a specialist library. Another 2,000m2/21,740sq ft
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WHAT’S A GOOD DESIGN ? ANY WORKING, USEFUL, AND ERGONOMIC OBJECT.
”
Pierre Keller
An Iron Hand… There was life before this revolution. The School had been moving along nicely, though without ambition. A local, ordinary, even second-rate institution that made do with very little. And then Keller arrived like a whirlwind to completely overturn the ‘family-like’ management. He introduced discipline, hard work, rigorous and structured courses and an admissions test to select students with the best creative and artistic skills. But it ain’t a big surprise. He really took risks when he opened
Renovation/building budget :
CHF25 million Total site :
18 000m2 /195,650sq ft Total buildings :
14 000m2 /151,200sq ft EPFL+ECAL Lab : 2
2 000m /21,740sq ft Elac contemporary art gallery : 2
550m /5,920sq ft
Foundation of Renens Workshops : 2
1 000m /10,800sq ft
ECAL to new horizons by luring foreign, extremely young and ambitious professors with promises of an unusual career, as well as inviting distinguished names to train his students in new trends. All while ignoring disparaging remarks. It was shocking, but that’s his trademark – to make the most of a vast network of contacts he’s been developing ‘forever’, while disregarding jealous, sharp-tongued conservatives.
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ECAL Timeline
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1821
1995
2002
2005
2006
2007 Sept.
2007 Dec.
Foundation of the University of Drawing
Pierre Keller is named Director of ECAL
Milan International Furniture Fair : considerable buzz surrounds “Le Botte-Cul”, offering new spins on a traditional milking stool by 34 top international designers (including Ross Lovegrove, the Campana Brothers, the Bouroullec Brothers, Alexis Georgacopoulos) and ECAL students
“Practically beautiful : Swiss Design now”, major exhibition by Pierre Keller, gathering prominent names : A.Häberli, H.Wettstein, C.Marchand ; recent ECAL graduates : the Norm Agency, Körner Union ; and innovative firms : Vitra, Swatch, Nespresso
Foundation of ECAL+ to raise funds for the School
School Inauguration by Bernard Tschumi, Renens. Elac first exhibition : “ECAL : A Success Story in Art and Design”, accompanied by the catalogue Ecal, A Success Story in Art and Design, édition JRP Ringier, 2007. Upcoming : “Ambassadors’ night” and “Ikea Democratic Design”
Guest of Design Miami organised during Art Basel Miami Beach
“ No one was deemed too insignificant to merit Keller’s attention if that person could be of any help to the School – though handily, his supporters just happened to belong to the artistic and/ or wealthy upper crust. Anyway he likes to be reminded of his school-teaching years in the 70s, when his colleagues were appalled to discover he had invited avant-garde artists like Christo, Tinguely, Disler, Boisrond or Starck to meet and exchange ideas with his pupils.
carried out. These include designing a catalogue for the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, furniture for Eternit, antidoping campaign for the CIO. ECAL students have created objects for Christofle, Paris, Swarovski, London, the “Pyllon” stool for B&B, Italy, and labels for Henniez mineral water bottles, Switzerland. They were welcomed to competitions sponsored by the British Design & Art Direction (D&AD) educational charity, Nestlé Nespresso SA, and Jura Spectacle (eyeglass frame) Manufacturers. They realized editoIndefatigable Sales Rep rial projects for Louis Vuitton and the The fellow has more than one ace up Swiss French-language women’s magahis sleeve. He’s in a hurry. If he had zine Edelweiss. And a long list of exhimore than 24 hours a day at his dis- bitions at renowned locales includes : posal he would still be frustrated. He’s the Design Museum, London ; the Mua big mouth and he’s not the least bit seum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), afraid to promote ECAL all over the Shanghai; the Museum of Modern Art world in that American, complex-free, (MoMA), New York; the International ‘we-are-the-best’ kind of way. Being Furniture Fair, Milan ; the Museo de on a plane 40 weekends a year to visit las Ciencias, Valencia ; the Today Art Mr or Mrs So-and-So has given ECAL Museum, Beijing ; and the Design and the opportunity to exhibit its work, Contemporary Arts Museum (mudac) launch partnerships with top firms and in Lausanne. galleries, and be part of international contests. Again the figures are impressive. More than 100 collaborations in widely diverse fields have been successfully
Keller is a highly controversial individual. He’s disturbing. So is his success. And he likes it that way. Whatever energy his detractors – and they are not few – expend to criticise his arrogant dictatorship evidenced by ECAL’s stunning new facilities, and with regard to the fundamental mission, nowadays ECAL is kind of an achievement. www.ecal.ch
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ART AND DESIGN ? DESIGN IS USEFUL, ART IS AESTHETIC. WHEN I ASK MY STUDENTS FOR A CHAIR, I EXPECT A CHAIR, AND A COMFORTABLE ONE !
”
Pierre Keller
3 1- 2- 3- 4- 5-
ECAL/Katharina Moebus ECAL/Augustin Scott de Martinville Karim Noureldin, L’origine du monde, 2007, collection de l’artiste ECAL/Aurèle Sack Mold Lamp by ECAL/Michel Charlot
4
1
2
5
Higher Education | 32
ECAL today Students :
425
Foreign students :
1- ECAL/Gaëlle Girault 01
“ We never take ourselves seriously but do everything seriously ” Camille Bozonnet: Today ECAL is one of the top Ten D-schools. How will you keep up ? Pierre Keller: There’s no miracle. You need to pass on education through a high-level programme. You need the results you expected, works you can exhibit. And you need to know how to propel them into the foreground and communicate about them around the world. We must keep our feet on the ground while at the same time not being afraid to expend a great deal of energy. We’re now condemned to be the best! C.B. Is that why you spend 40 weekends a year on a plane ? P.K. Yes. The School has to take part in the life of Swiss design. I’m often asked to organise exhibitions, which means to find a theme, to create the related scenography, to write sizeable press kits and to select the relevant works. The entity of these aspects involves work by the School and generates a vital visibility. C.B. What’s special about the School ? P.K. It is beyond academic circuits.
20%, 10% of whom are French Regular professors :
69
Visiting professors, junior and research lecturers :
100
| 33 Fields : BA : Fine Art, Visual Communication (majors in Graphic Design, Photography, Media&Interaction Design, and Film), Industrial and Product Design ; MA : Film Studies ; Postgraduate programme : Design
PANTONE 1795 > CMJN PANTONE 2747 > CMJN
Visiting professors : graphic designers M&M, designer Ronan Bouroullec, artist Gloria Friedman, photographer Nan Goldin… Prestigious contributors : photographers Stephen Shore and Paolo Roversi, artists Sylvie Fleury and John M. Armleder, designers Fernando and Humberto Campana, and graphic designer Cornel Windlin… Last emblematic piece of design : Delphine Frey’s fine china ice cream cone for Bernardaud
Operating budget :
1
C.B. How so ? P.K. ECAL is in constant relationship with economic circuits. Our students work a lot with industries, which benefit from their know-how through workshops, mandates and research projects. Besides all the collaborations we initiated with big names, we are about to launch a Master’s degree in design for the luxury industry together with famous clockmakers such as Audemars Piguet, Hublot, Parmigiani, and the crystals specialist Swarovski. Manufacturers are willing to invest in order to develop new technologies, innovative materials. Out of the 15 future students enrolled, ten should be on a grant. C.B. Has the EPFL+ECAL Lab been set up to this end ? P.K. Absolutely. We must be able to answer engineer’s demands and vice versa. At the moment, 420 EPFL students attend design courses during their first year. The joint research projects we’ll select will deal with new means to weld wood, as well as robotics or exhibition concepts, for instance.
CHF12 million CHF14 million in 2008 C.B. What’s your education policy ? P.K. Routine is banished. Work is the governing word. We have just a few regular professors. Most teachers are prominent artists/designers and experts who manage three-to-five-day workshops as melting pots of themebased ideas and creations or who give a cycle of lectures. In this way, the School is permanently provided with fresh blood and cutting-edge visions – the secret of innovation. ECAL is adaptable, flexible, malleable, and quick. C.B. That’s what attracts prospective students ? P.K. Looks like it. Each year 600 people apply for the admissions test. We have 25-to-30 places in the design department, 60 in graphics, photography and typography, and five in cinema. C.B. Is there an ECAL spirit ? P.K. Definitely. We never take ourselves seriously but do everything seriously. C.B. You just achieved an ambitious programme with the new building designed by Bernard Tschumi. What’s next ? P.K. This place is our launching pad.
Patrick Aebischer
President of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) My aim is to develop the EPFl+ECAL Lab, to launch new collaborations with the best D-schools, and to find a good one in Japan. And as always, keep on extending the School on the international scene, but also initiating the inverse movement, which is making people come to us. C.B. That’s how you consider your mission ? P.K. I’m being paid to be the best. I’m an entrepreneur who supports a clear vision for his clients-students. I know what I’m doing and I know what I want.
PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE If you were… … a piece of design ? Maserati Quattroporte … a piece of art ? Andy Warhol’s “Flower” … a material ? Marble … a shape ? A circle … a colour ? Yellow … a sound ? Alphorn … a font ? Helvetica, of course … one of the five senses ? Taste
“
The huge potential for innovation at the interface between engineering, architecture and design motivated us to create the EPFL+ECAL Lab. We imagine and develop technologies which can considerably widen the scope of designers’ playing field, while the designers, through their specific approach, find innovative uses for these technologies by placing them in a much wider context related to society. We intend to develop an unprecedented framework for innovation to attract students, scientists and industrial partners. I am convinced that we still have untapped potential for innovation which is a valuable resource for our future. The students who join this adventure are bound to offer a big plus to their future employers as they will have learned to cooperate with other essential disciplines to ensure that their projects are successful. Contrary to other campuses, we have adopted a highly pragmatic approach. The plan is essentially to obtain results within the next 18 months. One project has already been designed to go to the MoMA in New York in February.
”
Our performance has been a tradition for more than 10 years.
Abroad | 35
Long-term Friends of Switzerland The Swiss education system enjoys a high level of prestige in Japan. It is striking how all former students keep a very vivid and positive memory of their experience. They constitute a potential network of friends for life of our country. By Paul Fivat, Ambassador of Switzerland to Japan
Despite the language and cultural barriers, a significant number of Japanese parents have sent, or are willing to send, their children to Switzerland with a view to acquiring high school degrees or specific qualifications (for example hotel services), or at least to spend one or several semesters in Swiss Universities, even to achieve university degrees.
“Swissness”
Free number 0800 808 848 www.groupemutuel.ch Groupe Mutuel, Association d’assureurs
Switzerland is dependant on trade and exchanges with the world in order to maintain its economic capacity and standard of living. In order to keep our appeal, we have to be very careful in maintaining the quality and diversity of the services we can offer in all sectors, also in the education services. “Swissness” is the special touch, the niche we can offer and which consists of a very complex mix of technical and professional perfection, quality of life, beauty of nature and landscapes, reli-
ability, flexibility, empathy, respect for the others and, last but not least, safety. Our partners have high expectations which we have ourselves helped generating. These expectations must be, and are to a large extent, fulfilled. Confidence is one of the greatest assets we can enjoy. It must be carefully maintained and increased. In this respect, public and private partnerships are among the keys to success. In Switzerland, we have been keen to establish a relationship between public function and private enterprise in which each side can perform the tasks for which it is naturally best prepared and endowed. We have the same objective : the prosperity of the country. It is thus natural that we cooperate to strengthen our position and improve our performance, in Switzerland itself and in the world. While each side has to assume its own responsibility in agreement with its basic vocation and competences,
Left : Mr Gademann, Director General of Institut auf dem Rosenberg, amid alumni. Right : Noburu Okabe, Swiss International Airlines Manager for Japan, First prize winner of the Alumni contest, Christophe-Xavier Clivaz, Ambassador Paul Fivat, Jean-Claude Humair, Managing Director, Head Wealth Management of UBS in Japan.
we together can achieve a lot when we listen to each other and team up to develop ideas and concepts and to carry out initiatives and projects in the field.
Alumni’s Leading Role I do welcome events like reuniting all the alumni who studied once in Switzerland and their families. These events are of service to the alumni themselves. We know today how important networks are for private and business purposes in the modern world. Such a network is a real capital on which we can count. The alumni have the opportunity to get to know each other or to refresh old relationships. At the same time, such gatherings represent a precious opportunity to get to know better so many people who have lived a unique experience in Switzerland and can become long-term friends of our country.
When Tradition Makes of the Future its Ally : Arts and Letters
University | 36
Jean-Dominique Vassalli Rector of the University of Geneva Born in 1946 in Geneva 2007– Rector of the University of Geneva (UNIGE)
2004–2007
at UNIGE
President of the Fundamental Medicine Section, Faculty of Medicine, UNIGE
1999–2003
Beyond the cutting edge knowledge it enables students to acquire, the Faculty of Arts of the University of Geneva (UNIGE) – acting as the memory of cultures – has as its vocation to preserve the humanist and universal mission, which is the traditional role of the university institution.
Vice-Rector of the University of Geneva (UNIGE)
1991–1999 Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, UNIGE
1984
By Jean-Dominique Vassalli, Rector of the University of Geneva
T
PhD in Medicine, UNIGE he Faculty of Arts is one of the largest at UNIGE and probably offers the greatest diversity of Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral study programmes even while anticipating the establishment of Doctoral schools that will conform to European reforms prescribed by the Bologna Process. At the present time, almost 2,500 students are registered in more than 30 programmes, from the sciences of Antiquity (archaeology, ancient Greek, Latin), to living languages and literature (German, English, Italian, Spanish, Russian, modern Greek, etc.), without forgetting history, philosophy, musicology, art history, linguistics, and information technology for the social sciences.
Languages and French Literature – Building Bridges The Department of Language and French Literature is conscious of the unity that bridges artistic and literary culture. With the Bachelor’s degree, the Department proposes a module of options sensitising students either to theatre (instruction that is original and unique in Switzerland), or to the relationship
between film and literature, or finally, to creative writing. At the Master’s degree level, we offer a module devoted to literature taken from the perspective of the visual arts, entitled “Literature and Fine Arts”. Post-Masters, a certificate of specialisation is proposed which assumes the same point of view, examining “Literature and Aesthetics” and which aims to deepen questions of the poetic and aesthetic as well as making concrete analyses of works of art (literature, painting, cinema and fine arts). Seminars are offered on subjects including visual poetry, words in painting, cinema and the emotions, theatre at the end of the 20th century, and also the diverse uses of a work of art. Additionally, the Department has organised or co-organised numerous colloquia bearing on the relationship between the arts and literature, including “Text in Performance” (2003), which involves not only literary specialists but also diverse plastics technicians and performers ; “Matters of Text” (2005), undertaken with Geneva’s Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Mamco), which focuses on the metamorphoses of the book; and “Pictorial Genres” (2007),
co-organised with the Department of Art History.
Musicology If the science of music is one of the oldest university disciplines, it has lost none of its relevance. Musicology, as directed by the Department of Art History and Musicology, initiates an examination of music history, including that of its theories and notations, aesthetics, sociology, analysis and musical epistemology, philological problems aligned with sources and their application in publishing, comparative studies of music of diverse origins, of extra-European and traditional sources – ethnomusicology, but also acoustics, organology (the history and construction of musical instruments), as well as developments in the computerisation of music. All these domains merge to provide a fundamental knowledge and to exercise the critical investigative faculties of the researcher.
Arts from Here and Elsewhere Art history studies the visual testimony of human creativity in all times and places. At UNIGE, these studies concentrate principally on occiden-
tal art from the end of Antiquity to present day. Studies in turn concern the production of objects, their conservation and uses, as well as their interpretation and the ideas previously and presently associated with them. This programme accords particular attention to the material existence of art works and their relationship with the contexts in which they emerged, as much social as spatial. One unique approach consists in directly examining original works, drawing on the rich patrimony conserved in the Geneva region, and putting to advantage numerous collaborations established with institutions in possession of these works. Students are introduced to the instruments and methods of work in art history, to outlines of the discipline’s history and to diverse artistic techniques. In a series of lectures they are introduced to the three chronological fields of study (Middle Ages, Modern Period, and Contemporary Period), including the history of architecture and of urbanism. Seminars address specific problems in a more profound manner and require active participation that takes the form of lectures, discussions, oral presen-
1977 PhD in Science, The Rockefeller University, New York, USA
1972 Federal Diploma of Medicine, UNIGE tations and written work. In addition, one can study the history of photography and of Asian art. A module is dedicated to acquiring knowledge direct from the works and monuments of Geneva and, with occasional travel, in the study of a cultural location. Later, students must choose a field of specialisation (Middle Ages, Modern Period, Contemporary Period or Asian Art). Upon completion of art history studies and when in possession of a Bachelor’s degree, the student has acquired employable skills that are valued in a number of cultural and mediarelated domains. With the Master’s degree, they will have become an art historian, a player who understands research, teaching at the secondary and university levels, inventory-taking and conservation of patrimony, museums and centres of art, organising exhibitions, the art market, publishing and cultural mediation.
www.unige.ch/en/
Mastering Spatial Environments
Postgraduate Programme | 39
The postgraduate programme in Scenography at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) supports participants in the development of an individual design language and artistic positioning in the area of scenographic and spatial designs. By Professor Lawrence Paul Wallen, Course Director
Our programme has a modular structure allowing for a flexible study plan and tailors to individual professional and research interests that may include subjects taken in other departments of ZHdK or selected European art schools. Gaining specific skills in the conceptualisation, design and documentation of spatial environments as well as the innovative application of new technologies is supported by works combining design with architecture, theatre and media through lectures, design studios, thematic symposia, lecture series, technical workshops, excursions to European capitals (i.e., Barcelona, Berlin, Prague, Venice, Vilnius) and individual supervision of the master projects by internationally renowned experts. The international orientation of the course actively supports a balanced mix of Swiss and foreign students and strives for an even gender balance. While most of the international students currently come from within the EU, we also have students from Japan, Brazil, Egypt, Israel, Kosovo, Argentina and Canada. Our 45 students’ professional backgrounds include architecture (25%), design (25%), art (25%)
and the performing arts (25%), creating a lively exchange of ideas and processes. A small core staff is supplemented by a larger number of international guests and exchanges with partner institutions both in Europe and Asia. A creative platform is also provided within a postgraduate practice-led environment for art/design professionals and recent graduates wishing to expand their creative practice into scenography. The mixed origins of students and staff make for informed dialogues, divergent opinions and creative solutions that are open to affects from diverse sources and processes and that aim for multiple and open solutions, as is appropriate to a trans-disciplinary study such as scenography. Since Fall 2006 we offer a practice-based Doctorate programme in cooperation with the Institute for Theatre, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna in order to establish an international research and competence centre for scenography that covers the discipline in all its dimensions and traditions. Using both traditional and new media and technologies, we encourage an active dialogue between contemporary practice and inter-
disciplinary theoretical discourse, fostering a forum of innovative artistic, academic and professional debate. Each year, Doctoral candidates are thus asked to curate and moderate a public symposium. Upcoming symposia are : “Monitoring Scenography 2 : Space and Truth” and “Monitoring Scenography 3 : Space and Desire”. Each symposium will be followed up with a publication.
http://sceno.zhdk.ch
MA-2 years 1st semester : Tools for Design 2nd semester : Context and Dialogue 3rd & 4th semesters : Research and Realisation Course Languages : English and German
Doctorate
Supervised research with four-to-six colloquia and symposia per year in collaboration with the University of Vienna. Three-to-six theory seminars. Thesis comprising an original research text on cultural production and the realisation and documentation of a related artistic project.
HyperWerk Designs our PostIndustrial Times
Research | 40
Since 1999, the HyperWerk Institute for Post-industrial Design in Basel has been inventing strategies, methods and tools to deal with the transformations through which our society must evolve on its way from an industrial to a post-industrial setting. HyperWerk regards this activity of inventive process design as the foremost design task of today. By Mischa Schaub, Director of HyperWerk HGK FHNW
A
part from the team of project heads, hardly any teachers are permanently employed at HyperWerk; thus we are able to reserve our funds for experts from external institutions. We look for these experts in international colleges, universities, and enterprises that are especially competent in the field of our institutional framework topic, a topic that changes every academic year. In a kind of ‘role mix’ of art director, producer, and dramatic advisor, and in collaboration with our internal module heads, these experts, like some 100 students and staff, are expected to direct and attend one of seven fiveweek modules.
dynamically to varying inter-related groups of problems. Participants move on a spiral-shaped path through the HyperWerk course of study. Starting from the protected core, you become the head/director of your own projects, which you realize through exchange with the outside world. The necessary experience is gained in close cooperation with two other classes – a process that is supported by shared module action. As a course of study specialized in process design, the practical, projectoriented part of our studies is very important to us. To achieve a context and continuity for our projects we have defined some strategic and long-term Virtual Organisation aims of research, some of which will be Through this delegation of respon- presented here. sibilities, we want to learn from external points of view and competencies. acar2: Academy for the Future Additionally, the annual process of of the Crafts establishing a network of partners In France we found the post-industrial based around a particular theme sup- town of Senones, an important partner ports the integration of personnel into and real-world ‘testbed’ for the develresearch projects and the exchange opment of our approach. Before proof teachers and students. In our virtu- ceeding with development, however, ally extendable ‘self-organization’ as a we transformed an old, local abbey university institute, we use strategies into a workshop-hotel for visiting from commerce and industry, where university faculty from neighbouring problem-related teams try to react countries, and we established the nec-
| 41 PANTONE 1795 > CMJN PANTONE 2747 > CMJN
BA – 3 years 1st year : dreamlab 2nd year : hyper 3rd year : werk
essary lab spaces for design research. One of the major projects we are pursuing at Senones is “acar2” (Academy for the future of the crafts). In the last two years we have been able to involve in this project an international set of distinguished experts from the craft industries and leading European design schools. As a consequence of this project, the leading European Media Festival, Ars Electronica, which takes place in Linz, Austria, invited HyperWerk to organize its international academic exhibition “campus2.0”. As a topic we chose to question the “neoanalog” – as we called the coming wave of digital product design. One of our main rules was that no keyboards, mice or screens were allowed in our exhibition. Keeping to this guideline, design schools from five European countries exhibited sixty-three works. Following this first event in September 2007, Ars Electronica invited us to show the progress of our project in 2008 and 2009. This is especially attractive as Linz will be the European Capital of Culture for 2009, so we have a valid hope of reaching a large audience with our activities.
Neocrafts In these times of a post-industrial global economy, the mass-production of European consumer goods has become a difficult venture – our continent is typified by rather high wages. On the
upside, Europe has a leading culture of industrial design and an impressive knowledge of the crafts. Furthermore we find a growing number of creative students entering our design schools. We teach a basically interdisciplinary art for creative team players who are looking for entrepreneurial solutions for real-world products. To support their entrance into the evolving market of post-industrial consumer goods production, we need to take pragmatic steps to find solutions to many known problems that our students meet on their way towards their own design start-up. To meet the conditions of a post-industrial economy, industrial design must be invented anew, in order to guarantee the competitive production of European consumer goods. New forms of customisation will empower consumers to influence more than parametric dimensions of a product – its volume, texture, matter and graphics can be conceptualized as one mix of algorithmically interwoven qualities – this idea is behind fractal design studies. For some five years already, the language “Processing” from MIT has acted as an important influence on design culture. A new generation of affordable CNC-routers and oversized laser cutters has permitted the creation of high-tech crafts companies. This kind of courageous venture has become a valid economic option for
young designers, more realistic than the rather childish vision of a RAPCentre in every home.
Just Doing it HyperWerk will try to set up an experimental production centre for one-off consumer goods to demonstrate the validity of such a business opportunity; we plan to have one established within the next three years at Senones. We are convinced that such an activity will open an important window of opportunity for the future production of European designer goods. The personal touch of the customized product will strengthen the pride of its owner – such a personal relationship will prolong the life cycle of the product. Furthermore the neocrafts exhibition and demonstration site will fundamentally influence thousands of young entrepreneurs to start their own business of customized design production. The success of the Swiss watch industry demonstrates that Europe has a good chance in the production of high quality goods, where wages are less important than innovation, communication skills, crafts tradition and high-tech culture. In combination with the proposed forms of product customisation this market could evolve dramatically.
www.hyperwerk.ch
Headmaster’s Corner | 43
Nowhere Else...
A country of refuge, Switzerland appears to many parents as the ideal place to educate their children in a framework of peace and security. By Philippe Gudin, Director General of Institut Le Rosey
Le Rosey today Foundation :
1880
Boarders :
403
Nationalities :
Switzerland is a very special country; there are neither natural resources, nor is there any real national language; Switzerland only exists because very different peoples, in their various languages, cultures and mentalities, wished to unite their destinies. This balance rests on a very complicated political system, guaranteed by the most complete democracy in the world. The only Swiss sovereign is the people. To survive the Swiss had to sell their qualities as mercenaries to foreign powers, and cultivate land clinging to steep mountain sides. This small nation became wealthy at the start of the twentieth century by developing unique abilities in the industry of precision mechanics, agriculture, banking, insurance and... education.
Intermingling of Cultures International education differs from traditional educational systems in one simple principle: the community is made up of various cultures, religions and races living together, enriching each of its members. Schools that are supposedly international can be found anywhere in the world, but we are convinced that those which have an
international reputation, like Le Rosey, Beau Soleil, Zuoz or Rosenberg could exist nowhere but in Switzerland. Every developed country in the world considers that its language and culture should be integrated into its school system. Switzerland has adopted and adapted the German, French and Italian systems. It is therefore almost genetically predisposed to an intermingling of cultures, without, however, seeking a melting pot of nationalities. In addition, Switzerland is the seat of a number of international organizations, which implies the presence of a diverse population living and educating their children in this country. Switzerland is proud of its deliberate policy of armed neutrality, which makes it one of the safest countries in the world. Its people, so diverse, share a love of detail, of precision and of work well done; it has even won the oldest sports trophy in the world, the America’s Cup, without even having access to the sea, thanks only to the talent of its engineers! Its polytechnic schools and its universities have a reputation far surpassing the natural influence of a small country of only seven million inhabitants. Its riches
53, 10% max. from one country Regular professors :
90
Campuses :
Chateau estate of 28 hectares in Rolle and winter campus in Gstaad Philosophy :
International, to create an academically ambitious, bilingual boarding community based on holistic educational principles Current project :
Carnal Hall, a CHF 45 million Arts Centre to be built by alumni Paul Tange
rest on its abilities alone, the country has made education an absolute priority of its development and, following an example set by JeanJacques Rousseau, many Swiss have contributed to educational theory: Pestalozzi, Toepffer, Montessori, Piaget, to cite only the better known ones. This genuine preoccupation with teaching naturally contributed to the flowering of numerous private schools on its soil. Moreover, this little country is beautiful, rich in lakes, mountainous landscapes and exceptional towns. How proud we are that Swiss Learning represent a dozen of the best campuses here, worthy mirrors of this beauty!
perfection is our nature
Students’ Guide Medically Assisted Procreation
In 2005, the Clinique Générale-Beaulieu opened one of Switzerland’s most modern Centers for Reproductive Medicine. Equipped with the latest in vitro fertilization (IVF) technologies, the laboratory is located on the Clinics’ premises in close relation with the medical units, allowing optimal patients’care. The medical team includes four gynecologists, one urologist and one biologist, all specialized in reproductive medicine. This infrastructure offers prospective parents increased safety and comfort, and provides the best environment to help fulfill there most precious wish- to give life.
20, chemin Beau-Soleil • 1206 Geneva • Tel. +41 22 839 55 55 • www.beaulieu.ch
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The Educational System in Switzerland, an Overall View A Panorama of the Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences High Schools and Hotel Schools : Portrait Gallery
The Educational System in Switzerland
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Its unique dual education and training system provides a vast range of educational options, from vocational training and apprenticeships to university-level courses. Education has always been an overriding priority in Switzerland, as evidenced by an outstanding level of resources allocated to Swiss schools, universities, and technical institutes. Pre-school (kindergarten) education and compulsory schooling (primary + lower secondary) both take place in the communes. The Confederation ensures that primary education satisfies standards of quality, and guarantees compliance with the principle of free education. At the upper secondary level, the Confederation is responsible for vocational training. Recognition of the relevant certificates – the Federal Certificate of Competence and the Professional School-Leaving Certificate – is also a federal matter. General education at the upper secondary level and in the gymnasia in particular, is the responsibility of the cantons which regulate the schoolleaving examinations marking the completion of these academicallyoriented secondary-school studies. The Confederation recognises these diplomas in so far as they satisfy the relevant conditions. The diplomas certify that their holders have the required general knowledge and aptitudes to take university-level studies. Private schools, not recognised by the Confederation, prepare students directly for the Swiss schoolleaving examination.
Higher Education Higher education in Switzerland, fitting into the general dual system, covers the range from academic to applied studies by charging two types of institutions with the different training tasks. Twelve doctoral/ research universities (ten cantonal universities and two Federal Institutes of Technology) offer theoretically oriented, scientific bachelor, master and doctoral degrees. Holders of a maturity certificate (“gymnasiale Matura”) have access to these universities. At all the twelve doctoral/research universities the Bologna declaration is implemented. Professionally oriented studies are offered at the seven universities of applied sciences (“Fachhochschulen”/ “Hautes Ecoles Spécialisées”) and at the universities of teacher education (“Pädagogische Hochschulen”/ “Hautes Ecoles Pédagogiques”). Holders of a maturity certificate can enrol, after completing a one-year internship or work placement. Holders of a professional maturity certificate (“Berufsmaturität”) are entitled to study at a university of applied sciences or, after passing a supplementary examination, at one of the doctoral/ research universities. The universities of teacher education are of the same type as the universities of applied sciences, but still a maturity certificate is normally required to enrol. Holders
of a professional maturity must sit for a further examination to be admitted to a university of teacher education. The modern, diversified but coherent, system of Swiss higher education is perfectly suited to the needs of students, the scientific community, modern society, and the new economy and it is directly compatible with other European educational systems. A perfect example for its coherence is the harmonization of the semesters: Switzerland is the first and only country in which all higher education institutions start their courses in the same weeks of each year, beginning in September 2007. The autumn semester begins in week 38 and the spring semester in week 8 (in each of the following years). Today, other European countries are discussing on how to follow the Swiss example.
Doctoral/Research Universities Ten cantonal universities and two Federal Institutes of Technology, labelled with the official trademark , are currently the only research universities in Switzerland that are allowed to confer doctoral degrees. The ten cantonal universities are in Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lausanne, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, St. Gallen, Lugano and Zurich. Most of them have been evolving over a number of centuries in step with societal and eco-
nomic needs, always in harmony with a humanist ideal. They have excellent reputations on account of their high-quality research. In recent world wide rankings at least five of the Swiss universities (depending on the ranked area) have always been amongst the 50 best universities of the world which guarantees to all potential students the possibility of choosing among high quality courses in different universities and in different cultural regions of Switzerland within a reachable distance. Although each of the universities has its own characteristics, they all basically have the same structure combining research and education. Since the mid-19th century, the Confederation has played an active role in national science policy. While it began by creating its own polytechnic in Zurich, the Confederation now has six institutions comprising the Federal Institutes of Technology : the two Federal Institutes of Technology, in Lausanne (EPFL) and in Zurich (ETHZ) and four research institutes – the Paul Scherrer Institute, the Federal Institute for Woodland, Snow and Landscape Research, the Federal Laboratory for Materials Testing and Research, and the Federal Institute for Water Supplies, Waste Water Treatment and Water Resources Protection. The two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETHZ and EPFL) are known world-
wide and have brought forth many Nobel Prize laureates. They are well known for producing highly qualified engineers, architects, and scientists and work closely together with their counterparts, the university of Zurich and the university of Lausanne respectively, in study areas such as the human sciences. In addition, there are some smaller institutions offering a limited curriculum which confer diplomas in association with a traditional university. The following are considered as public institutions of higher education : the Graduate Institute for International Studies (Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales IUHEI) in Geneva, the Graduate Institute for Advanced Public Administration (Institut de hautes études en administration publique IDHEAP) in Lausanne, and the Graduate Institute of Development Studies (Institut universitaire d’études de développement, IUED) in Geneva. They are not allowed to confer doctoral degrees without specifically associating to one of the twelve doctoral/research universities.
For more information : www.swissuniversity.ch www.crus.ch www.proff.ch Specific information for doctoral candidates and researchers on : www.sbf.admin.ch/eracareers
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The Universities and Federal Institutes of Technology 1
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University of Neuchâtel FACULTIES
3
4
5
6
Find listed below the doctoral/research universities. For further information, you may refer to the CRUS official website: www.swissuniversity.ch
University of Fribourg FACULTIES
Literature Economics & Social Sciences Law Sciences Theology Student population: 9,829 Foreign students: 18.3% Av. Europe 20 1700 Fribourg — Switzerland T + 41 (0)26 300 71 11 www.unifr.ch
University of Geneva FACULTIES
University of Basel FACULTIES
University of Bern
Human & Social Sciences Medicine Natural Sciences Law Economics Psychology Theology Student population: 10,974 Foreign students: 17.2%*
FACULTIES
Petersplatz 1 4003 Basel — Switzerland T + 41 (0)61 267 31 11 www.unibas.ch
Arts Human Sciences Economics & Social Sciences Science Medicine Law Teacher Training Veterinary Medicine Theology Student population: 11,807 Foreign students: 8.9% Hochschulstrasse 4 3012 Bern — Switzerland T + 41 (0)31 631 81 11 www.unibe.ch
Economics & Social Sciences Arts Psychology & Educational Sciences Sciences Law Medicine Translation‑/‑Interpretation Architecture European Studies Protestant Theology International Studies (IUHEI) Development Studies (IUED) Ecumenial Centre Student population: 13,732 Foreign students: 37% Rue du Général-Dufour 24 1211 Genève 4 — Switzerland T + 41 (0)22 379 71 11 www.unige.ch
University of Lausanne FACULTIES
Social & Political Sciences Arts Biology & Medicine Management & Economics Law Earth, Science & Environment Theology Student population: 10,700 Foreign students: 20.2% Unicentre 1015 Lausanne — Switzerland T + 41 (0)21 692 11 11 www.unil.ch
University of Lucerne
Literature & Human Sciences Sciences Economics & Social Sciences Law Theology Student population: 3,760 Foreign students: 20% Avenue du 1er Mars 26 2000 Neuchâtel — Switzerland T + 41 (0)32 718 10 00 www.unine.ch
FACULTIES
University of St. Gallen FACULTIES
Business Administration Economics Law International Affairs Student population: 4,576 Foreign students: 25.6%
FACULTIES
Law Human Sciences Theology Student population: 1,920 Foreign students: 9.1%
Dufourstrasse 50 9000 St. Gallen — Switzerland T + 41 (0)71 224 21 11 www.unisg.ch
University of Zürich FACULTIES
Pfistergasse 20 6000 Luzern 7 — Switzerland T + 41 (0)41 228 55 10 www.unilu.ch
University of Lugano FACULTIES
Communication Sciences Academy of Architecture Economics Informatics Student population: 2,157 Foreign students: 53%
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Literature Law Economics Medicine Mathematics & Sciences Veterinary Medicine Theology Student population: 23,910 Foreign students: 14.4%
Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering, Microengineering (STI) Environmental Sciences & Engineering, Civil Engineering & Architecture (ENAC) Computer Science, Communication Systems (IC) Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Mathematics, Physics (SB) Sciences and Technologies of livings Management of Tech. (MTE) Number of students: 6,547 Foreign students: 41.6% 1015 Lausanne — Switzerland T + 41 (0)21 693 11 11 www.epfl.ch
ETH Zurich FACULTIES
6904 Lugano — Switzerland T + 41 (0)58 666 40 00 www.unisi.ch
Engineering Sciences Natural Sciences & Mathematics Architecture, Construction & Geomatics System-oriented Sciences Other Sciences & Sports Student population: 13,412 Foreign students: 23.5%
Source : Universities and Federal Institutes of Technology websites, figures for 2006-2007. * Figures for 2005-2006.
Rämistrasse 101 8092 Zürich — Switzerland T + 41 (0)44 632 11 11 www.ethz.ch
Rämistrasse 71 8006 Zürich — Switzerland T + 41 (0)44 634 11 11 www.unizh.ch
The Universities of Applied Sciences
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5.
A branch of the higher education system: seven professionaly oriented universities. For further information, you may refer to the CSHES official website: www.kfh.ch
Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse occidentale FIELDS
7
2
3.
Fachhochschule Ostschweiz 1
FIELDS
3
4
5 6
2.
Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz
1.
Berner Fachhochschule FIELDS
Engineering & Informatics Architecture, Building Engineering & Wood Economics & Management Health Social work Arts, Design & Preservation Forestry Chemistry & Life Sciences Sport Number of students: 5,116 Foreign students: 9.6% Schwarztorstrasse 36 3007 Bern — Switzerland T +41 (0)31 370 89 89 www.bfh.ch — office@bfh.ch
Engineering Sciences Business, Management and Services Design and Visual Arts Health Social Work Music and Theatre Number of students: 12,492* Foreign students: 12.42%*
FIELDS
Applied Psychology Architecture, Civil Engineering & Geomatics Arts & Design Educational Sciences Life Sciences Music Social Work Engineering Number of students: 8,334* Foreign students: 12.3%* Schulthess-Allee 1 5201 Brugg — Switzerland T +41 (0)56 462 49 11 www.fhnw.ch
Engineering & Economics Social work Educational Sciences Number of students: 4,058 Foreign students: 10.3%
Rue de la Jeunesse 1 2800 Delémont — Switzerland T +41 (0)32 424 49 00 www.hes-so.ch — info@hes-so.ch
Davidstrasse 31 9001 St. Gallen — Switzerland T +41 (0)71 229 39 42 www.fho.ch — fho@sg.ch
Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana
6.
FIELDS
4.
Fachhochschule Zentralschweiz FIELDS
Engineering & Architecture Economics Social work Design & Arts Music Number of students: 4,103 Foreign students: 8.4%
Environment, Building Engineering & Design Economics & Social Sciences Innovative Technology Health Dimitri Theatre School Conservatory Number of students: 2,234* Foreign students: 27.5%* Le Gerre 6928 Manno — Switzerland T +41 (0)58 666 60 00 www.supsi.ch — info@supsi.ch
Frankenstrasse 9 6002 Luzern — Switzerland T +41 (0)41 228 42 42 www.fhz.ch — direktion@fhz.ch
Source : Federal Statistical Office, figures for 2006-2007 * UAS Communication Department
7.
Zürcher Fachhochschule FIELDS
Applied Psychology Design & Arts Social work Engineering Economics Music & Theatre Chemistry Educational Sciences Number of students: 11,796 Foreign students: 10.8% Walchetor 8090 Zürich — Switzerland T +41 (0)43 259 23 31 www.zfh.ch — info@zfh.ch
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High Schools and Hotel Schools By Christophe-Xavier Clivaz
T The tradition of Swiss private schools dates back to the end of the 19th century when the first establishments opened their doors on the banks of Lake Geneva. The arrival of the Orient Express in 1880 saw demand for places increase with the influx of a well-to-do clientele to our regions. Following a few days of relaxation, parents would continue their journey onwards to Paris, London or Istanbul, trusting their children to the care of our fine schools. During the 20th century the reputation of private schools was reinforced by their education based on tolerance and respect for others. Cultural diversity makes our schools truly unique. Not only do our students learn basic academics in their class-
rooms, everyone will get first hand experience as young ambassadors and diplomats, meeting with children of different ethnic, linguistic, religious, family and cultural backgrounds. Everyone is a foreigner. No one nationality is a dominant majority. Friendship is the major currency in this universe. Fluency in more than one language after a few years in our country is highly encouraged and attained.
An Extensive Offer Currently private day and boarding schools in Switzerland accept students from kindergarten through to grade 12. The majority of these schools offer intensive studies in English or French as a second language enabling all students to quickly integrate into the
mainstream programme. The possibility to follow bilingual studies is also a popular attraction of Swiss International Schools. Programmes on offer lead to a range of examinations known throughout the world including the IGCSE, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), the Swiss Federal Maturity, the French Baccalaureate and the German Abitur. These certificates are accepted for entry into Swiss universities and to universities in other countries according to the specific conditions of each institution (check individual websites for their entry requirements). In combination with the development of boarding schools, hotel schools stood as guarantors of the long tradition of Swiss hospitality. To be a member of the Swiss Learning project certain criteria must be met, these include, at least 45 years of experience in the domain of providing education and boarding facilities, with a capacity for a minimum of 150 boarders. Additionally, the establishment should be accredited by the relevant authorities and be accepted into the circle of the member institutions here in Switzerland. The most highly regarded representatives of our great tradition of private education are presented in the following pages. Enjoy the tour !
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Brillantmont International School Fully accredited by the Council of International Schools and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges | Founded in 1882 | Director: Mr. Pasche
Brillantmont International School is located in a leafy park in the centre of Lausanne, overlooking Lake Geneva and the Alps, just 40 minutes from Geneva International Airport. The School has remained in the same family since its foundation in 1882 but has constantly evolved to best meet the needs of its student population, which represents over 35 different nationalities.
Academics Brillantmont International School is fully accredited by the Council of International Schools and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. The School prepares boys and girls aged 13-18 to enter universities throughout the world via either the British Programme which prepares IGCSE and A Level examinations or the American Programme, the completion of which leads to the High School Graduation Diploma. SAT and TOEFL prep are offered and students are closely guided in their future choices by our experienced college counselors. Small class sizes and a strong emphasis on technology in the classroom create an ideal learning environment for our students. Our interactive website facilitates academic contact between all members of the school community – parents, students, teachers and the Direction. Certain programmes are offered to
students unable to stay for a complete school year.
Boarding Brillantmont International School welcomes 150 students, of which around 90 are boarders. They are housed in single or twin-bedded rooms in the various boarding houses, which are organized according to age and gender. A resident housemaster and housemistress supervise the boarders whilst aiming to maintain a family atmosphere of dialogue and exchange. A nurse looks after our students’ health and organizes regular workshops which deal with their well-being. The recently renovated accommodation is of an excellent standard and areas of relaxation and leisure aim to create a home from home.
Sporting and Leisure Activities Brillantmont International School is proud to offer a wide range of sporting activities which take full advantage of the local amenities and the seasonal offerings. School teams compete against other nearby schools in beach volleyball, unihockey, basketball, tennis, football and swimming. During the winter, ski trips take place every weekend and a full week of skiing takes place in February. After school clubs are offered to every student, covering a range of activities such as Yearbook, Model United
Nations, drama, music, art, photography and students are encouraged to develop their interests by joining the weekly excursions and the regular cultural trips which take place throughout the year.
Summer School Brillantmont International School offers a summer school in July and August for 12-17 year old boys and girls who come for a flexible stay of two to six weeks. French or English classes in the mornings are followed by sports in the afternoons. Round the clock supervision and a clear set of rules ensure that each student is in total security. On the full day excursion on Sundays students can enjoy rock climbing, dirk mountain biking, mountain karting or visit Chillon castle whilst on Wednesday afternoons class excursions allow the students to see the Olympic Museum, a chocolate factory, a watch factory and a cheese factory amongst others.
Avenue Secrétan 16 1005 Lausanne — Switzerland T +41(0)21 310 04 00 F +41(0)21 320 84 17 www.brillantmont.ch info@brillantmont.ch
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Collège Beau Soleil
Accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS), the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Designated an IB World School by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) and is recognized by the Academy of Grenoble as a centre for the French Baccalaureate. Beau Soleil is an officially registered private school and is a member of the Swiss Federation of Private School (FSEP) | Founded in 1910 Beau Soleil is one of the oldest Swiss establishments of worldwide renown, and is currently owned and run by the third successive generation of the same family. Our students, representing over 40 nationalities, are provided with a complete education – intellectual, physical, emotional and social – in order to develop their sense of values and to show them the importance of personal effort and self-discipline. The three cornerstones of our education are : a balanced and personalised curriculum, a stable family community and an exceptional environment. With this in mind, students are constantly encouraged to meet the following objectives : act responsibly, behave with respect, aim high and do their best.
Academics The School sets rigorous expectations of its students in terms of academic commitment. The school’s programme of studies is taught in either French or English. The French section extends from sixième to terminale level, culminating in the French Baccalaureate (L, ES and S branches). The International section comprises classes from 7th to 12th Grade, preparing for IGCSE qualifications at the end of 10th Grade and the challenging International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at the end of 12th Grade. Students may also prepare for SAT, TOEFL and a High
School Diploma programme. A college counselling service is available to assist students in their university application process. Considerable emphasis is laid on encouraging students to develop efficient independent study habits.
Extra-curricular Activities The key word in the Beau Soleil curriculum is “balance”: the harmonious equilibrium between studies, physical activity, creativity and leisure. Sports form part of the compulsory programme in each season. In the summer most activities take place outdoors, while in the winter the resort’s 200 kilometres of slopes and runs provide an ideal environment for winter sports. Expeditions provide character-building experiences by putting our students into an environment that challenges them emotionally as well as physically. They have been able to take part, on a voluntary basis, in spectacular and challenging expeditions to summits such as Kilimanjaro in Africa and Cotopaxi in Ecuador. Finally, the art, music and drama department encourages students to develop their artistic talent through drawing, sculpture, painting, photography and ceramics, by learning how to sing and playing various instruments, and by fostering their powers of creative expression.
Summer Camps The summer camp is organised every year in July and is designed for children from 7 to 16 years old. Its programme includes the learning of languages in the morning – French or English – at six different levels, from beginners to advanced. The maximum number of students per language course is ten in order to offer ideal teaching conditions. The afternoons are dedicated to various sporting or cultural activities, as well as a half-day excursion per week. Students also take part in our theme camp, sleeping in tents beside Lake Geneva.
1884 Villars-sur-Ollon — Switzerland T +41(0)24 496 26 26 F +41(0)24 496 26 27 www. beausoleil.ch info@beausoleil.ch
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Collège du Léman
Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and by the Council of International Schools | Founded by Francis A. Clivaz in 1960
Collège du Léman International School is located on an 18-acre campus in Versoix, on the shores of Lake Geneva, about 5 miles from the center of Geneva. It was founded in 1960 by Francis A. Clivaz to help serve the needs of the growing diplomatic and international business community located in the Geneva area.
Academics The School has two academic programs : one with instruction in French, preparing for the French Baccalauréat, the Swiss Federal Maturité, and the bilingual Swiss Federal Maturité ; the other with instruction in English, preparing students for entrance into colleges and universities via the International Baccalaureate Program and Advanced Placement examinations. Students are prepared for their college selection and application by a college guidance counselor. 122 graduates entered universities and colleges in autumn 2005, including Queens in Canada ; Stanford, Brown, Harvard and Yale in the United States ; the London School of Economics, Cambridge and Oxford universities in the United Kingdom ; HEC Lausanne and Geneva in Switzerland ; as well as many other higher education institutions throughout the world.
Boarding Collège du Léman counts a total of 1,800 students of which 220 are boarders. There are six residence facilities to accommodate our boarders. All of these are villas. For the most part, the students live two or three to a room. Lounges are in each residence ; a common area and a snack bar are open during the students’ free time. There is one infirmary for boys and one for girls. Two fulltime nurses are on duty, and a doctor with residence and office facilities adjacent to the campus is on call.
motivations. In the afternoon, students are assigned to groups of around ten, according to their age, to take part in supervised activities. A variety of sports with qualified instructors are provided. Security is paramount and supervision of all activities is guaranteed. Switzerland has its own treasures and it is for this reason that each week, a trip is organized to discover our beautiful country. Places of interest, such as Interlaken, Lucerne or even Zermatt to see the Matterhorn, are visited as well as the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, the Omega Museum in Bienne and a famous chocolate factory.
Sporting Activities The School recognizes the importance of physical activity in the overall development of the individual. Considerable emphasis is therefore put on sports. All students are required to follow a physical education course, and sports activities are a regular part of the after-class hours. One week of ski classes is scheduled for each grade. In addition, skiing is a regular weekend activity during the winter months.
Summer School We offer co-educational French and English courses in our summer program for students between the ages of 8 and 18. After a placement test, students follow a personalized program designed not only to meet their ability but to also challenge their
1290 Versoix — Switzerland T +41(0)22 775 55 55 F +41(0)22 775 55 59 www.cdl.ch info@cdl.ch
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Institut auf dem Rosenberg
Institut Le Rosey
Founded in 1889
The Institut auf dem Rosenberg, co-educational boarding school for ages 8-20, educates students in a multi-cultural and multilingual environment. Generations of students have benefited from the experience of living and learning in an international community of their peers. Such an education has always afforded its privileges, but it is especially relevant in today’s ever-changing world when tolerance and undestanding are vital both locally and globally.
ting where young people can enjoy the special beauty of each season, breathe clean air, and participate in numerous activities. Students live in houses according to gender and age in a verdant residential area. The campus comprises more than 100,000m 2 including tennis and sports grounds. The individual buildings are surrounded by lush lawns, idyllic niches, and countless roses that bloom throughout the summer, lending the Institut auf dem Rosenberg campus a sense of tranquillity and reassurance.
Academics Our academic programmes are unique for their variety and international perspective. The following sections are included: International Section, German Section, Swiss Section and Italian Section. Our goal is to assure children and young people a holistic education in an international environment. Every person is an individual requiring personal attention in and out of class. Day to day life in the boarding school teaches social skills, while interacting with others forms character by encouraging independence and self-confidence. Since 1889 we have proven our ability to educate individuals.
Boarding Located in the hills overlooking the city of St. Gallen, the Institut auf dem Rosenberg offers a picturesque set-
Sporting and Leisure Activities St. Gallen’s optimal geographical location offers the possibility to participate in many summer and winter sports. Activities such as tennis, golf, horse riding, water-skiing, iceskating, skiing and snowboarding are part of the recreational programme. As the regional capital of eastern Switzerland located between Lake Constance and the Säntis mountain range, St. Gallen is large enough to offer the benefits of a big city without losing its small town charm. With its theatre, concert hall and museums, the city provides numerous cultural opportunities and events. The city is within easy walking distance from the school grounds. Airports are easily reachable (Zurich 80 km, Altenrhein 10 km) allowing for quick access to international connections. The highlight of our social calendar
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Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the Council of International Schools and the International Baccalaureate Organization. Member of the Group of French Baccalauréat Schools in Switzerland and the Swiss Federation of Private Schools | Founded in 1880 is our annual Rosenberg Ball where students perform a show especially created for the evening. Parents and friends come from all over the world to enjoy the Rosenberg Ball and it is such a highlight that the participants speak with enthusiasm about the ball many years after.
Institut Le Rosey is the most prestigious of Swiss boarding schools with a long tradition of academic and sporting excellence. It is unique in having a two campus system – in autumn and summer, the exceptional facilities of the Rolle campus, and in winter its alpine campus in Gstaad, one of Switzerland’s most beautiful skiing resorts.
Summer Language Courses The summer language courses take place in Switzerland (Arosa, Lenk, St. Gallen) and in Austria (Seefeld/ Tyrol). Depending on the location of the course, the students, aged between 7 and 20 years, can choose between English, German and French. The lessons are taught in small classes (max. 12 students); private lessons can be arranged on request. Teenagers from all over the world attend a practical yet modern language programme and participate in a variety of attractive cultural and sporting activities. The courses are also suitable for students interested in entering the regular school year programme.
Höhenweg 60 9000 St. Gallen — Switzerland T +41(0)71 277 77 77 F +41(0)71 277 98 27 www.instrosenberg.ch — info@instrosenberg.ch www.ariana.ch — info@ariana.ch
Academics English and French are the two academic languages at Le Rosey, and the sophisticated bilingual and bicultural system of the middle school years leads to the French Baccalauréat or the International Baccalaureate. With a teacher-student ratio of 1:6, particular attention is paid to the potential and needs of individual students. Le Rosey also offers SAT preparation classes and is a SAT and TOEFL examination centre. Two fulltime counselors prepare students for acceptance at competitive universities across the world, including (2005 only): Princeton, Cornell, Stanford, U. Penn, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Parsons, the LSE, University College and King’s College London, Central St Martin’s, as well as many others in the USA, the UK and across the world.
ard with usually two students per room, nearly all of which have ensuite bathrooms. Over 50 resident teachers provide pastoral support. Although Le Rosey is completely co-ed with a 50-50 boy-girl ratio, girls are housed on independent campuses. With several languages spoken around the school, pupils are exposed to a rich international atmosphere and develop values of tolerance and solidarity. While the atmosphere of the school is relaxed, a dress code is enforced and students dress more formally for dinner. A full uniform is worn on special occasions.
visual arts are part of the daily schedule. Evening and weekend cultural activities are complemented by excursions and a complete weekend outdoor education and expedition program. A strong commitment to charity work completes the school’s aim to raise happy and independent children with a balanced sense of their own worth and responsibilities.
Summer Camps
Le Rosey offers five co-educational summer camps in French and English designed for 9 to 18-year-olds. The Classic Summer Camp offers a wide range of activities, language Sporting Activities classes and excursions for nearly 300 Le Rosey has always subscribed to the students. It is complemented by broader educational and character- Mountain, Adventure and Leadership building benefits of physical exercise, Camps. The Summer School provides and sport and sporting success are school revision and extension courses. cornerstones of the Rosey spirit. The All offer the same quality, safety school offers a particularly wide range considerations and attention to detail of daily activities. In Rolle, a nauti- which characterize Le Rosey throughcal sports centre, riding stables, two out the year. gymnasia, a “wellness centre” and two swimming pools complement a large number of soccer and rugby fields and numerous tennis courts. In Gstaad, skiing and snowboarding are the principal winter sports. Château du Rosey
Boarding and Campus Life
Multiple Intelligences
Le Rosey is 100% boarding. 370 students are accommodated in purpose-built maisons and mountain chalets. Facilities are of a high stand-
Le Rosey’s mission to encourage students to explore all their talents and to realize their full potential does not end with sport. Music, drama and the
1180 Rolle — Switzerland T +41(0)21 822 55 00 — F +41(0)21 822 55 55 Winter Campus (January to March) Chalet Rex 3780 Gstaad — Switzerland T +41(0)33 748 06 00 — F +41(0)33 748 06 01 www.rosey.ch — rosey@rosey.ch
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Institut Montana Zugerberg
Member of the Council of International Schools (accreditation in process), the International Baccalaureate Organisation, the Swiss Group of International Schools (SGIS) and the Swiss Federation of Private Schools | Founded in 1926 Institut Montana is situated high above the city of Zug in the beautiful countryside of the Zugerberg. The international character of Institut Montana offers the unique opportunity to live together with people of different nationalities and cultures. The preparation of the students for responsible positions in society is one of the important characteristics of the educational tradition at Institut Montana. The co-ed day- and boarding-school offers a broad range of academic programs in English as well as in German. Classes at Montana are small (max. 15 students), and this allows the teachers to encourage the special abilities and talents of each of the students.
Academics The School offers four academic programs: The Bilingual Elementary School (German/English) Grades 3 to 6, the Swiss Maturität (German or German/English), the American High School Diploma (English) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma (English). With the Swiss Maturität, which is recognized nationally and internationally, our students fulfill university entrance requirements. With the American High School Diploma our students have access to universities in the United States and with the IB Diploma the students have the possibility to go to universities throughout
the world. In the last few years our students have been accepted to the following leading universities: Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Princeton, Columbia (USA) – London School of Economics, Edinburgh, Bath, Warwick (UK) – McGill, Queens, British Columbia (Canada) – ETH, Hochschule St. Gallen (Switzerland).
Boarding and Campus Life Our students normally reside in a double room and some in a single room. In harmony with our humanistic traditions, cultural activities are granted a high priority at Institut Montana. Thanks to the school's central location, our students are able to take advantage of the many cultural offerings in Zug, Zurich, and Lucerne. We organize outings to performances, museums, exhibitions and concerts. In addition, alumni and friends of the school are often invited to speak about and discuss current social and cultural issues. Active participation in the arts is also important to us. Our theatre group has earned international acclaim and has performed at both the Edinburgh and the Avignon Festivals. Students with musical interests are serviced both by our own music teachers and at the Music School of Zug. Internal art exhibitions allow students to display their talents and accomplishments.
Sports Activities Institut Montana has many sports facilities, including a gymnasium, a weight room, playing fields, tennis courts, a skating rink and an outdoor basketball court. The Zugerberg is an ideal area for hiking, jogging and mountain biking. Our students regularly take part in soccer, basketball and volleyball tournaments and regularly use the indoor swimming pool located not far from the school. Golf facilities and instruction are also available at an 18hole course in our area. In winter, we have an ice rink as well as a sled run and 25 km cross-country ski runs abound all over the Zugerberg. Short ski lifts allow our students to learn alpine skiing and snowboarding right here at the school. Excursions are often taken to the best winter sport resorts in Switzerland.
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Leysin American School
Accredited by the Middle States Association and Council of International Schools Certified ISO 9001 | Founded by Fred & Sigrid Ott in 1960 | Directors : Dr. Steven & Mrs. Doris Ott since 1982 and Dr. Marc-Frédéric Ott since 2007 The Leysin American School in Switzerland (LAS) is an international American boarding school with 360 students in grades 9 to 12, with a PostGraduate program. LAS is located in the beautiful alpine village of Leysin about 90 minutes from Geneva. Excellent academics through the International Baccalaureate program (IB), family-like community, and diverse student body from over 50 nations help build a community where students develop into “citizens of the world.” LAS is owned by the Foundation for the Advancement of International Education, a non-profit entity overseen by the Swiss government. The school also operates a 501 (c) (3) charitable foundation to receive tax-deductible donations from U.S. taxpayers. The founding family, now in its third generation, are the Directors of the school.
Academics
6300 Zug — Switzerland T +41 (0) 41 729 11 77 F +41 (0) 41 729 11 78 www.montana-zug.ch info@montana-zug.ch
LAS believes in realistic, high-quality, and individualized goals. The LAS college-preparatory curriculum meets admission requirements for universities in North America. The IB is recognized by universities throughout the world. New York University, Stanford, and Harvard Universities in the U.S.; and Queens and University of Toronto in Canada are some of the universities LAS graduates are currently enrolled. LAS uses Powerschool, a student information system that provides real-
time information for students and parents. It includes grades, attendance records, discipline and health information, financial accounts, and the daily school bulletin. Music and arts are an essential part of the LAS life. LAS Band, String Ensemble, and Choir perform regularly. Students can attend concerts and visit exhibits in nearby cities.
Boarding The School is firmly committed to its “in loco parentis” philosophy. Faculty members reside on campus and supervise evening study halls, sponsor sports, oversee recreational activities, and lead excursions. Three students of different nationalities share comfortable rooms with private showers and toilets. The Health Center includes three full-time nurses and two counselors. A doctor in the village is on call.
Extra-curricular Program Students lead a balanced life-style through the extra-curricular program that includes sports, travel, and other activities. During the autumn and spring terms, students devote at least two afternoons a week to instructional sports such as basketball, soccer, tennis, swimming, and hiking. In the winter, students ski two afternoons a week. The annual educational travel program includes two cultural excursions
designed to acquaint students with the history and culture of Switzerland and major European cities. LAS provides leadership opportunities through Student Council, Model United Nations, and global awareness projects such as Peace Corps and Habitat for Humanity.
Summer in Switzerland (SIS) SIS offers summer academic enrichment, recreation, and travel programs to students ages 9 to 19. In the mornings, students attend classes (academic and creative & visual arts), while the aternoons are devoted to sports activities and excursions. Weekend excursions permit students to explore cities such as Geneva, Lucerne, and Zermatt SIS also offers specialized programs for 13 to 19 yearolds: Theatre International, Alpine Chamber Music, English-as-a-SecondLanguage (ESL), SAT/ACT preparation, and Leadership Adventure. The two 3-week sessions are divided by the Recreation and Culture week that offers excursions to France, Italy, United Kingdom, and throughout Switzerland.
1854 Leysin — Switzerland T +41(0)24 493 37 77 F +41(0)24 494 15 85 www.las.ch admissions@las.ch
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Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz
Saint George’s School in Switzerland
Member of the Council of International Schools (accreditation in process) and of the International Baccalaureate Organisation | Founded in 1904
Set in a beautiful alpine landscape near the resort of St. Moritz, the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz is an international co-educational boarding school with about 200 boarders from all around the world and 100 local day students. The Lyceum Alpinum campus and sports fields occupy an extensive site overlooking the picturesque alpine village of Zuoz. For more than 100 years, the values of tolerance, fairness and respect for community have remained at the heart of a Lyceum education. The School philosophy is founded on tradition and innovation and finds its true expression in the Spirit of Zuoz which promotes the supreme importance of life-long learning.
Academics The School offers three academic programmes: The International Baccalaureate, the Swiss Matura and the German Abitur. The International Baccalaureate is a comprehensive university preparation course based on an approach to learning involving critical inquiry and the education of the whole person. The aim of the Swiss Matura, which is recognized nationally and internationally, is to fulfil university entrance requirements by providing a broad general education. All examinations are run in compliance with the Swiss Federal Matura Regulations. The German Abitur is recognized for admission to national and interna-
tional universities and is conducted in-house by Lyceum teachers under the supervision of the German ministry of education. Our graduates go on to study at some of the world’s leading universities such as the London School of Economics (LSE), Cambridge, Yale, St. Gallen (HSG) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich).
Boarding At the boarding school students live in comfortable modern surroundings. Younger boys and girls enjoy the benefits and security of a familylike environment, while the older students are encouraged to take on greater responsibility. Our students receive individual support and additional help from subject teachers, while for those who want to stretch their limits even further there are added challenges. There is a varied extra-curricular and weekend programme including sports, leisure as well as cultural activities.
Sporting Activities Sports and Games, with a strong emphasis on team sports such as cricket, Eton fives, football and ice hockey are fundamental to the way of life at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz. Games, in which our boarders participate twice a week in addition to the normal sports programme, promote physical fitness as well as team spirit, mutual respect
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Founded in 1927
and fairness. The range of school sports on offer also includes skiing and snowboarding as well as soccer, tennis and golf.
International Summer Camp & Junior Golf Academy We offer two camps of two weeks each for girls and boys between the ages of 11 and 15. In the mornings, students attend German or English lessons in small groups, in the afternoons there is an action-packed sports programme or personalised Golf School on the 18-hole golf course Zuoz-Madulain.
7524 Zuoz — Switzerland T +41(0)81 851 30 00 F +41(0)81 851 30 99 www.lyceum-alpinum.ch info@lyceum-alpinum.ch
1927–2007 : 80 years of academic excellence. Reflecting back on 80 years of exciting activity at St. George’s School, we can proudly say that we have successfully provided our students with the best international education in Switzerland while retaining the excellence of a British school. Under an hour’s drive from Geneva, our 12-acre campus is located in the residential suburb of Clarens, near Montreux overlooking the lake and the Alps. The high quality of our staff and the outstanding on-campus sport facilities ensure that students benefit from academic achievement as well as emphasis on their physical skills and sporting abilities.
Boarders
To live away from home is not easy. For over 80 years, St. George’s has proved to be a “home away from home” for thousands of young women giving them the chance to experience a unique way of life. Everything at the school is designed to help students adapt easily and quickly to their second home. In 2007, to celebrate its 80th anniversary, the School has decided to open the boarding section to boys. The School now welcomes boys and girls from 7 to 18. By enrolling your children at St. George’s, you will give them a chance to understand different cultures, instil in them the need for daily discipline and respect, and turn them into future mature and caring achievers. We, at the Academia – “Levavi Occulos” School, believe that students should Our mission is to provide global sense stay in touch with friends and family of excellence in education, reaching during the school term. Consequently, the perfect balance between intellec- with prior written parent approval, tual stimulation, physical activity and students may go out on week-ends. the development of social skills. Our St. George’s is more than an excellent academic programmes give access to school; it’s a community where we care the worldwide renowned IGCSE and about each other and where friendship IB diplomas. They guarantee a solid is for life. learning base including science, so- Christian and Christina Barrios, parcial skills, liberal and performing arts ents of two former boarders remember : preparing your children for a bright “Sending our children abroad was a and strong academic future. We aim very tough and somehow heartbreakto provide the students with a sense ing decision. We decided to send our of initiative and the self-confidence two daughters to St. George’s and we needed to help them become reliable, have not regretted it once. We were caring and responsible adults. looking for a great education in terms of knowledge, and we honestly believe that the school offers an excellent
academic level mostly due to the outstanding quality of its teaching staff. In terms of their life in a boarding school, we know and feel that they are really well taken care of. In every aspect, St. George’s is fully meeting our expectations.”
Summer Camp Since the 80s, St. George’s School Summer Camps are known as an ongoing success story, welcoming boys and girls aged 10 to 16 from over 20 countries throughout July and August. We provide our summer campers with a safe, happy stimulating atmosphere in a beautiful environment. Typically, campers are given the opportunity to improve their language skills while making friends from around the world. For the first time next summer, IB students will be able to prepare for their final year during our newly developed IB prep course. Also, a special two-week EFL curriculum is offered in addition to the programme for those whose English needs perfecting.
Chemin de St. Georges 19 1815 Clarens/Montreux — Switzerland T +41(0) 21 964 34 11 F +41(0) 21 964 49 32 www.st-georges.ch office@st-georges.ch
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TASIS
Accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) | Founded by Mrs. M. Crist Fleming in 1956
Celebrating 52 years of excellence in international education, the School is situated on a magnificent 9-acre campus near the village of Montagnola overlooking Lake Lugano and just 15 minutes from the center of town. The facilities include a combination of historic villas beautifully restored for school use, and modern purpose-built facilities. The 21 buildings on campus include dormitories, classrooms, library, science labs, computerlabs, art, photography and dance studios, music rooms, fitness center, gymnasium, health center, dining hall and administrative offices.
Academics The academic program prepares students to earn the American high school diploma and the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma, and includes the full ranges of Advanced Placement courses and English as a second language support. All TASIS graduates are prepared to proceed to colleges and universities in the USA and around the world.
Boarding The American School in Swizerland is an independent, coeducational boarding and day school, currently enrolling 350 students of more than 50 nationalities in grades 7 through 12 and an additional 130 students in its new pre-Kindergarten through grade 6 elementary school. TASIS is the oldest
American boarding school in Europe. The School is owned and directed by the TASIS Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit educational organization. The institution is dedicated to expanding the horizons of the young people entrusted to its care, encouraging crosscultural respect and communication among them, surrounding them with beauty and courtesy, and teaching them to love learning and recognize moral responsibilities. TASIS is devoted to the following virtues, values, and aims : > introducing young people to a broad and deep human culture, especially European culture and its roots and offshoots ;
and advances in knowledge in curriculum, reciprocity and courtesy in social life, and providing inspiring and graceful facilities and surroundings. The School takes advantage of its location in the heart of Europe to provide an outstanding educational program with an international dimension. The travel program includes ten days of educational travel throughout Europe as well as a one-week ski term, when the School relocates to Crans-Montana.
Summer School TASIS offers a variety of summer programs on campuses in England, Spain, France, Italy, and Switzerland for students ages 6 to 18.
> teaching habits conducive to good work (love of truth, order, diliTHE AMERICAN SCHOOL IN SWITZERLAND gence, and service) and friendship (civility, generosity, hospitality) ; Collina d’Oro > activating and developing healthy attitudes and habits regarding the body (physical fitness, self-cultivation and ethical consciousness through team-spirit and competition, the joy of expanding one’s physical limits through responsible challenges) ; > eliciting and developing students’ natural affinity for the true, the good, and the beautiful by emphasizing classic works, languages,
6926 Montagnola — Switzerland T +41(0)91 960 51 51 F +41(0)91 994 23 64 www.tasis.com administration@tasis.ch
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Glion Institute of Higher Education Accredited at university level by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (USA)
Glion Institute of Higher Education (GIHE) is a private Swiss Institution active in education in the field of Hospitality, Tourism, Event, Sport & Entertainment. Glion offers various undergraduate, graduate and post graduate programmes up to three and a half years. Located on two different campuses, GIHE has the unique advantage of offering to its international student body from over 80 countries, an ideal, safe and multi cultural educational environment. Hiring managers from international hotel chains rank Glion among the top three hospitality management schools in the world for an international career (TNS, UK, Global Research, 2007).
Academics GIHE offers a wide range of studies from one up to 3.5 years including Diploma, Associate and Bachelor Degrees, Postgraduate studies as well as a Master of Education and a MBA in association with Endicott College in the USA. All our academic programmes are divided in three major pathways‑: professional development, entrepreneurship and general education. These are taught in an environment which encourages critical thinking and develops an aptitude for innovation thus responding to the concrete needs of a demanding industry in constant evolution. We also place considerable emphasis
on the commercial responsibility of our students as future managers who will be called upon to develop companies and ensure they are profitable. All courses are available in English and some in French depending on the programme chosen. Classes start in January or in August except for the Master’s programmes which start in July.
outdoor summer and winter sports and activities.
Bulle Campus The university style environment of Bulle campus has been conceived for advanced studies. There, students are more independent and their studies concentrate on the managerial aspect of the industry through speA Great Career Ahead cific assignments. Located in the When students graduate, they al- Canton of Fribourg, close to the famous ready have plenty of practice through medieval town of Gruyères, Bulle is craft-based learning and internships, one of the fastest growing cities in thus increasing their employability. Switzerland and offers many social as Internships give students the opportu- well as sports activities. nity to apply their knowledge to real situation and get a taste for this fascinating industry. Each semester leading international companies come to our campus to interview and recruit our Enrolment Management Department graduates. By the end of their studies, Rue du Lac 118 most students have several job offers 1815 Clarens — Switzerland T +41(0)21 989 26 77 in hands. F +41(0)21 989 26 78
Campus Life Glion Campus Situated above the tourist resort of Montreux, Glion campus offers the most breathtaking view of Lake Geneva and the French and Swiss Alps. Its friendly and intimate atmosphere caters to a healthy and modern lifestyle and is the starting point to all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Leisure and sport activities include a brand new fitness centre, a gymnasium and access to all sorts of
www.glion.edu info@glion.ch
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Les Roches International School of Hotel Management Accredited at university level by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (USA) Recognized by the Swiss Hotel Association The hospitality industry is the world’s largest employer offering a wide array of employment opportunities including hotels, restaurants, travel, leisure, wellness and many other sectors of the service industry. This sector is expected to keep expanding, thus offering people a wider spectrum of jobs than ever before. Recognized by the Swiss Hotel Association, the body that protects the standards and reputation of the Swiss hotel industry, Les Roches is a worldrenowned Hospitality Management institution focusing on educating future leaders of that exciting and growing industry. Hiring managers from international hotel chains rank Les Roches among the top three hospitality management schools in the world for an international career (TNS, UK, Global Research, 2007).
Academics For almost 30 years, Les Roches has been offering a learning environment which combines sound academic experience with innovative use of craftbased learning (practice) that shapes and opens students’ mind and attitude as well as prepares them to face complex new professional situations with rigour and innovation. Our numerous undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate programmes include : > Swiss Hotel Association Hotel Management “Diplôme” (3 years) > BBA in International Hotel Manage-
ment with Entrepreneurship or with Finance or Marketing (4 years) > Bachelor of Science in Food Services Management (4 years) > Postgraduate studies in Hospitality (1 up to 2 years) > MBA in Hospitality with Finance or with Marketing through the “Universidad Europea de Madrid” in Spain (1 year) Intakes are twice a year in January or February depending on the programme or in July and August.
Internship/Career Opportunities Internships are part of the curriculum and students will develop their professional skills through interesting and challenging work experience in Switzerland or abroad. We also have international hotel chains coming each semester to recruit our graduates, thus offering them great opportunities of employment.
International Transfer Programme One of the greatest advantages of choosing Les Roches is the possibility to transfer to/from affiliated institutions. > We have a sister school in Marbella, Spain, that offers a similar curriculum to Les Roches Switzerland with the possibility to follow a bilingual course in English and Spanish for the first two years. > At Les Roches Jin-Jiang in Shanghai, China, students follow in English a two year programme that prepares them to join the diploma or degree programme in Switzerland. > We also have a partnership with Kendall College in Chicago, USA, where students can undertake the Les Roches Hospitality programme or culinary studies in state-of-the art and brand new facilities.
Student Life Located in the charming village of Bluche, and a few minutes drive from the famous resort of Crans-Montana, our international students (over 80 nationalities) live in comfortable residences spread throughout Bluche and a few minutes walk from the main campus. Facilities include a fitness centre, tennis and basketball courts, soccer field, outdoor swimming pool and many other winter and summer activities whether indoor or outdoor.
Enrolment Management Department Rue du Lac 118 1815 Clarens — Switzerland T +41(0)21 989 26 44 F +41(0)21 989 26 45 www.lesroches.edu info@les-roches.ch