International relations at the time of Covid-19
Switzerland has so far got off lightly in relation to Covid-19, if you compare it with other countries. Nevertheless, there have been cuts in all our lives. Nevertheless, international relations with partner universities continue to be cultivated and even expanded.
International relations: The exchange of students is an important part of the relations with the 80 partner universities of the Lucerne School of Business. Students (outgoing and incoming) gain valuable international experience and further develop their intercultural skills by spending a semester abroad or with us in Lucerne. There have been some changes in this area due to the Coronavirus and Covid-19. In the spring semester 2020, some exchange students had to end their stay on site, but all were able to finish their semester online.There were also changes for the fall semester 2020: Some partner schools are offering the semester online only or in a hybrid format, while others are venturing into face-to-face classes. Flexibility is still required from students as far as their exchange semester is concerned.Currently, all other relationships with our international partners are also mainly limited to digital exchange. But here, too, ways have been found to further strengthen partner cultivation or - as in the following two examples - even to find new partners.The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) is already a partner of the Department of Computer Science. Now the Department of Economics has also signed a student exchange agreement with the university. The NUST offers various programmes, which are of particular interest to our Bachelor students. The university is located in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, and has around 12,000 enrolled students. Other options for collaboration, such as faculty exchanges and aF&E projects, will be explored if there is interest and as needed.
This also applies to Amity University, the Department of Economics' first university partner in India. The main campus is located in Noida, outside New Delhi. However, Amity University has various campuses throughout India (Mumbai, Jaipur, Kolkata, etc.) and even outside India (London, Singapore, Dubai, New York, etc.) and currently has 175,000 enrolled students. For the time being, the International Office has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Amity University. Further cooperation is now being explored in various directions. At the moment, mutual and joint short term programs are being discussed, as well as student and faculty exchange opportunities. A meeting has already taken place Webinar on the topic "Re-thinking how Covid-19 is impacting teaching and learning at Swiss institutions of higher education: Challenges, Solutions and New Perspectives". Douglas MacKevett presented the current challenges of Swiss higher education institutions in relation to Covid-19 to around 85 students and staff of Amity University.
You can find more information about our partner network here
