Movetia Delegation in USA

Movetia is interested in widening its network and finding out more about other education systems and their funding instruments for mobility and cooperation. In return, it wants to present the Swiss model of apprenticeships and of the tertiary higher education system and, together with its opposite numbers, work out possibilities for future collaboration on certain points.

In Washington, the Movetia delegation was  received by Simon Marti, Head of the OSTHE Department (The Office of Science, Technology and Higher Education) at the Swiss embassy and accompanied to different departments of the US Federal authority. In collaboration with Simon Marti, the Swiss embassy has, in the past few years, built up valuable contacts with numerous players in the sphere of educational policy. In this way, contacts have been established with representatives of the US Department of State, Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of Education and Department of Labor. In addition, Movetia also met public and private industry organisations such as the American Association for Community Colleges, the Society for Human Resource Management SHRM and ABB.

In June 2019, ABB are starting their first programme for learners, which is inspired by the Swiss model. This also includes the exchange of trainees and apprentices, who, for ten weeks, will be able to accumulate valuable experiences at both professional and personal level in the other country.

In Boston, Movetia visited swissnex Boston as part of the SERI initiative Swiss Global Network and the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT.

NAFSA is the most comprehensive conference and expo for international education, with participants from more than 100 countries. That’s why, for Movetia, it was very important to make an active contribution to the conference programme. With a session on the subject of Strategizing Internationalization: latest trends from Europe, Amanda Crameri was able to give the audience an understanding of the situation in Switzerland. The contribution was prepared in collaboration with the Academic Cooperation Association ACA, the Norwegian Agency for International Cooperation and Quality Enhancement in Higher Education DIKU and the Czech Centre for International Cooperation in Education. Swissuniversities represented all of Switzerland’s educational institutions with the study in switzerland+ stand at the NAFSA Expo.

Together with swissuniversities, swissnex Boston and the Swiss embassy, Movetia also issued invitations to the Swiss Reception. In the historical building of the Carnegie Institute, more than 200 guests were welcomed to the networking event with warm words from the Swiss Ambassador Martin Dahinden.

During this week, Movetia was able to gain many insights and have interesting conversations with stakeholders from the world of education. They are enabling Movetia to widen its network, create synergies with new partners and promote the Swiss education system abroad.