Global Competence in Swiss Higher Education

04.06.2025 Educators, researchers, and institutional leaders from across Switzerland gathered in Lugano on 15 – 16 May 2025 for the Sustainable Global Competence in Swiss Higher Education Symposium, hosted by the Swiss Global Competence Lab (SGCL). The event brought into critical focus the urgency of preparing students and their teachers for the ethical, geopolitical, and intercultural challenges of today’s interconnected world.

«Universities are engines of change,» said Daniela Willi-Piezzi (Director of Undergraduate and Graduate studies SUPSI), who opened the symposium with a call to embed global competence as a foundational element of Swiss higher education.

Patrick Studer (Project Lead ZHAW) presented the Movetia-funded project, Developing a Sustainable Global Competence Certificate (GCC) in Switzerland, introducing the proposed GCC framework, its core components, and institutional implementation challenges.

Rethinking Internationalisation

Traditional views of internationalization were challenged. In her keynote, Jennifer Valcke (Educational Developer at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden), reframed internationalisation as a strategic responsibility of higher education for all learners, not as a privilege for the mobile few. She urged institutions to ask who the 21stcentury learner is and what they bring to the table.

Robert O’Dowd (Professor for English as a Foreign Language and Applied Linguistics at the University of León, Spain) explored how Virtual Exchange (VE) contributes to global learning, raising the critical question of whether students are being taught how to learn from online intercultural interactions.

two people looking at a mobile phone screen

The Swiss Advantage

Switzerland’s plurilingual and pluricultural context was highlighted as a unique and strategic advantage. Rather than importing models, institutions were encouraged to make use of local strengths – especially through language learning, regional partnerships, and culturally embedded pedagogy.

Constraints were also acknowledged: from political expectations and regional identity narratives to affordability barriers limiting student mobility. These realities underline the need for scalable, context-sensitive frameworks like the proposed GCC.

What’s Next?

Participants expressed strong interest in actionable tools and follow-up opportunities:

The SGCL will explore the development of a Blended Intensive Programme (BiP).
The GCC framework will be shared widely for institutional consultation and feedback.

To get involved or host a future SGCL workshop on implementing a GCC at your institution, please contact the Swiss Global Competence Lab.