Virtual Education Wiki - User contributions [en]

Tallinn University

2009-10-14T08:51:52Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Tallinn Virtual University */

{{OpenUniversities}}
''Tallinn University'' is the third largest university in Estonia, consisting of 18 institutes and 4 colleges. It has more than 8,500 students as well as more than 400 faculty members and research fellows. It is the fastest growing university in Estonia.

Tallinn University, like any other public university in Estonia, uses the 3+2 system (i.e. three years of bachelor studies + two years of master studies). There are 49 specialist areas at the bachelor level, 70 at the master level and 12 at the doctoral level. The university and its curricula have been accredited by the Estonian Higher Education Quality Assessment Council.

The university’s programs are unique in Estonia for the high degree of academic freedom they allow. One quarter to one third of the subjects at every level are freely available and a significant number of specialist subjects are also included as electives. Thus, students are able to design their own study plan quite independently.

Tallinn University is one of the main providers of web-based courses in Estonia. It has a great role in developing LMSs, CMSs and ICT-supported learning methodology. Tallinn University has also developed teachers’ support system in the field of web-based learning and several digital learning materials for general schools.

==Tallinn Virtual University==

[http://tlu.toru.ee/?LangID=2 Tallinn Virtual University] is a new initiative at the Tallinn University. It was opened in December 2008 and its aim is to make recordings of different open lectures, interviews with lecturers and university visitors, materials of seminars, summer schools, conferences among other things available to everyone. The materials can be watched online or downloaded to one's computer. The Web environment of Tallinn Virtual University is based on [http://toru.ee/ Toru] technology and it is administered by Nagi OÜ. All videos are located in the Toru video site and can also be found through Toru search.

The Tallinn University web site is at http://www.tlu.ee/?LangID=2

----
> [[Programmes]]

> [[Estonia]]

[[Category:Estonia]]
[[Category:Universities]]

Zambian Open University

2009-10-01T12:10:52Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}



The ''Zambian Open University'' (ZAOU) is a distance education university in [[Zambia]], located in the suburb of Villa Elizabetha close to downtown Lusaka.

It is also planned that three study centres will be established in Lusaka, Kitwe and Livingstone.



It is a private university that:
* Responds to the need for upgrading teachers qualifications, teachers supply, provide training,research and contribute to community service; providing quality and relevant teacher education that would respond to the professional needs of the country while embracing the requirements of the profession in the universities around the world
* Responds to other areas of training in which there would be demand.

In addition to the Bachelor of Education for Primary, Secondary and Adult Education, it now offers the following programmes:

* Bachelor of Law
* Bachelor of Art - Developmental Studies

There are now two Academic Schools: School of Education, and School of Law and Social Sciences.

In July 2009, ZAOU appointed Professor Francis Yamba as the university’s chancellor - http://www.lusakatimes.com/?p=15613

The Zambian Open University web site is at http://www.zambianopenuniversity.ac.zm


== More details ==



Admissions

The university, like some other open universities, is not completely open in its admissions policies - see http://www.zambianopenuniversity.ac.zm/Entry_Requirements.html for the entry requirements in terms of O levels etc.

=== History ===

(sourced from http://www.zambianopenuniversity.ac.zm/Historical_Background.html)

In February 2002, six founders sought to establish a private university which would contribute to the alleviation of some of the problems faced by the existing Zambian universities in providing higher education. They realized that the demand for higher education by primary and secondary school teachers with certificate and diploma qualifications was high and could not be met through traditional methods of teacher education. In 2002, there were 32,000 primary school teachers with certificates and over 7,000 secondary school teachers with diplomas in education who needed university education.

In February 2000 the Zambian Open University was registered with the Registrar of Companies as a Company with Limited Liability. The founders invited 40 Zambians to participate in the running of the institution through purchase of shares.

The Ministry of Education asked ZAOU to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the [[University of Zambia]] (UNZA) before it could be recognized and registered (under University Act No. 26 of 1994). The MOU emphasized on the need for complementarily rather than competition between the two institutions was signed on 2nd November, 2004. The MOU allowed ZAOU to engage services of UNZA staff and draw on existing curricula of UNZA while reciprocating this with transfer of some fees accruing to staff to UNZA.

In December 2004 the Minister of Education officially registered ZAOU thus heralding birth of the first Open University in Zambia. ZAOU admitted 450 of the 700 applicants and enrolled its first 208 students in the month of February 2005.

=== Instructional Methods ===
(sourced from http://www.zambianopenuniversity.ac.zm/Institutional_Framework.html)

ZAOU is a distance education institution that utilizes mainly print and electronic media and supplements tuition through informal tutorial groups, face to face residential tutorial and weekend lectures. Materials are written in conversational style and are of two types: self-contained modules and study guides. Self-contained modules are longer and carry more information in depth. They can be read without any other materials. The study guides are read along side prescribed and recommended books.

Upon payment of fees for a semester students receive modules and are assigned to informal tutorial groups comprising ten students per group in accordance with the programmes. Students meet twice per week in tutorial groups to discuss contents of modules by answering guide like questions in the modules. They also resources such as books.

Occasionally, weekend lectures are held in different locations and students pay a small fee to attend. Tutors are also sent to groups on request.

== Reports ==

* COL Zambia Report 2006-2009 - http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/CAPS2_06-09/Zambia_06_09.pdf

----
> [[Zambia]]

> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:Zambia]]
[[Category:Universities]]

Open University

2009-10-01T12:08:09Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
The ''Open University'' (UKOU) is the [[United Kingdom]]'s only university dedicated to distance learning.

With most courses there are no previous qualifications required to study - students have to be aged 16 when their course starts but there is no upper age limit.

UKOU has around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students. 10,000 of its students have disabilities.
The Open University's style of teaching is called ''supported open learning''.

Nearly all students are studying part-time. About 70% of undergraduate students are in full-time employment. More than 50,000 students are sponsored by their employers for their studies.

11,000 people are currently studying for UKOU Higher Degrees.

Most UKOU courses are available throughout Europe. Some of them are available in many other parts of the world. More than 25,000 UKOU students live outside the UK.

The University itself is ranked among the top UK universities for the quality of its teaching

A third of UK undergraduate students have entry qualifications lower than those normally demanded by other UK universities.

The UKOU web site is http://www.open.ac.uk.

== History ==
There is a very useful history page at http://www.open.ac.uk/about/ou/p3.shtml

==Reports==
This institution/programme was discussed as a case study in the [[Megatrends]] project in its second report, [http://www.nettskolen.com/in_english/megatrends/Book2.pdf Megaproviders of e-learning in Europe (PDF - 212 pages - EN)], 2007 (ISBN 978 82 562 88184).

----
> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Universities]]
[[Category:Open universities]]
[[Category:GELIs]]
[[Category:Megatrends]]

Open University for Adults

2009-10-01T09:44:24Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
The ''Open University for Adults'' ('''Universidad Abierta Para Adultos''', UAPA) supports distance learning, primarily via internet and/or CD. It initially offered students a residential component, but in 2001 it transitioned to offering distance-mode education only.

The Open University for Adults was founded in 1991. Today it has more than 7500 students across all of the [[Dominican Republic]].

Its goal is to address the education needs of citizens across the country and the globe. Courses are delivered with semesters and strict deadlines (i.e. are not self paced).

The UAPA main office is in the Municipality of Santiago, [[Dominican Republic]].

The Open University for Adults web site is at http://www.uapa.edu.do/uapasitev3/










----
> [[Dominican Republic]]
 
> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:Dominican Republic]]

Pt. Sunderlal Sharma Open University

2009-10-01T09:43:10Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
{{stub}}
The ''Pt. Sunderlal Sharma Open University'' ('''Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Open University, Chhattisgarh''', PSSOU) was founded in 2005. Based in Bilaspur, Chattisgarh, [[India]], PSSOU offers undergraduate and master's degrees, and various diplomas. Courses are primarily print based, and are augmented by audio and video cassettes, radio, and face-to-face counseling at Study Centers. Its [http://www.pssou.ac.in/index.htm web site] reports that development of web-based materials is underway.

The Pt. Sunderlal Sharma Open University web site is at http://www.pssou.ac.in/index.htm

== More details ==

----
> [[India]]
 
> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:India]]
[[Category:Universities]]

Lübeck University of Applied Sciences

2009-10-01T09:41:58Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
Lübeck University of Applied Sciences ('''Fachhochschule Lübeck''', FH Lübeck) supports e-learning.

The online study paths of the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences were invented within a first federal lead project called “Virtuelle Fachhochschule (VFH)” (=Virtual University of Applied Sciences). Between 1998 and late 2003 mainly seven universities from different Bundesländer were engaged in inventing online pathways. Lead-managed by the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences this university network developed a bachelor's and master's degree programme Media Informatics and a bachelor's programme Industrial Engineering. In the meantime in Lüneburg it is also offered a Continuing Education Master Programme and Consecutive Master Programme concerning Industrial Engineering, in cooperation with universities in Sweden, Norway, Finland, as a joint study programme of the Kiel University of Applied Sciences and Lübeck University of Applied Sciences.

The FH Lübeckweb site is at http://www.fh-luebeck.de.

==Reports==
This institution/programme was discussed as a case study in the [[Megatrends]] project in its second report, [http://www.nettskolen.com/in_english/megatrends/Book2.pdf Megaproviders of e-learning in Europe (PDF - 212 pages - EN)], 2007 (ISBN 978 82 562 88184).

[[Category:Germany]]
[[Category:Universities]]
[[Category:Consortia]]
[[Category:Megatrends]]
[[Category: NOT IN TEMPLATE]]

Humboldt

2009-10-01T09:41:26Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
''Humboldt'' offers distance learning.


Humboldt’s main office is in Wien, [[Austria]].


Humboldt is the leading Open Education Institute in Austria and supervises together with the "Humboldt Matura Schule" about 9,000 students per year. The Humboldt Institutes are part of the largest European open learning school association. The majority stake is owned by the German Klett-Gruppe as well as the non-profit Foundation of the Vienna Mercantile Community/Vienna Economic Chamber.

Other Humboldt Institutes are [http://www.humboldt.at/hfl/frameset.php Humboldt Fernlehr Institut (HFL)], [http://www.humboldt.at/hms/frameset.html Matura Schule (HMS)] and [http://www.humboldt.at/hba/frameset.html Humboldt Business Akademie (HBA)]. Furthermore, Humboldt Bildungsgesellschaft mbH has a daughter institute called Humboldt Inštitút Dial'kového Štúdia (HIDS) in [[Slovakia]]. Its web site is at http://www.humboldt.sk

The Humboldt web site is at http://www.humboldt.at



----
> [[Austria]]

> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:Austria]]
[[Category:Universities]]

Hamburger Fern-Hochschule

2009-10-01T09:41:08Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
{{stub}}
The ''Hamburger Fern-Hochschule'' (HFH) offers distance learning.


The HFH is a University of Applied Sciences, that has main office is in Hamburg, [[Germany]] and provides its students with a dense network of study centers in Germany and [[Austria]].

A separate section on its web site is dedicated to Austria: http://www.hamburger-fh.de/oesterreich/


With more than seven thousand two hundred students, the [http://www.hamburger-fh.de Hamburger Fern-Hochschule] is one of the biggest private institutions of Higher Education in Germany. It also offers study programmes in the business-, technology- and health sectors for Austrian students. As in the [[Germany#Best_practice:_examples_of_virtual_higher_education_in_Germany| German Best Practices of Virtual HE]] the programmes are especially developed for people who are also in full time or part-time employment. In 3 regional study centres in Austria (Linz, Klagenfurt & Hollabrunn) students can apply for support near to their home. Students can start their studies either on 1st January or on 1st July.

The Hamburger Fern-Hochschule web site is at http://www.hamburger-fh.de



----
> [[Germany]]

> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:Germany]]
[[Category:Universities]]

Fernfachhochschule Schweiz

2009-10-01T09:40:41Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
The FFHS is located in [[Switzerland]].

Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registered newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two Saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

----
> [[Switzerland]]

> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:Switzerland]]
[[Category:Universities]]

Ferdinand Porsche FernFH

2009-10-01T09:40:09Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
{{stub}}
''Ferdinand Porsche FernFH'' ('''FernFH''', FFH) offers distance learning.


FernFH’s main office is in Wien, [[Austria]].



This is an Austrian Open Learning University of Applied Sciences that is also called Ferdinand Porsche Fern-Fachhochschulgesellschaft Wien or FFH Gesellschaft zur Erhaltung und Durchführung von Fach-hochschul-Studiengängen M.B.H.

A [http://www.fernfh.at/fernfh/download/studienhandbuch/mainColumnParagraphs/03/content_files/file0/Studienhandbuch_08_web.pdf study handbook] can be downloaded and its e-learning is located at the [http://ffh.online-campus.at/ Online Campus].

The FernFHweb site is at http://www.fernfh.at



----
> [[Austria]]

> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:Austria]]
[[Category:Universities]]

Europäische Fernhochschule Hamburg

2009-10-01T09:39:40Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
The state-accredited Europäische Fernhochschule Hamburg (European Distance-University Hamburg, Euro-FH) in [[Germany]] is part of the Klett-Gruppe, one of the large suppliers of educational services in Europe. It offers courses in "European business administration" and a "Master of Business Administration" and confers the academic degrees of Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Diplom-Kaufmann/-Kauffrau (FH) (university business graduate) and Master of Business Administration (MBA). The curriculum is internationally orientated.

In accordance to the Hamburg law regarding university education, students can be admitted to study European business administration even if they don't have a high school diploma or haven't completed their A-levels. Students can start their studies at Euro-FH anytime. In 2008/9 around 3,200 students were registered.

Web site: http://www.euro-fh.de/

----
> [[Germany]]

> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:Germany]]
[[Category: NOT IN TEMPLATE]]
[[Category: Private providers]]

Estonian Business School Open University

2009-10-01T09:38:55Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{OpenUniversities}}
{{stub}}
The ''Estonian Business School'' (EBS) Open University was founded in 1999. It offers courses as part of certificate, bachelor's and master's level courses. Classes are offered during the day, at night, and in distance mode.

EBS itself is a private business school of university standing, offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate-level programmes in business administration, public administration and IT management. Students may study in Estonian, English or Russian.

The EBS web site is at http://www.ebs.ee/index.php?lang=en

The EBS Open University web site is at http://www.ebs.ee/open-university

----
> [[Estonia]]
 
> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:Estonia]]
[[Category:Universities]]

Distance and International Study Center

2009-10-01T09:37:18Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* More details */

{{OpenUniversities}}
{{stub}}
The ''Distance and International Study Center'' (DISC), or ''Center for Distance Studies and Continuing Education'' (Zentrum für Fernstudien und Universitäre Weiterbildung, ZFUW), is based at TU Kaiserslautern, [[Germany]]. DISC is the leading supplier of distance learning postgraduate courses in the country.

Courses on offer range from e-commerce and -business to nano-biotechnology. For undergraduates the center offers electrical and technical engineering. Individuals may start their on-campus studies after a first year of distance learning, for example alongside the last year of school or while working. All together, the TU Kaiserslautern counts 2810 students in distance education.

The DISC web site is at http://www.zfuw.de/

== More details ==
DISC offers master's degrees via integrated digital media, print-based materials and face-to-face residencies.

----
> [[Germany]]
 
> [[Programmes]]

[[Category:Germany]]

Tallinn University of Technology

2009-09-30T08:37:48Z

Theo.bastiaens:

{{SimilarName|[[Tshwane University of Technology]] (TUT) in [[South Africa]]}}
{{OpenUniversities}}


The ''Tallinn University of Technology'' ('''Tallinna Tehnikaülikool''', TUT) supports e-learning through its e-courses.



Founded in 1918 as an engineering college (university status was granted in 1936), [http://www.ttu.ee/?lang=en Tallinn University of Technology (TUT)] has now become one of the largest universities in Estonia.

The Tallinn University of Technology main office is in Tallinn, [[Estonia]]. The University is structured into eight faculties, three colleges and six research and development institutions. The faculties are: Civil Engineering, Power Engineering, Humanities, Information Technology, Chemical and Materials Technology, Economics and Business Administration, Science and Mechanical Engineering. The application oriented bachelor-level programs in different technical and economic fields of study are offered in the three colleges - Business College, Kuressaare College and Virumaa College.


TUT has over 13,000 students and personnel of 1,970 (incl. affiliated institutions). Instruction is conducted in Estonian, however, during the first two years, Russian-based general studies are also possible. Selected courses are delivered in English. Tallinn University of Technology is also one of the main providers of ICT education in Estonia. The share of e-courses within total courses is aimed at 15 % in 2010 (4 % in 2005).

The Tallinn University of Technology web site is at http://www.ttu.ee/?lang=en.








----
> [[Estonia]]

[[Category:Estonia]]
[[Category:Universities]]
[[Category:Open universities]]

FernUniversität in Hagen

2009-06-22T08:56:51Z

Theo.bastiaens:

The ''FernUniversität in Hagen'' ('''University of Hagen''', FernUni Hagen): with its tradition of supported distance learning, this university has been offering an alternative to on-campus studies within the German university landscape for 30 years and is currently serving around 45.000 students.

The institution’s main office is in Hagen, [[Germany]]. Other study centres are located in Germany and abroad.

FernUni Hagen is the only state-maintained open university in German-speaking countries and regions, including [[Austria]]. The FernUniversität in Hagen has existed for 30 years and is an established institution in the scientific community. Since a Ministerial Agreement in 1980, particular relations exist between Austrian open educational facilities and the FernUniversität in Hagen. In 1994 this agreement was replaced by a cooperation treaty between the FernUniversität in Hagen and the [[University of Linz]]. Hence, Austrian students are also able to benefit from the open education system which combines study units with individual support, Net-based co-operation in seminars and working groups, on-line communication offers and face-to-face sessions. Contacts between students and tutors are available – especially for Austria – at “EuroStudyCentres“ with agencies in Bregenz, Steyr, Wien, Bad Goisern, Saalfelden and Villach. On-campus students can also participate in courses at the “Entwicklungssupportcenter & Infopoint” in Linz. The FernUniversität (Open University) is an alternative to on-campus studies with high-quality degrees (Bachelor, Master, ‘Diplom’, and Doctorate).

It offers supported distance learning with a maximum independence and flexibility, making it particularly suitable for would-be students whose personal circumstances prevent them from studying at conventional universities.

Years of experience in developing mature teaching materials has made the FernUniversität one of the national and international leaders in developing multimedia teaching materials and online courses.

The teaching materials, ''including study units, exercises, interactive CD-ROMs and DVDs which are delivered to the students’ homes by mail, and increasingly via the Internet. Students can download additional material or listen to and watch online-lectures. They also hand in their assignments online.'' FernUni Hagen makes extensive use of the Internet and offers a service-oriented university library from which, on request, books and articles will be sent to the student’s home by mail. Individual support is possible, either at Hagen itself and with face-to-face contact with tutors through a network of over 50 study centres in Germany, [[Austria]], [[Switzerland]] and Central and Eastern Europe.

In the winter semester 2008/ 2009 there was a total of 55.450 students (including students on sabbatical leave) at this HEI.
The FernUniversität in Hagen web site is at http://www.fernuni-hagen.de and its virtual campus is located at https://vu.fernuni-hagen.de/ (secured) FernUni Hagen participation in Re.ViCa is represented by the [http://ifbm.fernuni-hagen.de/lehrgebiete/mediendidaktik Departement of Instructional Technology & Media]

'''Membership of international organisations'''

It is a member of [[EADTU]].

'''Re.ViCa role''': FernUniversität in Hagen is Partner 4 of the project, based in DE ([[Germany]]. Its short name is '''FernUni Hagen'''.

----
> [[Germany]]

> [[Programmes]]

> [[Partners]]

[[Category:Germany]]
[[Category:Universities]]
[[Category:Open universities]]
[[Category:Evolution of existing institutions]][[Category:Germany]]
[[Category:Universities]]
[[Category:Open universities]]
[[Category:Evolution of existing institutions]]

Virtual campus

2009-06-04T12:19:30Z

Theo.bastiaens: Changed protection level for "Virtual campus" [edit=revica:move=revica]

== Overview ==

The phrase "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

== Virtual campus definition of the European Commission==

Cooperation between higher education institutions in the field of e-learning, regarding: design of joint curricula development by several universities, including agreements for the evaluation, validation and recognition of acquired competences, subject to national procedures; large–scale experiments of virtual mobility in addition to physical mobility and development of innovative dual mode curricula, based on both traditional and on-line learning methods. This broad definition involves many issues from partnerships between traditional and/or distance universities and HEI with a view to offering joint certifications (for undergraduate and/or postgraduate levels) and cooperation with learning support services. This might also include collaborative activities in strategic areas of education or research through cooperation involving researchers, academics, students, management, administrative and technical personnel. 'Virtual campuses' should not be confused with e-learning platforms.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/guide/glossary_en.html

At the e-learningeuropa.info portal 'Virtual Campus' is defined as "Part of a university or faculty that offers educational facilities at any time or, in theory, any place, by Internet."

Source: http://www.elearningeuropa.info/main/index.php?page=glossary&abc=V

At a European Commission consultation workshop held in Brussels on 23rd November 2004
entitled “The ‘e’ for our universities – virtual campus” (EACEA, 2004), one of the working
groups proposed three definitions emphasising different aspects of a virtual campus. These
were the:

(i) Collaboration perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes ICT-based collaboration of different partners supporting both, learning offers and research in a distributed setting.

(ii) Enterprise (economic) perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an ICT-based
distributed learning and research enterprise.

(iii) Networked organisation perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an environment, which augments and/or integrates learning and research services offered by different partners.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/archive/elearning/doc/workshops/virtual%20campuses/report_en.pdf

== Virtual campus definition of the BENVIC Project==
The concept of a Virtual Campus refers to a specific format of distance education and on-line learning in which students, teaching staff and even university administrative and technical staff mainly 'meet' or communicate trough technical links.

Source: http://www.benvic.odl.org/indexpr.html

== Virtual campus definition of Wikipedia ==
A Virtual Campus refers to the online offerings of a college or university where college work is completed either partially or wholly online, often with the assistance of the teacher, professor, or teaching assistant.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Campus

== Virtual Campus by Van Dusen ==
The Virtual Campus is a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies

Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra

Van Dusen (1997
== Virtual campus synonyms in other countries ==
=== Belgium ===
# "Campus Virtuel" (FR) such as for the
## [http://www.elearning.ulg.ac.be/modules/freecontent/index.php?id=69 Virtual Campus of the University of Liege], [http://nettskolen.nki.no/in_english/megatrends/Liege_Article.pdf MegaTrends case study (PDF)]
## [http://www.campusvirtuel.be Campusvirtuel.be] from 3 Business Schools ([http://www.solvay.edu Solvay], [http://www.hec.ulg.ac.be/EN/index.php HEC-ULg] and [http://www.uclouvain.be/en-lsm.html LSM]), article in French: [http://www.uclouvain.be/259258.html "Solvay, HEC-ULg et la LSM créent ensemble un campus virtuel"]
# "Virtuele Campus" (NL) which was '''formerly''' used to describe:
## [http://www.secondlifecrew.be/795/hogeschool-heeft-zijn-eigen-virtuele-campus.html a terminated school project as a Second Life campus] for [http://www.kahosl.be/site/index.php?p=/nl/page/system:index/kaho/ Catholic University College Ghent (formerly KaHo Sint-Lieven)]
## [http://www.virtuelecampus.be a virtual tour and information guide of the University of Antwerp], which is now redirected to a new URL with the appropriate title "

=== France ===
# "Université Virtuelle"
# "Campus Virtuel"
# "Campus numérique"
# "Université Numérique (de Région)"

Visit our wiki page '''[[VC definition - france|VC definition - France]]'''

===United Kingdom===

The Re.ViCa wiki page on the UK, written mainly in the summer of 2008, summarises the use of “virtual campus” in UK tertiary education as follows:
As a matter of historical interest, the actual phrase virtual campus is (still) used in the way it is defined in this chapter at the following UK universities and colleges:
*Universities. University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University and Robert Gordon University. (Sheffield Hallam University used the phrase for several years but is said to feel that nowadays the phrase is insufficiently distinctive.)
*Colleges. City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (Londonderry), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium.
*NHS. The NHS University (NHSU) and several medical schools including at Kings College London use or used the phrase.
*Ulster University’s Campus One describes itself as a virtual campus.
*One supplier’s product is called the “Teknical Virtual Campus”

A search – Search 1 – was done in Google on 14 May 2009 for
"virtual campus" site:uk .There are 11600 hits (!) of which the first 50 have been analysed. It excludes material which is actually about virtual campuses outside the UK but which might have been described by articles published on “.uk” web sites. A second search – Search 2 – tried to establish current usage within HE/FE (post-secondary) with a tighter search: 2008 OR 2009 "virtual campus" -"virtual campus tour" site:ac.uk There are still 724 English pages. The first 150 have been reviewed.
Conclusions: At the top level, although few of the original university adopters of the phrase use “virtual campus” as much or as visibly as before, it is still used for a number of departmental, consortium and private provider initiatives – and also by an increasing number of colleges. However, there are a number of uses that are out of scope – including for “virtual tours” of a physical campus and for various experiments with Second Life. Finally, it continues to be used beyond the boundaries of post-secondary education, for example in prisons and by commercial training providers in a way that would be valid if the providers were in scope for us. In more detail:
# The following UK universities use the phrase “Virtual Campus” (or in some cases the short form “Virtual” – e.g. Brookes Virtual) within the usual range of Re.ViCa senses at an institutional level. It can appear in a variety of ways: in their strapline for their e-learning initiative, as a component of a URL, a link from their home page, or a regularly used phrase in their top-level narratives: University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University (Brookes Virtual) and Robert Gordon University. Not all these universities have it as part of their strapline for their e-learning initiative.
# A number of other universities do not use in such a visible sense but the phrase appears – or has appeared – in places in their literature. These include Sheffield Hallam University, Huddersfield University.
# A further number of other universities use the phrase at a departmental level: Kings College London (more than one department), Liverpool John Moores University (computing).
# A few more use synonyms – online campus, global campus, etc – in this way, such as Middlesex University (Computing – Global Campus).
# Many colleges use the phrase “virtual campus” at an institutional level. These include the ones already cited above: City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (now part of North West Regional College), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium (of four colleges around Bristol) – and some new arrivals such as Forth Valley College, Midlands Bible College and Wirral Metropolitan College. A number of these (new and old) used the phrase first because they bought the VLE called “Virtual Campus” from the firm Teknical, now taken over by Serco.
# Consortia users of the phrase include GIS Consortium, UNIGIS and Leeds Teacher Training (SCITT).
# Private (for profit) providers include Kaplan, in their guise as Kaplan Open Learning, an affiliate college of the University of Essex.
# Wider uses include Prisoners Education Trust and CiREM.
# Many universities use it – “out of scope” for us – to describe virtual tours of the physical campus. These include University of Aberdeen, University of Brighton, Lancaster University, University of Nottingham, University of Stirling, University of Warwick, University of Worcester and York St John University
# There are several university experiments with Second Life to model a physical campus which may in time extent into our kind of virtual campus functions. These include University of East London and University of Sussex.

===Spain===

A spanish definition of a virtual campus focuses on the virtual campus as a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies (Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra, Van Dusen (1997 ).

===Finland===

Finnish Virtual University, one the major projects of Finnish information society activities late 1990’s and the 2000’s in higher education field, defines its own portal as a virtual campus (Finnish: virtuaalikampus) for students, teachers, researchers and administrative staff working in online education The portal links together the virtual activities of the Finnish universities and provides services that can be used by all the participants.
SOCRATES Thematic Network Enhancing Engineering Education in Europe – E4 Survey of Virtual Campus and Virtual University Activities in Europe (2002) takes holistic approach and defines virtual campus as a broad conceptual framework for tools, services and facilities for students, faculty and staff. The word “campus” is used to denote the environment for the people who study, carry out research or work at the university. These elements include e learning, research activities, administrative services or other functions, i.e. complementing and supporting life on the physical university campus.
The approach taken by Finnish higher education society nowadays is a logic continuum of E4 definition, following the ideas of the National Information Society Policy for 2007 -2011 (The Ubiquitous Information Society Advisory Board): the key processes and interaction are largely based on the utilisation of electronic communications and information technology. ICT applications contribute to service provision and availability and create new operating models and new skills. The key elements are communications infrastructure, user-oriented services, development of digital contents and promotion of innovation activities and telework and development of science infrastructure. The use of ICT in teaching and studying is promoted. It is not seen as a separate target area as such but merely integrated into all processes of education and development of new electronic learning environment. This approach is often described as “ICT supported university” (Finnish: TVT-tuettu yliopisto) or “digitalization of the university” in university context (Sources: Ubiquitous Information Society, Action Programme 2008–2011 Government Resolution on the Objectives of the National Information Society Policy for 2007-2011 ).

===Netherlands===

In the Netherlands the term ‘virtual campus’ is synonym to ‘digital campus’ which is often referred to as ‘a digital working and learning environment’. This working and learning environment is seen from a educational perspective (not from a business point of view) and includes digital components (but is not solely an electronically environment). This definition comes close to what we nowadays call blended learning. A virtual campus encloses human – and technological- activities for educational purposes (based on: Van Elk, L. ELO-definiëring (2004). Digital University).
When a closer look is taken at the definition of a virtual campus from a business perspective then it matches almost everything that is related to e-learning in general. So a virtual campus is an environment in which individuals can attend practical training sessions, anyplace, anytime, anywhere. With just-in-time support, various learning materials (audio, video, written) and learning at own pace (based on website http://www.info2people.nl/page/VirtualCampus.htm ).
It is remarkable that the word ‘virtual campus’ is not used very much in the field of higher education. Although all universities have a virtual environment to offer, they most of the time use the expression ‘electronic learning environment’ or ‘portal’for virtual support services. It looks like the word ‘virtual campus’ is outdated.

===Italy===

Telematic University
In Italy further to the approval of the law n° 341/1990 on the restructuring of the university didactic rule (university autonomy), public-private consortia were established for distance teaching universities. Further to this law, in April 2005 the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree about “the criteria and procedures for accrediting distance education courses of the state and non state universities and of higher education institutions enables to issue academic titles, was enacted”.
This act, commonly called the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree, since it was enacted by the then Minister of Education, University and Research, Ms Letizia Moratti, with the then Minister for Innovation and Technologies, Mr. Lucio Stanca, concretely implements the institution of the Telematic universities, authorised to issue academic titles.
In Italy distance education courses are established and implemented by state and non state universities and make use of computer-based and Telematic technologies in accordance with the technical requirements indicated by the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree. These universities have to be organised “according to the most advanced computer-based and Telematic technologies and are aimed at issuing academic titles envisage by laws currently in force”. The academic titles “can be issued by university institutions promoted by public and private bodies and acknowledge according to the criteria and procedures envisaged by the Decree”. There are specific rules as it regards the acknowledgement of study courses. More specifically, it is envisaged a Charter of Services that envisages a didactic methodology and the conclusion of a specific contract with the student. The distance education courses are characterised, as stated in the Decree: “by the use of web-based connections for the use of training materials and the development of educational activities based on the interactivity with teachers-tutors and with the other students, by the use of PC , by the continuous monitoring of the learning progress according to the selective and rigorous criteria envisaged to assure the quality of the courses and the reliability of the educational offer'' […] "The didactic organisation of the distance education courses valorises potentials of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the highest degree and more specifically as it regards multimediality and interactivity in order to favour customised study paths and to optimise learning”.
The Italian situation can be better understood if one takes into due account the recent history of distance higher education initiatives and the experience of renewal we had beginning Nineties with the Law n° 341/1990. The “Reform of the University Didactic Rules” that was started up caused the appearance of new higher education multimedia systems whose achievements only Consorzio NETTUNO, in which 12,000 students were enrolled, seemed to be able to build on.
With the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree of April 2003 it was established that the Minister of the University could acknowledge the establishment of new Telematic universities by decree. Starting from 2004 it acknowledged 11 universities as a whole. The path undertaken by the Italian legislator was full of initiatives, even if not all of them were up to the undertaking. Actually, not all the Telematic universities acknowledged by ministerial decree were able of carrying on proposals for distance education complying with the standards set a national level.

== Multicampus University (K.U.Leuven)==

The 'traditional university' Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ([[K.U.Leuven]]) in [[Belgium]] progressively organizes its educational support from a multicampus perspective.
In recent decades, the [[K.U.Leuven]] in Belgium has become a multicampus university. As a result of the historic expansion of the university its three groups of faculties have become separate entities, geographically spread over Leuven: Human Sciences are housed in the centre of the city, Exact Sciences in the east and Medical Sciences in the north. Since 1965, the university also has an additional campus in Kortrijk, in the west of Belgium. And in 2002, thirteen institutions of higher education in Flanders have joined forces with the K.U.Leuven in the [http://associatie.kuleuven.be/eng/ K.U.Leuven Association] in order to occupy a position of strength within the new European educational landscape and to work together towards quality improvements in education. This Association has 23 different campuses. In addition the K.U.Leuven profiles itself as an international university. The institution has agreements with various universities worldwide to enable and support a growing number student and staff exchanges between campuses. Lastly, with the introduction of ICT the university is also facing an extended form of multicampus education. Online networks of student groups and/or teaching staff – sometimes linked to but often independent from the institution – are emerging, in learning communities or communities of practice. Each participant in these networks can be considered a small virtual ‘campus’, learning from home, work or through a mobile device.

==== Enhancing or replacing physical mobility with virtual mobility====
The current structure of the university thus challenges the K.U.Leuven to organize and support its education with attention for communication and collaboration between the various campuses. Today this is most often realized through physical mobility: staff and/or student move between different locations. This is the case for interdisciplinary courses between Leuven’s three groups of faculties and for staff mobility between Kortrijk and Leuven. It is also the most common form for international exchanges. Yet the university is progressively supporting initiatives that replace or enhance physical with virtual mobility, seeking to integrate aspects of ‘virtual campuses’ into traditional education to stimulate collaboration between the sites of the Association, to support student and/or staff exchanges in Europe or in the world, to enhance communication with developing countries or to sustain virtual learning communities.

===== Joint course materials =====
At a basic level (virtual/blended) multicampus education in Leuven is revealed in initiatives that create, offer and localize joint course materials. While teaching staff and students remain at their own campus for the entire course, specific course modules learning materials are used that have been developed, at a distance, by an inter-institutional (multicampus) teaching team. These course materials are often offered on a common website, a databank or a virtual learning environment. Recently there are also teachers who (co-)develop or use ‘Open Educational Resources’.

===== Pooled infrastructure =====
Not only course materials are collaboratively created or shared. Also (laboratory)-infrastructure is shared between locations to avoid a double set up of equipment. In some cases this pooled infrastructure is also virtual. Some (dangerous) laboratory experiments or experiments that require students and staff to be at different locations (students watch a complex surgical operation) can now happen thanks to virtual support to bridge the distance between the actual experiment and the audience. The infrastructure of the experiment itself is in a limited number of cases entirely digital by means of a simulation on a common virtual platform.

===== Joint learning activities =====
Furthermore, multicampus education can be about joint learning activities. For the ‘Student Business Game’ for instance, students from different institutions f the Association K.U.Leuven play a business game on their own campus after which the winning teams compete with each other via videoconferencing before a jury of teaching and company staff. Joint learning activities can also be about e-coaching, about writing an academic paper at a distance or student placements. All activities invite multiple sites to collaborate in the creation, delivery or support of the activity, with the help of technology. At K.U.Leuven joint learning activities are particularly interesting for interdisciplinary modules, courses or programs, such as activities involving both learners studying medicine or nursing, industrial or civil engineering, etc.

===== Joint courses =====
Building on joint learning activities, another type of multicampus are joint courses. A joint course can be (a) a course developed by one campus (institution) and offered to students at another campus (institution), (b) a course developed by one institution and used but adapted by another institution or (c) a jointly developed course offered to students of all involved institutions (Haake et al., 2006). One variation of this type are virtual seminars: co-created or co-delivered seminars set up as a single course, or in a series of courses - broadcasted over multiple sites using ICT (videoconferencing, web conferencing, streaming, etc) . The KULeuven has a strong expertise and long tradition in organizing virtual seminars. The ‘Pentalfa’ project for instance is a multidisciplinary, post-graduate distance learning initiative of the Faculty of Medicine, aimed to offer (extra) training broadcasted to various hospitals of the Flemish Hospital Network K.U.Leuven. It is currently in its 8th year and there are plans to enhance the initiative with an international component. The university is also looking into the use of virtual seminars for knowledge exchange and networking between the institutions of the Association and beyond (society in general, companies, alumni, etc.).

===== Multicampus programmes =====
Next, multicampus education is also revealed in the offer of a complete, ‘multicampus’ programme, which many institutions can be contributing in. A number of Bachelors and Masters are already set up within the Association K.U.Leuven, involving multiple teaching teams from different institutions. The challenge is to streamline these programs around a common denominator, yet with respect to any local specificities of each campus involved. Virtual initiatives – joint learning materials, joint learning activities, joint courses – all play a vital part in this. Eventually a completely virtual multicampus programme comes close to the traditional form of distance education, as offered by the Open University for instance. From the perspective of more and better flexibility in education, it could be interesting to bring distance and regular education together. Regular programs could put forward a number of distance learning courses (and vice versa), in replacement of or as an enhancement to their offer: they could support or realize the transition between certain bachelors and masters in a flexible way, (work) students could enhance their own study package with a number of distance education courses. In Flanders, the current offers of both the regular universities and the Open University are still entirely separate from each other. Yet under certain conditions the Open University does already allow its students to take courses from other universities in addition to the curriculum of the own education. K.U.Leuven is currently studying the opportunity to present this interpretation of multicampus to its students.

===== Virtual support activities for physical mobility =====
Ultimately, multicampus education is also about a range of virtual support activities with regard to real, physical mobility. A large range of actions can be mentioned here. At the early, preparatory phase of a physical student (or staff) exchange, multicampus support can be given through the set up of community websites for future exchange students where they can meet current students who help them find housing, give them information etc. Within the Association K.U.Leuven such a platform is being created and tested for new foreign students to find a ‘(virtual) buddy’ . There is also the opportunity for teaching staff to meet the interested new students online, for a language ‘pre-selection’ or just a first get-together. This has been tested as a pilot in the [[REVE]] project for the Erasmus Mundus Master in Adapted Physical Activity (Rajagopal et. al., 2006; Bijnens H. et. al., 2006). After the exchange, the aforementioned communities can continue to live on as a virtual alumni platform; or students could be examined at a distance through virtual mobility (video communication).

=== Source ===
[[Bijnens]] H., '''[[De Gruyter]] J.''', [[Op de Beeck]] I., [[Bacsich]] P., [[Reynolds]] S., [[Van Petegem]] W., Re-defining virtual campuses: from a “fully-fletched” virtual campus to a blended model. Paper accepted for the EDEN conference. Lisbon, June 11-14, 2008.

== History and detail ==

The concept of virtual university, now so ubiquitous, is in fact only around 11 years old in its current usage. By the phrase virtual university, we (and most people) mean a university which carries out much of its teaching, perhaps all of it, at a distance from the learner.

Even at an early workshop on this topic, at the EdMedia/EdTelecom conference in Boston in June 1996, organised at short notice by Robin Mason and me (both then at the UK Open University), the room was packed out. There was a workshop on virtual universities at Online Educa at Berlin in November 1996 and the topic featured largely in the Sheffield conference “Flexible Learning on the Information Super-Highway” in May 1997. Since then the topic has exploded, with conferences around the world featuring the concept, sometimes to the exclusion of anything else.

In the past, virtual teaching was carried out by posting text-books to the student, who read them and sent back assignments to be marked. Communication between the stu-dent and the academic was via correspondence – hence the phrases correspondence teaching and correspondence university. This approach in fact still happens in many institutions today, especially in less developed parts of the world.

In the early 1970s, the use of television broadcasting for teaching in Universities (ad-ditional to correspondence teaching) became popular, most notably in the UK Open University – originally called the “University of the Air”. Some TV-based universities still exist, but the tale of the use of broadcast TV in universities (including open uni-versities) has so far been one of a long broad retreat masked by a number of tempo-rary local advances.
The paradigm of mostly correspondence and print (with perhaps a little TV) lasted many years, but from the early 1990s, under the impact of information technology in general and the Internet in particular, a new paradigm emerged. This is to use the Internet for all the teaching in a virtual university – thus courses would be “delivered” to the student with a PC at home (or at work – and sometimes in a learning centre) and the student would interact via e-mail and Web pages. Increasingly, people use the term e-university for this. In the past, many other terms were prevalent, each with their own nuancing – online university, net university, etc.

In an extreme model – pure-play, as it is called in the dot-com world – this use of the Internet would totally replace the use of text-books, correspondence teaching and tele-vision. While there are some institutions adopting this extreme view (which has the advantage of simplifying the logistics), it is most common to be blended, that is, to have a mix of old and new technologies, with the new gradually growing in impor-tance.

In the Gazetteer, which gives a list of e-universities around the world (and their Web sites), we give the following pragmatic description of e-universities:

: Accredited university-level institutions delivering degree-awarding courses, with a substantial percentage delivered at a distance, with a substantial percentage of these using e-learning. If there is a face-to-face university at the core, we expect the courses delivered at a distance to come from a separately named part of the university, and to be referenced from a high level of the university Web site by such phrases as “Virtual Campus”, “Online Service” or some such.
Because of the need to fund the development of materials, and the fact that collabora-tion is easier and cheaper via the Internet, it became common to develop virtual uni-versity systems via consortia of universities. However, there is no firm evidence that this is a better approach in general than a single university doing the development, often called a virtual campus.

The phrase virtual campus became prominent in the UK around 1997, when various UK universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly, especially in the UK, a university may no longer use the phrase virtual campus while still in fact having one.

A number of other phrases have crept in over the years. A distance-teaching univer-sity is essentially a correspondence university. An open university is in strict terms a university which has an open admissions policy (i.e., anyone can become a student, although not anyone can graduate – students still have to pass the course) but increas-ingly this term is used to describe distance-teaching universities in general, and even those which are not open in this sense. It was for reasons of this sort that the European Commission theorists coined the phrase open and distance learning (ODL), basically to avoid making difficult distinctions.

And in the last few years, the phrase borderless education (rarely borderless university) has come into vogue, under influence from Australian work.

== Defining “Virtual Campus” – A boundary approach==

=== Overview ===

Although the phrase ‘virtual campus’ is an important concept in the field of education, there is no theoretical framework for it. This chapter focuses on the development of such a theoretical framework. Similar to the work Stoof, Martens, Van Merrienboer & Bastiaens (2002) did for the concept of competence, we propose the boundary approach for virtual campuses, an aid to support stakeholders in the field of e-learning in thinking about the concept ‘virtual campus’. Here the concept of the ‘virtual campus’is being explored by focusing on its dimensions. This holds the quest for one absolute definition of it is abandoned and that instead definitions are being valued against their degree of viability.
The expression "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

===The boundary approach for the concept of virtual campus===

As the previous section shows there are a lot of variables involved defining the concept of the virtual campus. Depending on the context, the target group, the different goals and the technology involved a definition of ‘virtual campus’ can be formulated. The partners in the project group of the ReVica project do not want to give one single definition of the concept of the virtual campus. Since there will never be one right answer on the question what an virtual campus is,we suggest to use a conceptual representation aid as is shown in figure 1 to discuss the concept of the virtual campus. Figure 1 show the concept of a virtual campus as an amoeba-like form. The amoeba represents the virtual campus as a limited and demarcated concept, which is expressed by drawing its boundary. The boundary is being shaped by two opposing forces, being visualized as arrows (Based on the work of Stoof, Martens, Van Merriënboer & Bastiaens, 2002, p 352). From inside the figure, forces expand the boundary. This process is labeled as the ‘inside-out approach’ of the concept of the virtual campus. These are dimensions that define and construct the concept of the virtual campus. In Re.ViCa we aim to take virtual campus as synonymous with large-scale e-learning initiative. This ‘large-scale e-learning initiative’ is the inside-out dimension.

[[Image:The_boundary_approach.JPG|thumb|left|Figure 1: the boundary approach to define the concept of the virtual campus]]

On the other hand, the forces from outside the figure reduce the boundary. This outside-in approach focuses on the selection of terms that best express the intended meaning of the virtual campus (so it clarifies the relationships). In Re.ViCa we avoid the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but this begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators, these are all outside in dimensions, which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied. An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is major if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:

* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure).
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director.
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures.
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor).
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development
As said before as a project group we do not want to take the arrogant view to present one final definition of the virtual campus, Time will catch up on us when we do that and our work will become obsolete. For the time being we present a working definition, that involves large scale initiatives (an inside out dimension) which are recognizable on the list of characteristics above. The boundary approach makes it easier to change the definition in the future and discuss new opinions.

----
> [[Glossary]]
 
> [[Main Page]]

[[Category:Definienda]]

Virtual campus

2009-06-04T12:18:22Z

Theo.bastiaens: Changed protection level for "Virtual campus" [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed]

Virtual campus

2009-06-04T12:17:18Z

Theo.bastiaens: Changed protection level for "Virtual campus" [edit=revica:move=revica]

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T12:49:44Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* The Re.ViCa Working Definition of Virtual Campus: A modern synthesis */

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T11:20:40Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* The boundary approach for the concept of virtual campus */

== Overview ==

The phrase "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

== The Re.ViCa Working Definition of Virtual Campus: A modern synthesis ==

In Re.ViCa we aim to take ''virtual campus'' as synonymous with ''large-scale e-learning initiative''. This avoids the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied.

An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is ''major'' if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:
* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure)
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor)
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development

== Virtual campus definition of the European Commission==

Cooperation between higher education institutions in the field of e-learning, regarding: design of joint curricula development by several universities, including agreements for the evaluation, validation and recognition of acquired competences, subject to national procedures; large–scale experiments of virtual mobility in addition to physical mobility and development of innovative dual mode curricula, based on both traditional and on-line learning methods. This broad definition involves many issues from partnerships between traditional and/or distance universities and HEI with a view to offering joint certifications (for undergraduate and/or postgraduate levels) and cooperation with learning support services. This might also include collaborative activities in strategic areas of education or research through cooperation involving researchers, academics, students, management, administrative and technical personnel. 'Virtual campuses' should not be confused with e-learning platforms.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/guide/glossary_en.html

At the e-learningeuropa.info portal 'Virtual Campus' is defined as "Part of a university or faculty that offers educational facilities at any time or, in theory, any place, by Internet."

Source: http://www.elearningeuropa.info/main/index.php?page=glossary&abc=V

At a European Commission consultation workshop held in Brussels on 23rd November 2004
entitled “The ‘e’ for our universities – virtual campus” (EACEA, 2004), one of the working
groups proposed three definitions emphasising different aspects of a virtual campus. These
were the:

(i) Collaboration perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes ICT-based collaboration of different partners supporting both, learning offers and research in a distributed setting.

(ii) Enterprise (economic) perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an ICT-based
distributed learning and research enterprise.

(iii) Networked organisation perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an environment, which augments and/or integrates learning and research services offered by different partners.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/archive/elearning/doc/workshops/virtual%20campuses/report_en.pdf

== Virtual campus definition of the BENVIC Project==
The concept of a Virtual Campus refers to a specific format of distance education and on-line learning in which students, teaching staff and even university administrative and technical staff mainly 'meet' or communicate trough technical links.

Source: http://www.benvic.odl.org/indexpr.html

== Virtual campus definition of Wikipedia ==
A Virtual Campus refers to the online offerings of a college or university where college work is completed either partially or wholly online, often with the assistance of the teacher, professor, or teaching assistant.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Campus

== Virtual Campus by Van Dusen ==
The Virtual Campus is a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies

Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra

Van Dusen (1997
== Virtual campus synonyms in other countries ==
=== Belgium ===
# "Campus Virtuel" (FR) such as for the
## [http://www.elearning.ulg.ac.be/modules/freecontent/index.php?id=69 Virtual Campus of the University of Liege], [http://nettskolen.nki.no/in_english/megatrends/Liege_Article.pdf MegaTrends case study (PDF)]
## [http://www.campusvirtuel.be Campusvirtuel.be] from 3 Business Schools ([http://www.solvay.edu Solvay], [http://www.hec.ulg.ac.be/EN/index.php HEC-ULg] and [http://www.uclouvain.be/en-lsm.html LSM]), article in French: [http://www.uclouvain.be/259258.html "Solvay, HEC-ULg et la LSM créent ensemble un campus virtuel"]
# "Virtuele Campus" (NL) which was '''formerly''' used to describe:
## [http://www.secondlifecrew.be/795/hogeschool-heeft-zijn-eigen-virtuele-campus.html a terminated school project as a Second Life campus] for [http://www.kahosl.be/site/index.php?p=/nl/page/system:index/kaho/ Catholic University College Ghent (formerly KaHo Sint-Lieven)]
## [http://www.virtuelecampus.be a virtual tour and information guide of the University of Antwerp], which is now redirected to a new URL with the appropriate title "

=== France ===
# "Université Virtuelle"
# "Campus Virtuel"
# "Campus numérique"
# "Université Numérique (de Région)"

Visit our wiki page '''[[VC definition - france|VC definition - France]]'''

===United Kingdom===

The Re.ViCa wiki page on the UK, written mainly in the summer of 2008, summarises the use of “virtual campus” in UK tertiary education as follows:
As a matter of historical interest, the actual phrase virtual campus is (still) used in the way it is defined in this chapter at the following UK universities and colleges:
*Universities. University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University and Robert Gordon University. (Sheffield Hallam University used the phrase for several years but is said to feel that nowadays the phrase is insufficiently distinctive.)
*Colleges. City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (Londonderry), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium.
*NHS. The NHS University (NHSU) and several medical schools including at Kings College London use or used the phrase.
*Ulster University’s Campus One describes itself as a virtual campus.
*One supplier’s product is called the “Teknical Virtual Campus”

A search – Search 1 – was done in Google on 14 May 2009 for
"virtual campus" site:uk .There are 11600 hits (!) of which the first 50 have been analysed. It excludes material which is actually about virtual campuses outside the UK but which might have been described by articles published on “.uk” web sites. A second search – Search 2 – tried to establish current usage within HE/FE (post-secondary) with a tighter search: 2008 OR 2009 "virtual campus" -"virtual campus tour" site:ac.uk There are still 724 English pages. The first 150 have been reviewed.
Conclusions: At the top level, although few of the original university adopters of the phrase use “virtual campus” as much or as visibly as before, it is still used for a number of departmental, consortium and private provider initiatives – and also by an increasing number of colleges. However, there are a number of uses that are out of scope – including for “virtual tours” of a physical campus and for various experiments with Second Life. Finally, it continues to be used beyond the boundaries of post-secondary education, for example in prisons and by commercial training providers in a way that would be valid if the providers were in scope for us. In more detail:
# The following UK universities use the phrase “Virtual Campus” (or in some cases the short form “Virtual” – e.g. Brookes Virtual) within the usual range of Re.ViCa senses at an institutional level. It can appear in a variety of ways: in their strapline for their e-learning initiative, as a component of a URL, a link from their home page, or a regularly used phrase in their top-level narratives: University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University (Brookes Virtual) and Robert Gordon University. Not all these universities have it as part of their strapline for their e-learning initiative.
# A number of other universities do not use in such a visible sense but the phrase appears – or has appeared – in places in their literature. These include Sheffield Hallam University, Huddersfield University.
# A further number of other universities use the phrase at a departmental level: Kings College London (more than one department), Liverpool John Moores University (computing).
# A few more use synonyms – online campus, global campus, etc – in this way, such as Middlesex University (Computing – Global Campus).
# Many colleges use the phrase “virtual campus” at an institutional level. These include the ones already cited above: City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (now part of North West Regional College), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium (of four colleges around Bristol) – and some new arrivals such as Forth Valley College, Midlands Bible College and Wirral Metropolitan College. A number of these (new and old) used the phrase first because they bought the VLE called “Virtual Campus” from the firm Teknical, now taken over by Serco.
# Consortia users of the phrase include GIS Consortium, UNIGIS and Leeds Teacher Training (SCITT).
# Private (for profit) providers include Kaplan, in their guise as Kaplan Open Learning, an affiliate college of the University of Essex.
# Wider uses include Prisoners Education Trust and CiREM.
# Many universities use it – “out of scope” for us – to describe virtual tours of the physical campus. These include University of Aberdeen, University of Brighton, Lancaster University, University of Nottingham, University of Stirling, University of Warwick, University of Worcester and York St John University
# There are several university experiments with Second Life to model a physical campus which may in time extent into our kind of virtual campus functions. These include University of East London and University of Sussex.

===Spain===

A spanish definition of a virtual campus focuses on the virtual campus as a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies (Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra, Van Dusen (1997 ).

===Finland===

Finnish Virtual University, one the major projects of Finnish information society activities late 1990’s and the 2000’s in higher education field, defines its own portal as a virtual campus (Finnish: virtuaalikampus) for students, teachers, researchers and administrative staff working in online education The portal links together the virtual activities of the Finnish universities and provides services that can be used by all the participants.
SOCRATES Thematic Network Enhancing Engineering Education in Europe – E4 Survey of Virtual Campus and Virtual University Activities in Europe (2002) takes holistic approach and defines virtual campus as a broad conceptual framework for tools, services and facilities for students, faculty and staff. The word “campus” is used to denote the environment for the people who study, carry out research or work at the university. These elements include e learning, research activities, administrative services or other functions, i.e. complementing and supporting life on the physical university campus.
The approach taken by Finnish higher education society nowadays is a logic continuum of E4 definition, following the ideas of the National Information Society Policy for 2007 -2011 (The Ubiquitous Information Society Advisory Board): the key processes and interaction are largely based on the utilisation of electronic communications and information technology. ICT applications contribute to service provision and availability and create new operating models and new skills. The key elements are communications infrastructure, user-oriented services, development of digital contents and promotion of innovation activities and telework and development of science infrastructure. The use of ICT in teaching and studying is promoted. It is not seen as a separate target area as such but merely integrated into all processes of education and development of new electronic learning environment. This approach is often described as “ICT supported university” (Finnish: TVT-tuettu yliopisto) or “digitalization of the university” in university context (Sources: Ubiquitous Information Society, Action Programme 2008–2011 Government Resolution on the Objectives of the National Information Society Policy for 2007-2011 ).

===Netherlands===

In the Netherlands the term ‘virtual campus’ is synonym to ‘digital campus’ which is often referred to as ‘a digital working and learning environment’. This working and learning environment is seen from a educational perspective (not from a business point of view) and includes digital components (but is not solely an electronically environment). This definition comes close to what we nowadays call blended learning. A virtual campus encloses human – and technological- activities for educational purposes (based on: Van Elk, L. ELO-definiëring (2004). Digital University).
When a closer look is taken at the definition of a virtual campus from a business perspective then it matches almost everything that is related to e-learning in general. So a virtual campus is an environment in which individuals can attend practical training sessions, anyplace, anytime, anywhere. With just-in-time support, various learning materials (audio, video, written) and learning at own pace (based on website http://www.info2people.nl/page/VirtualCampus.htm ).
It is remarkable that the word ‘virtual campus’ is not used very much in the field of higher education. Although all universities have a virtual environment to offer, they most of the time use the expression ‘electronic learning environment’ or ‘portal’for virtual support services. It looks like the word ‘virtual campus’ is outdated.

===Italy===

Telematic University
In Italy further to the approval of the law n° 341/1990 on the restructuring of the university didactic rule (university autonomy), public-private consortia were established for distance teaching universities. Further to this law, in April 2005 the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree about “the criteria and procedures for accrediting distance education courses of the state and non state universities and of higher education institutions enables to issue academic titles, was enacted”.
This act, commonly called the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree, since it was enacted by the then Minister of Education, University and Research, Ms Letizia Moratti, with the then Minister for Innovation and Technologies, Mr. Lucio Stanca, concretely implements the institution of the Telematic universities, authorised to issue academic titles.
In Italy distance education courses are established and implemented by state and non state universities and make use of computer-based and Telematic technologies in accordance with the technical requirements indicated by the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree. These universities have to be organised “according to the most advanced computer-based and Telematic technologies and are aimed at issuing academic titles envisage by laws currently in force”. The academic titles “can be issued by university institutions promoted by public and private bodies and acknowledge according to the criteria and procedures envisaged by the Decree”. There are specific rules as it regards the acknowledgement of study courses. More specifically, it is envisaged a Charter of Services that envisages a didactic methodology and the conclusion of a specific contract with the student. The distance education courses are characterised, as stated in the Decree: “by the use of web-based connections for the use of training materials and the development of educational activities based on the interactivity with teachers-tutors and with the other students, by the use of PC , by the continuous monitoring of the learning progress according to the selective and rigorous criteria envisaged to assure the quality of the courses and the reliability of the educational offer'' […] "The didactic organisation of the distance education courses valorises potentials of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the highest degree and more specifically as it regards multimediality and interactivity in order to favour customised study paths and to optimise learning”.
The Italian situation can be better understood if one takes into due account the recent history of distance higher education initiatives and the experience of renewal we had beginning Nineties with the Law n° 341/1990. The “Reform of the University Didactic Rules” that was started up caused the appearance of new higher education multimedia systems whose achievements only Consorzio NETTUNO, in which 12,000 students were enrolled, seemed to be able to build on.
With the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree of April 2003 it was established that the Minister of the University could acknowledge the establishment of new Telematic universities by decree. Starting from 2004 it acknowledged 11 universities as a whole. The path undertaken by the Italian legislator was full of initiatives, even if not all of them were up to the undertaking. Actually, not all the Telematic universities acknowledged by ministerial decree were able of carrying on proposals for distance education complying with the standards set a national level.

== Multicampus University (K.U.Leuven)==

The 'traditional university' Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ([[K.U.Leuven]]) in [[Belgium]] progressively organizes its educational support from a multicampus perspective.
In recent decades, the [[K.U.Leuven]] in Belgium has become a multicampus university. As a result of the historic expansion of the university its three groups of faculties have become separate entities, geographically spread over Leuven: Human Sciences are housed in the centre of the city, Exact Sciences in the east and Medical Sciences in the north. Since 1965, the university also has an additional campus in Kortrijk, in the west of Belgium. And in 2002, thirteen institutions of higher education in Flanders have joined forces with the K.U.Leuven in the [http://associatie.kuleuven.be/eng/ K.U.Leuven Association] in order to occupy a position of strength within the new European educational landscape and to work together towards quality improvements in education. This Association has 23 different campuses. In addition the K.U.Leuven profiles itself as an international university. The institution has agreements with various universities worldwide to enable and support a growing number student and staff exchanges between campuses. Lastly, with the introduction of ICT the university is also facing an extended form of multicampus education. Online networks of student groups and/or teaching staff – sometimes linked to but often independent from the institution – are emerging, in learning communities or communities of practice. Each participant in these networks can be considered a small virtual ‘campus’, learning from home, work or through a mobile device.

==== Enhancing or replacing physical mobility with virtual mobility====
The current structure of the university thus challenges the K.U.Leuven to organize and support its education with attention for communication and collaboration between the various campuses. Today this is most often realized through physical mobility: staff and/or student move between different locations. This is the case for interdisciplinary courses between Leuven’s three groups of faculties and for staff mobility between Kortrijk and Leuven. It is also the most common form for international exchanges. Yet the university is progressively supporting initiatives that replace or enhance physical with virtual mobility, seeking to integrate aspects of ‘virtual campuses’ into traditional education to stimulate collaboration between the sites of the Association, to support student and/or staff exchanges in Europe or in the world, to enhance communication with developing countries or to sustain virtual learning communities.

===== Joint course materials =====
At a basic level (virtual/blended) multicampus education in Leuven is revealed in initiatives that create, offer and localize joint course materials. While teaching staff and students remain at their own campus for the entire course, specific course modules learning materials are used that have been developed, at a distance, by an inter-institutional (multicampus) teaching team. These course materials are often offered on a common website, a databank or a virtual learning environment. Recently there are also teachers who (co-)develop or use ‘Open Educational Resources’.

===== Pooled infrastructure =====
Not only course materials are collaboratively created or shared. Also (laboratory)-infrastructure is shared between locations to avoid a double set up of equipment. In some cases this pooled infrastructure is also virtual. Some (dangerous) laboratory experiments or experiments that require students and staff to be at different locations (students watch a complex surgical operation) can now happen thanks to virtual support to bridge the distance between the actual experiment and the audience. The infrastructure of the experiment itself is in a limited number of cases entirely digital by means of a simulation on a common virtual platform.

===== Joint learning activities =====
Furthermore, multicampus education can be about joint learning activities. For the ‘Student Business Game’ for instance, students from different institutions f the Association K.U.Leuven play a business game on their own campus after which the winning teams compete with each other via videoconferencing before a jury of teaching and company staff. Joint learning activities can also be about e-coaching, about writing an academic paper at a distance or student placements. All activities invite multiple sites to collaborate in the creation, delivery or support of the activity, with the help of technology. At K.U.Leuven joint learning activities are particularly interesting for interdisciplinary modules, courses or programs, such as activities involving both learners studying medicine or nursing, industrial or civil engineering, etc.

===== Joint courses =====
Building on joint learning activities, another type of multicampus are joint courses. A joint course can be (a) a course developed by one campus (institution) and offered to students at another campus (institution), (b) a course developed by one institution and used but adapted by another institution or (c) a jointly developed course offered to students of all involved institutions (Haake et al., 2006). One variation of this type are virtual seminars: co-created or co-delivered seminars set up as a single course, or in a series of courses - broadcasted over multiple sites using ICT (videoconferencing, web conferencing, streaming, etc) . The KULeuven has a strong expertise and long tradition in organizing virtual seminars. The ‘Pentalfa’ project for instance is a multidisciplinary, post-graduate distance learning initiative of the Faculty of Medicine, aimed to offer (extra) training broadcasted to various hospitals of the Flemish Hospital Network K.U.Leuven. It is currently in its 8th year and there are plans to enhance the initiative with an international component. The university is also looking into the use of virtual seminars for knowledge exchange and networking between the institutions of the Association and beyond (society in general, companies, alumni, etc.).

===== Multicampus programmes =====
Next, multicampus education is also revealed in the offer of a complete, ‘multicampus’ programme, which many institutions can be contributing in. A number of Bachelors and Masters are already set up within the Association K.U.Leuven, involving multiple teaching teams from different institutions. The challenge is to streamline these programs around a common denominator, yet with respect to any local specificities of each campus involved. Virtual initiatives – joint learning materials, joint learning activities, joint courses – all play a vital part in this. Eventually a completely virtual multicampus programme comes close to the traditional form of distance education, as offered by the Open University for instance. From the perspective of more and better flexibility in education, it could be interesting to bring distance and regular education together. Regular programs could put forward a number of distance learning courses (and vice versa), in replacement of or as an enhancement to their offer: they could support or realize the transition between certain bachelors and masters in a flexible way, (work) students could enhance their own study package with a number of distance education courses. In Flanders, the current offers of both the regular universities and the Open University are still entirely separate from each other. Yet under certain conditions the Open University does already allow its students to take courses from other universities in addition to the curriculum of the own education. K.U.Leuven is currently studying the opportunity to present this interpretation of multicampus to its students.

===== Virtual support activities for physical mobility =====
Ultimately, multicampus education is also about a range of virtual support activities with regard to real, physical mobility. A large range of actions can be mentioned here. At the early, preparatory phase of a physical student (or staff) exchange, multicampus support can be given through the set up of community websites for future exchange students where they can meet current students who help them find housing, give them information etc. Within the Association K.U.Leuven such a platform is being created and tested for new foreign students to find a ‘(virtual) buddy’ . There is also the opportunity for teaching staff to meet the interested new students online, for a language ‘pre-selection’ or just a first get-together. This has been tested as a pilot in the [[REVE]] project for the Erasmus Mundus Master in Adapted Physical Activity (Rajagopal et. al., 2006; Bijnens H. et. al., 2006). After the exchange, the aforementioned communities can continue to live on as a virtual alumni platform; or students could be examined at a distance through virtual mobility (video communication).

=== Source ===
[[Bijnens]] H., '''[[De Gruyter]] J.''', [[Op de Beeck]] I., [[Bacsich]] P., [[Reynolds]] S., [[Van Petegem]] W., Re-defining virtual campuses: from a “fully-fletched” virtual campus to a blended model. Paper accepted for the EDEN conference. Lisbon, June 11-14, 2008.

== History and detail ==

The concept of virtual university, now so ubiquitous, is in fact only around 11 years old in its current usage. By the phrase virtual university, we (and most people) mean a university which carries out much of its teaching, perhaps all of it, at a distance from the learner.

Even at an early workshop on this topic, at the EdMedia/EdTelecom conference in Boston in June 1996, organised at short notice by Robin Mason and me (both then at the UK Open University), the room was packed out. There was a workshop on virtual universities at Online Educa at Berlin in November 1996 and the topic featured largely in the Sheffield conference “Flexible Learning on the Information Super-Highway” in May 1997. Since then the topic has exploded, with conferences around the world featuring the concept, sometimes to the exclusion of anything else.

In the past, virtual teaching was carried out by posting text-books to the student, who read them and sent back assignments to be marked. Communication between the stu-dent and the academic was via correspondence – hence the phrases correspondence teaching and correspondence university. This approach in fact still happens in many institutions today, especially in less developed parts of the world.

In the early 1970s, the use of television broadcasting for teaching in Universities (ad-ditional to correspondence teaching) became popular, most notably in the UK Open University – originally called the “University of the Air”. Some TV-based universities still exist, but the tale of the use of broadcast TV in universities (including open uni-versities) has so far been one of a long broad retreat masked by a number of tempo-rary local advances.
The paradigm of mostly correspondence and print (with perhaps a little TV) lasted many years, but from the early 1990s, under the impact of information technology in general and the Internet in particular, a new paradigm emerged. This is to use the Internet for all the teaching in a virtual university – thus courses would be “delivered” to the student with a PC at home (or at work – and sometimes in a learning centre) and the student would interact via e-mail and Web pages. Increasingly, people use the term e-university for this. In the past, many other terms were prevalent, each with their own nuancing – online university, net university, etc.

In an extreme model – pure-play, as it is called in the dot-com world – this use of the Internet would totally replace the use of text-books, correspondence teaching and tele-vision. While there are some institutions adopting this extreme view (which has the advantage of simplifying the logistics), it is most common to be blended, that is, to have a mix of old and new technologies, with the new gradually growing in impor-tance.

In the Gazetteer, which gives a list of e-universities around the world (and their Web sites), we give the following pragmatic description of e-universities:

: Accredited university-level institutions delivering degree-awarding courses, with a substantial percentage delivered at a distance, with a substantial percentage of these using e-learning. If there is a face-to-face university at the core, we expect the courses delivered at a distance to come from a separately named part of the university, and to be referenced from a high level of the university Web site by such phrases as “Virtual Campus”, “Online Service” or some such.
Because of the need to fund the development of materials, and the fact that collabora-tion is easier and cheaper via the Internet, it became common to develop virtual uni-versity systems via consortia of universities. However, there is no firm evidence that this is a better approach in general than a single university doing the development, often called a virtual campus.

The phrase virtual campus became prominent in the UK around 1997, when various UK universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly, especially in the UK, a university may no longer use the phrase virtual campus while still in fact having one.

A number of other phrases have crept in over the years. A distance-teaching univer-sity is essentially a correspondence university. An open university is in strict terms a university which has an open admissions policy (i.e., anyone can become a student, although not anyone can graduate – students still have to pass the course) but increas-ingly this term is used to describe distance-teaching universities in general, and even those which are not open in this sense. It was for reasons of this sort that the European Commission theorists coined the phrase open and distance learning (ODL), basically to avoid making difficult distinctions.

And in the last few years, the phrase borderless education (rarely borderless university) has come into vogue, under influence from Australian work.

== Defining “Virtual Campus” – A boundary approach==

=== Overview ===

Although the phrase ‘virtual campus’ is an important concept in the field of education, there is no theoretical framework for it. This chapter focuses on the development of such a theoretical framework. Similar to the work Stoof, Martens, Van Merrienboer & Bastiaens (2002) did for the concept of competence, we propose the boundary approach for virtual campuses, an aid to support stakeholders in the field of e-learning in thinking about the concept ‘virtual campus’. Here the concept of the ‘virtual campus’is being explored by focusing on its dimensions. This holds the quest for one absolute definition of it is abandoned and that instead definitions are being valued against their degree of viability.
The expression "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

===The boundary approach for the concept of virtual campus===

As the previous section shows there are a lot of variables involved defining the concept of the virtual campus. Depending on the context, the target group, the different goals and the technology involved a definition of ‘virtual campus’ can be formulated. The partners in the project group of the ReVica project do not want to give one single definition of the concept of the virtual campus. Since there will never be one right answer on the question what an virtual campus is,we suggest to use a conceptual representation aid as is shown in figure 1 to discuss the concept of the virtual campus. Figure 1 show the concept of a virtual campus as an amoeba-like form. The amoeba represents the virtual campus as a limited and demarcated concept, which is expressed by drawing its boundary. The boundary is being shaped by two opposing forces, being visualized as arrows (Based on the work of Stoof, Martens, Van Merriënboer & Bastiaens, 2002, p 352). From inside the figure, forces expand the boundary. This process is labeled as the ‘inside-out approach’ of the concept of the virtual campus. These are dimensions that define and construct the concept of the virtual campus. In Re.ViCa we aim to take virtual campus as synonymous with large-scale e-learning initiative. This ‘large-scale e-learning initiative’ is the inside-out dimension.

[[Image:The_boundary_approach.JPG|thumb|left|Figure 1: the boundary approach to define the concept of the virtual campus]]

On the other hand, the forces from outside the figure reduce the boundary. This outside-in approach focuses on the selection of terms that best express the intended meaning of the virtual campus (so it clarifies the relationships). In Re.ViCa we avoid the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but this begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators, these are all outside in dimensions, which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied. An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is major if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:

* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure).
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director.
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures.
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor).
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development
As said before as a project group we do not want to take the arrogant view to present one final definition of the virtual campus, Time will catch up on us when we do that and our work will become obsolete. For the time being we present a working definition, that involves large scale initiatives (an inside out dimension) which are recognizable on the list of characteristics above. The boundary approach makes it easier to change the definition in the future and discuss new opinions.

----
> [[Glossary]]
 
> [[Main Page]]

[[Category:Definienda]]

File:The boundary approach.JPG

2009-06-03T10:56:16Z

Theo.bastiaens: Figure 1: the boundary approach to define the concept of the virtual campus

Figure 1: the boundary approach to define the concept of the virtual campus

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T09:40:57Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Defining “VIRTUAL CAMPUS” – A boundary approach */

== Overview ==

The phrase "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

== The Re.ViCa Working Definition of Virtual Campus: A modern synthesis ==

In Re.ViCa we aim to take ''virtual campus'' as synonymous with ''large-scale e-learning initiative''. This avoids the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied.

An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is ''major'' if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:
* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure)
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor)
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development

== Virtual campus definition of the European Commission==

Cooperation between higher education institutions in the field of e-learning, regarding: design of joint curricula development by several universities, including agreements for the evaluation, validation and recognition of acquired competences, subject to national procedures; large–scale experiments of virtual mobility in addition to physical mobility and development of innovative dual mode curricula, based on both traditional and on-line learning methods. This broad definition involves many issues from partnerships between traditional and/or distance universities and HEI with a view to offering joint certifications (for undergraduate and/or postgraduate levels) and cooperation with learning support services. This might also include collaborative activities in strategic areas of education or research through cooperation involving researchers, academics, students, management, administrative and technical personnel. 'Virtual campuses' should not be confused with e-learning platforms.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/guide/glossary_en.html

At the e-learningeuropa.info portal 'Virtual Campus' is defined as "Part of a university or faculty that offers educational facilities at any time or, in theory, any place, by Internet."

Source: http://www.elearningeuropa.info/main/index.php?page=glossary&abc=V

At a European Commission consultation workshop held in Brussels on 23rd November 2004
entitled “The ‘e’ for our universities – virtual campus” (EACEA, 2004), one of the working
groups proposed three definitions emphasising different aspects of a virtual campus. These
were the:

(i) Collaboration perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes ICT-based collaboration of different partners supporting both, learning offers and research in a distributed setting.

(ii) Enterprise (economic) perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an ICT-based
distributed learning and research enterprise.

(iii) Networked organisation perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an environment, which augments and/or integrates learning and research services offered by different partners.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/archive/elearning/doc/workshops/virtual%20campuses/report_en.pdf

== Virtual campus definition of the BENVIC Project==
The concept of a Virtual Campus refers to a specific format of distance education and on-line learning in which students, teaching staff and even university administrative and technical staff mainly 'meet' or communicate trough technical links.

Source: http://www.benvic.odl.org/indexpr.html

== Virtual campus definition of Wikipedia ==
A Virtual Campus refers to the online offerings of a college or university where college work is completed either partially or wholly online, often with the assistance of the teacher, professor, or teaching assistant.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Campus

== Virtual Campus by Van Dusen ==
The Virtual Campus is a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies

Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra

Van Dusen (1997
== Virtual campus synonyms in other countries ==
=== Belgium ===
# "Campus Virtuel" (FR) such as for the
## [http://www.elearning.ulg.ac.be/modules/freecontent/index.php?id=69 Virtual Campus of the University of Liege], [http://nettskolen.nki.no/in_english/megatrends/Liege_Article.pdf MegaTrends case study (PDF)]
## [http://www.campusvirtuel.be Campusvirtuel.be] from 3 Business Schools ([http://www.solvay.edu Solvay], [http://www.hec.ulg.ac.be/EN/index.php HEC-ULg] and [http://www.uclouvain.be/en-lsm.html LSM]), article in French: [http://www.uclouvain.be/259258.html "Solvay, HEC-ULg et la LSM créent ensemble un campus virtuel"]
# "Virtuele Campus" (NL) which was '''formerly''' used to describe:
## [http://www.secondlifecrew.be/795/hogeschool-heeft-zijn-eigen-virtuele-campus.html a terminated school project as a Second Life campus] for [http://www.kahosl.be/site/index.php?p=/nl/page/system:index/kaho/ Catholic University College Ghent (formerly KaHo Sint-Lieven)]
## [http://www.virtuelecampus.be a virtual tour and information guide of the University of Antwerp], which is now redirected to a new URL with the appropriate title "

=== France ===
# "Université Virtuelle"
# "Campus Virtuel"
# "Campus numérique"
# "Université Numérique (de Région)"

Visit our wiki page '''[[VC definition - france|VC definition - France]]'''

===United Kingdom===

The Re.ViCa wiki page on the UK, written mainly in the summer of 2008, summarises the use of “virtual campus” in UK tertiary education as follows:
As a matter of historical interest, the actual phrase virtual campus is (still) used in the way it is defined in this chapter at the following UK universities and colleges:
*Universities. University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University and Robert Gordon University. (Sheffield Hallam University used the phrase for several years but is said to feel that nowadays the phrase is insufficiently distinctive.)
*Colleges. City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (Londonderry), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium.
*NHS. The NHS University (NHSU) and several medical schools including at Kings College London use or used the phrase.
*Ulster University’s Campus One describes itself as a virtual campus.
*One supplier’s product is called the “Teknical Virtual Campus”

A search – Search 1 – was done in Google on 14 May 2009 for
"virtual campus" site:uk .There are 11600 hits (!) of which the first 50 have been analysed. It excludes material which is actually about virtual campuses outside the UK but which might have been described by articles published on “.uk” web sites. A second search – Search 2 – tried to establish current usage within HE/FE (post-secondary) with a tighter search: 2008 OR 2009 "virtual campus" -"virtual campus tour" site:ac.uk There are still 724 English pages. The first 150 have been reviewed.
Conclusions: At the top level, although few of the original university adopters of the phrase use “virtual campus” as much or as visibly as before, it is still used for a number of departmental, consortium and private provider initiatives – and also by an increasing number of colleges. However, there are a number of uses that are out of scope – including for “virtual tours” of a physical campus and for various experiments with Second Life. Finally, it continues to be used beyond the boundaries of post-secondary education, for example in prisons and by commercial training providers in a way that would be valid if the providers were in scope for us. In more detail:
# The following UK universities use the phrase “Virtual Campus” (or in some cases the short form “Virtual” – e.g. Brookes Virtual) within the usual range of Re.ViCa senses at an institutional level. It can appear in a variety of ways: in their strapline for their e-learning initiative, as a component of a URL, a link from their home page, or a regularly used phrase in their top-level narratives: University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University (Brookes Virtual) and Robert Gordon University. Not all these universities have it as part of their strapline for their e-learning initiative.
# A number of other universities do not use in such a visible sense but the phrase appears – or has appeared – in places in their literature. These include Sheffield Hallam University, Huddersfield University.
# A further number of other universities use the phrase at a departmental level: Kings College London (more than one department), Liverpool John Moores University (computing).
# A few more use synonyms – online campus, global campus, etc – in this way, such as Middlesex University (Computing – Global Campus).
# Many colleges use the phrase “virtual campus” at an institutional level. These include the ones already cited above: City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (now part of North West Regional College), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium (of four colleges around Bristol) – and some new arrivals such as Forth Valley College, Midlands Bible College and Wirral Metropolitan College. A number of these (new and old) used the phrase first because they bought the VLE called “Virtual Campus” from the firm Teknical, now taken over by Serco.
# Consortia users of the phrase include GIS Consortium, UNIGIS and Leeds Teacher Training (SCITT).
# Private (for profit) providers include Kaplan, in their guise as Kaplan Open Learning, an affiliate college of the University of Essex.
# Wider uses include Prisoners Education Trust and CiREM.
# Many universities use it – “out of scope” for us – to describe virtual tours of the physical campus. These include University of Aberdeen, University of Brighton, Lancaster University, University of Nottingham, University of Stirling, University of Warwick, University of Worcester and York St John University
# There are several university experiments with Second Life to model a physical campus which may in time extent into our kind of virtual campus functions. These include University of East London and University of Sussex.

===Spain===

A spanish definition of a virtual campus focuses on the virtual campus as a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies (Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra, Van Dusen (1997 ).

===Finland===

Finnish Virtual University, one the major projects of Finnish information society activities late 1990’s and the 2000’s in higher education field, defines its own portal as a virtual campus (Finnish: virtuaalikampus) for students, teachers, researchers and administrative staff working in online education The portal links together the virtual activities of the Finnish universities and provides services that can be used by all the participants.
SOCRATES Thematic Network Enhancing Engineering Education in Europe – E4 Survey of Virtual Campus and Virtual University Activities in Europe (2002) takes holistic approach and defines virtual campus as a broad conceptual framework for tools, services and facilities for students, faculty and staff. The word “campus” is used to denote the environment for the people who study, carry out research or work at the university. These elements include e learning, research activities, administrative services or other functions, i.e. complementing and supporting life on the physical university campus.
The approach taken by Finnish higher education society nowadays is a logic continuum of E4 definition, following the ideas of the National Information Society Policy for 2007 -2011 (The Ubiquitous Information Society Advisory Board): the key processes and interaction are largely based on the utilisation of electronic communications and information technology. ICT applications contribute to service provision and availability and create new operating models and new skills. The key elements are communications infrastructure, user-oriented services, development of digital contents and promotion of innovation activities and telework and development of science infrastructure. The use of ICT in teaching and studying is promoted. It is not seen as a separate target area as such but merely integrated into all processes of education and development of new electronic learning environment. This approach is often described as “ICT supported university” (Finnish: TVT-tuettu yliopisto) or “digitalization of the university” in university context (Sources: Ubiquitous Information Society, Action Programme 2008–2011 Government Resolution on the Objectives of the National Information Society Policy for 2007-2011 ).

===Netherlands===

In the Netherlands the term ‘virtual campus’ is synonym to ‘digital campus’ which is often referred to as ‘a digital working and learning environment’. This working and learning environment is seen from a educational perspective (not from a business point of view) and includes digital components (but is not solely an electronically environment). This definition comes close to what we nowadays call blended learning. A virtual campus encloses human – and technological- activities for educational purposes (based on: Van Elk, L. ELO-definiëring (2004). Digital University).
When a closer look is taken at the definition of a virtual campus from a business perspective then it matches almost everything that is related to e-learning in general. So a virtual campus is an environment in which individuals can attend practical training sessions, anyplace, anytime, anywhere. With just-in-time support, various learning materials (audio, video, written) and learning at own pace (based on website http://www.info2people.nl/page/VirtualCampus.htm ).
It is remarkable that the word ‘virtual campus’ is not used very much in the field of higher education. Although all universities have a virtual environment to offer, they most of the time use the expression ‘electronic learning environment’ or ‘portal’for virtual support services. It looks like the word ‘virtual campus’ is outdated.

===Italy===

Telematic University
In Italy further to the approval of the law n° 341/1990 on the restructuring of the university didactic rule (university autonomy), public-private consortia were established for distance teaching universities. Further to this law, in April 2005 the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree about “the criteria and procedures for accrediting distance education courses of the state and non state universities and of higher education institutions enables to issue academic titles, was enacted”.
This act, commonly called the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree, since it was enacted by the then Minister of Education, University and Research, Ms Letizia Moratti, with the then Minister for Innovation and Technologies, Mr. Lucio Stanca, concretely implements the institution of the Telematic universities, authorised to issue academic titles.
In Italy distance education courses are established and implemented by state and non state universities and make use of computer-based and Telematic technologies in accordance with the technical requirements indicated by the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree. These universities have to be organised “according to the most advanced computer-based and Telematic technologies and are aimed at issuing academic titles envisage by laws currently in force”. The academic titles “can be issued by university institutions promoted by public and private bodies and acknowledge according to the criteria and procedures envisaged by the Decree”. There are specific rules as it regards the acknowledgement of study courses. More specifically, it is envisaged a Charter of Services that envisages a didactic methodology and the conclusion of a specific contract with the student. The distance education courses are characterised, as stated in the Decree: “by the use of web-based connections for the use of training materials and the development of educational activities based on the interactivity with teachers-tutors and with the other students, by the use of PC , by the continuous monitoring of the learning progress according to the selective and rigorous criteria envisaged to assure the quality of the courses and the reliability of the educational offer'' […] "The didactic organisation of the distance education courses valorises potentials of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the highest degree and more specifically as it regards multimediality and interactivity in order to favour customised study paths and to optimise learning”.
The Italian situation can be better understood if one takes into due account the recent history of distance higher education initiatives and the experience of renewal we had beginning Nineties with the Law n° 341/1990. The “Reform of the University Didactic Rules” that was started up caused the appearance of new higher education multimedia systems whose achievements only Consorzio NETTUNO, in which 12,000 students were enrolled, seemed to be able to build on.
With the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree of April 2003 it was established that the Minister of the University could acknowledge the establishment of new Telematic universities by decree. Starting from 2004 it acknowledged 11 universities as a whole. The path undertaken by the Italian legislator was full of initiatives, even if not all of them were up to the undertaking. Actually, not all the Telematic universities acknowledged by ministerial decree were able of carrying on proposals for distance education complying with the standards set a national level.

== Multicampus University (K.U.Leuven)==

The 'traditional university' Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ([[K.U.Leuven]]) in [[Belgium]] progressively organizes its educational support from a multicampus perspective.
In recent decades, the [[K.U.Leuven]] in Belgium has become a multicampus university. As a result of the historic expansion of the university its three groups of faculties have become separate entities, geographically spread over Leuven: Human Sciences are housed in the centre of the city, Exact Sciences in the east and Medical Sciences in the north. Since 1965, the university also has an additional campus in Kortrijk, in the west of Belgium. And in 2002, thirteen institutions of higher education in Flanders have joined forces with the K.U.Leuven in the [http://associatie.kuleuven.be/eng/ K.U.Leuven Association] in order to occupy a position of strength within the new European educational landscape and to work together towards quality improvements in education. This Association has 23 different campuses. In addition the K.U.Leuven profiles itself as an international university. The institution has agreements with various universities worldwide to enable and support a growing number student and staff exchanges between campuses. Lastly, with the introduction of ICT the university is also facing an extended form of multicampus education. Online networks of student groups and/or teaching staff – sometimes linked to but often independent from the institution – are emerging, in learning communities or communities of practice. Each participant in these networks can be considered a small virtual ‘campus’, learning from home, work or through a mobile device.

==== Enhancing or replacing physical mobility with virtual mobility====
The current structure of the university thus challenges the K.U.Leuven to organize and support its education with attention for communication and collaboration between the various campuses. Today this is most often realized through physical mobility: staff and/or student move between different locations. This is the case for interdisciplinary courses between Leuven’s three groups of faculties and for staff mobility between Kortrijk and Leuven. It is also the most common form for international exchanges. Yet the university is progressively supporting initiatives that replace or enhance physical with virtual mobility, seeking to integrate aspects of ‘virtual campuses’ into traditional education to stimulate collaboration between the sites of the Association, to support student and/or staff exchanges in Europe or in the world, to enhance communication with developing countries or to sustain virtual learning communities.

===== Joint course materials =====
At a basic level (virtual/blended) multicampus education in Leuven is revealed in initiatives that create, offer and localize joint course materials. While teaching staff and students remain at their own campus for the entire course, specific course modules learning materials are used that have been developed, at a distance, by an inter-institutional (multicampus) teaching team. These course materials are often offered on a common website, a databank or a virtual learning environment. Recently there are also teachers who (co-)develop or use ‘Open Educational Resources’.

===== Pooled infrastructure =====
Not only course materials are collaboratively created or shared. Also (laboratory)-infrastructure is shared between locations to avoid a double set up of equipment. In some cases this pooled infrastructure is also virtual. Some (dangerous) laboratory experiments or experiments that require students and staff to be at different locations (students watch a complex surgical operation) can now happen thanks to virtual support to bridge the distance between the actual experiment and the audience. The infrastructure of the experiment itself is in a limited number of cases entirely digital by means of a simulation on a common virtual platform.

===== Joint learning activities =====
Furthermore, multicampus education can be about joint learning activities. For the ‘Student Business Game’ for instance, students from different institutions f the Association K.U.Leuven play a business game on their own campus after which the winning teams compete with each other via videoconferencing before a jury of teaching and company staff. Joint learning activities can also be about e-coaching, about writing an academic paper at a distance or student placements. All activities invite multiple sites to collaborate in the creation, delivery or support of the activity, with the help of technology. At K.U.Leuven joint learning activities are particularly interesting for interdisciplinary modules, courses or programs, such as activities involving both learners studying medicine or nursing, industrial or civil engineering, etc.

===== Joint courses =====
Building on joint learning activities, another type of multicampus are joint courses. A joint course can be (a) a course developed by one campus (institution) and offered to students at another campus (institution), (b) a course developed by one institution and used but adapted by another institution or (c) a jointly developed course offered to students of all involved institutions (Haake et al., 2006). One variation of this type are virtual seminars: co-created or co-delivered seminars set up as a single course, or in a series of courses - broadcasted over multiple sites using ICT (videoconferencing, web conferencing, streaming, etc) . The KULeuven has a strong expertise and long tradition in organizing virtual seminars. The ‘Pentalfa’ project for instance is a multidisciplinary, post-graduate distance learning initiative of the Faculty of Medicine, aimed to offer (extra) training broadcasted to various hospitals of the Flemish Hospital Network K.U.Leuven. It is currently in its 8th year and there are plans to enhance the initiative with an international component. The university is also looking into the use of virtual seminars for knowledge exchange and networking between the institutions of the Association and beyond (society in general, companies, alumni, etc.).

===== Multicampus programmes =====
Next, multicampus education is also revealed in the offer of a complete, ‘multicampus’ programme, which many institutions can be contributing in. A number of Bachelors and Masters are already set up within the Association K.U.Leuven, involving multiple teaching teams from different institutions. The challenge is to streamline these programs around a common denominator, yet with respect to any local specificities of each campus involved. Virtual initiatives – joint learning materials, joint learning activities, joint courses – all play a vital part in this. Eventually a completely virtual multicampus programme comes close to the traditional form of distance education, as offered by the Open University for instance. From the perspective of more and better flexibility in education, it could be interesting to bring distance and regular education together. Regular programs could put forward a number of distance learning courses (and vice versa), in replacement of or as an enhancement to their offer: they could support or realize the transition between certain bachelors and masters in a flexible way, (work) students could enhance their own study package with a number of distance education courses. In Flanders, the current offers of both the regular universities and the Open University are still entirely separate from each other. Yet under certain conditions the Open University does already allow its students to take courses from other universities in addition to the curriculum of the own education. K.U.Leuven is currently studying the opportunity to present this interpretation of multicampus to its students.

===== Virtual support activities for physical mobility =====
Ultimately, multicampus education is also about a range of virtual support activities with regard to real, physical mobility. A large range of actions can be mentioned here. At the early, preparatory phase of a physical student (or staff) exchange, multicampus support can be given through the set up of community websites for future exchange students where they can meet current students who help them find housing, give them information etc. Within the Association K.U.Leuven such a platform is being created and tested for new foreign students to find a ‘(virtual) buddy’ . There is also the opportunity for teaching staff to meet the interested new students online, for a language ‘pre-selection’ or just a first get-together. This has been tested as a pilot in the [[REVE]] project for the Erasmus Mundus Master in Adapted Physical Activity (Rajagopal et. al., 2006; Bijnens H. et. al., 2006). After the exchange, the aforementioned communities can continue to live on as a virtual alumni platform; or students could be examined at a distance through virtual mobility (video communication).

=== Source ===
[[Bijnens]] H., '''[[De Gruyter]] J.''', [[Op de Beeck]] I., [[Bacsich]] P., [[Reynolds]] S., [[Van Petegem]] W., Re-defining virtual campuses: from a “fully-fletched” virtual campus to a blended model. Paper accepted for the EDEN conference. Lisbon, June 11-14, 2008.

== History and detail ==

The concept of virtual university, now so ubiquitous, is in fact only around 11 years old in its current usage. By the phrase virtual university, we (and most people) mean a university which carries out much of its teaching, perhaps all of it, at a distance from the learner.

Even at an early workshop on this topic, at the EdMedia/EdTelecom conference in Boston in June 1996, organised at short notice by Robin Mason and me (both then at the UK Open University), the room was packed out. There was a workshop on virtual universities at Online Educa at Berlin in November 1996 and the topic featured largely in the Sheffield conference “Flexible Learning on the Information Super-Highway” in May 1997. Since then the topic has exploded, with conferences around the world featuring the concept, sometimes to the exclusion of anything else.

In the past, virtual teaching was carried out by posting text-books to the student, who read them and sent back assignments to be marked. Communication between the stu-dent and the academic was via correspondence – hence the phrases correspondence teaching and correspondence university. This approach in fact still happens in many institutions today, especially in less developed parts of the world.

In the early 1970s, the use of television broadcasting for teaching in Universities (ad-ditional to correspondence teaching) became popular, most notably in the UK Open University – originally called the “University of the Air”. Some TV-based universities still exist, but the tale of the use of broadcast TV in universities (including open uni-versities) has so far been one of a long broad retreat masked by a number of tempo-rary local advances.
The paradigm of mostly correspondence and print (with perhaps a little TV) lasted many years, but from the early 1990s, under the impact of information technology in general and the Internet in particular, a new paradigm emerged. This is to use the Internet for all the teaching in a virtual university – thus courses would be “delivered” to the student with a PC at home (or at work – and sometimes in a learning centre) and the student would interact via e-mail and Web pages. Increasingly, people use the term e-university for this. In the past, many other terms were prevalent, each with their own nuancing – online university, net university, etc.

In an extreme model – pure-play, as it is called in the dot-com world – this use of the Internet would totally replace the use of text-books, correspondence teaching and tele-vision. While there are some institutions adopting this extreme view (which has the advantage of simplifying the logistics), it is most common to be blended, that is, to have a mix of old and new technologies, with the new gradually growing in impor-tance.

In the Gazetteer, which gives a list of e-universities around the world (and their Web sites), we give the following pragmatic description of e-universities:

: Accredited university-level institutions delivering degree-awarding courses, with a substantial percentage delivered at a distance, with a substantial percentage of these using e-learning. If there is a face-to-face university at the core, we expect the courses delivered at a distance to come from a separately named part of the university, and to be referenced from a high level of the university Web site by such phrases as “Virtual Campus”, “Online Service” or some such.
Because of the need to fund the development of materials, and the fact that collabora-tion is easier and cheaper via the Internet, it became common to develop virtual uni-versity systems via consortia of universities. However, there is no firm evidence that this is a better approach in general than a single university doing the development, often called a virtual campus.

The phrase virtual campus became prominent in the UK around 1997, when various UK universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly, especially in the UK, a university may no longer use the phrase virtual campus while still in fact having one.

A number of other phrases have crept in over the years. A distance-teaching univer-sity is essentially a correspondence university. An open university is in strict terms a university which has an open admissions policy (i.e., anyone can become a student, although not anyone can graduate – students still have to pass the course) but increas-ingly this term is used to describe distance-teaching universities in general, and even those which are not open in this sense. It was for reasons of this sort that the European Commission theorists coined the phrase open and distance learning (ODL), basically to avoid making difficult distinctions.

And in the last few years, the phrase borderless education (rarely borderless university) has come into vogue, under influence from Australian work.

== Defining “Virtual Campus” – A boundary approach==

=== Overview ===

Although the phrase ‘virtual campus’ is an important concept in the field of education, there is no theoretical framework for it. This chapter focuses on the development of such a theoretical framework. Similar to the work Stoof, Martens, Van Merrienboer & Bastiaens (2002) did for the concept of competence, we propose the boundary approach for virtual campuses, an aid to support stakeholders in the field of e-learning in thinking about the concept ‘virtual campus’. Here the concept of the ‘virtual campus’is being explored by focusing on its dimensions. This holds the quest for one absolute definition of it is abandoned and that instead definitions are being valued against their degree of viability.
The expression "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

===The boundary approach for the concept of virtual campus===

As the previous section shows there are a lot of variables involved defining the concept of the virtual campus. Depending on the context, the target group, the different goals and the technology involved a definition of ‘virtual campus’ can be formulated. The partners in the project group of the ReVica project do not want to give one single definition of the concept of the virtual campus. Since there will never be one right answer on the question what an virtual campus is,we suggest to use a conceptual representation aid as is shown in figure 1 to discuss the concept of the virtual campus. Figure 1 show the concept of a virtual campus as an amoeba-like form. The amoeba represents the virtual campus as a limited and demarcated concept, which is expressed by drawing its boundary. The boundary is being shaped by two opposing forces, being visualized as arrows (Based on the work of Stoof, Martens, Van Merriënboer & Bastiaens, 2002, p 352). From inside the figure, forces expand the boundary. This process is labeled as the ‘inside-out approach’ of the concept of the virtual campus. These are dimensions that define and construct the concept of the virtual campus. In Re.ViCa we aim to take virtual campus as synonymous with large-scale e-learning initiative. This ‘large-scale e-learning initiative’ is the inside-out dimension.
On the other hand, the forces from outside the figure reduce the boundary. This outside-in approach focuses on the selection of terms that best express the intended meaning of the virtual campus (so it clarifies the relationships). In Re.ViCa we avoid the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but this begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators, these are all outside in dimensions, which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied. An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is major if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:

* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure).
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director.
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures.
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor).
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development
As said before as a project group we do not want to take the arrogant view to present one final definition of the virtual campus, Time will catch up on us when we do that and our work will become obsolete. For the time being we present a working definition, that involves large scale initiatives (an inside out dimension) which are recognizable on the list of characteristics above. The boundary approach makes it easier to change the definition in the future and discuss new opinions.

----
> [[Glossary]]
 
> [[Main Page]]

[[Category:Definienda]]

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T09:39:21Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Virtual campus synonyms in other countries */

== Overview ==

The phrase "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

== The Re.ViCa Working Definition of Virtual Campus: A modern synthesis ==

In Re.ViCa we aim to take ''virtual campus'' as synonymous with ''large-scale e-learning initiative''. This avoids the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied.

An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is ''major'' if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:
* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure)
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor)
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development

== Virtual campus definition of the European Commission==

Cooperation between higher education institutions in the field of e-learning, regarding: design of joint curricula development by several universities, including agreements for the evaluation, validation and recognition of acquired competences, subject to national procedures; large–scale experiments of virtual mobility in addition to physical mobility and development of innovative dual mode curricula, based on both traditional and on-line learning methods. This broad definition involves many issues from partnerships between traditional and/or distance universities and HEI with a view to offering joint certifications (for undergraduate and/or postgraduate levels) and cooperation with learning support services. This might also include collaborative activities in strategic areas of education or research through cooperation involving researchers, academics, students, management, administrative and technical personnel. 'Virtual campuses' should not be confused with e-learning platforms.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/guide/glossary_en.html

At the e-learningeuropa.info portal 'Virtual Campus' is defined as "Part of a university or faculty that offers educational facilities at any time or, in theory, any place, by Internet."

Source: http://www.elearningeuropa.info/main/index.php?page=glossary&abc=V

At a European Commission consultation workshop held in Brussels on 23rd November 2004
entitled “The ‘e’ for our universities – virtual campus” (EACEA, 2004), one of the working
groups proposed three definitions emphasising different aspects of a virtual campus. These
were the:

(i) Collaboration perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes ICT-based collaboration of different partners supporting both, learning offers and research in a distributed setting.

(ii) Enterprise (economic) perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an ICT-based
distributed learning and research enterprise.

(iii) Networked organisation perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an environment, which augments and/or integrates learning and research services offered by different partners.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/archive/elearning/doc/workshops/virtual%20campuses/report_en.pdf

== Virtual campus definition of the BENVIC Project==
The concept of a Virtual Campus refers to a specific format of distance education and on-line learning in which students, teaching staff and even university administrative and technical staff mainly 'meet' or communicate trough technical links.

Source: http://www.benvic.odl.org/indexpr.html

== Virtual campus definition of Wikipedia ==
A Virtual Campus refers to the online offerings of a college or university where college work is completed either partially or wholly online, often with the assistance of the teacher, professor, or teaching assistant.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Campus

== Virtual Campus by Van Dusen ==
The Virtual Campus is a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies

Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra

Van Dusen (1997
== Virtual campus synonyms in other countries ==
=== Belgium ===
# "Campus Virtuel" (FR) such as for the
## [http://www.elearning.ulg.ac.be/modules/freecontent/index.php?id=69 Virtual Campus of the University of Liege], [http://nettskolen.nki.no/in_english/megatrends/Liege_Article.pdf MegaTrends case study (PDF)]
## [http://www.campusvirtuel.be Campusvirtuel.be] from 3 Business Schools ([http://www.solvay.edu Solvay], [http://www.hec.ulg.ac.be/EN/index.php HEC-ULg] and [http://www.uclouvain.be/en-lsm.html LSM]), article in French: [http://www.uclouvain.be/259258.html "Solvay, HEC-ULg et la LSM créent ensemble un campus virtuel"]
# "Virtuele Campus" (NL) which was '''formerly''' used to describe:
## [http://www.secondlifecrew.be/795/hogeschool-heeft-zijn-eigen-virtuele-campus.html a terminated school project as a Second Life campus] for [http://www.kahosl.be/site/index.php?p=/nl/page/system:index/kaho/ Catholic University College Ghent (formerly KaHo Sint-Lieven)]
## [http://www.virtuelecampus.be a virtual tour and information guide of the University of Antwerp], which is now redirected to a new URL with the appropriate title "

=== France ===
# "Université Virtuelle"
# "Campus Virtuel"
# "Campus numérique"
# "Université Numérique (de Région)"

Visit our wiki page '''[[VC definition - france|VC definition - France]]'''

===United Kingdom===

The Re.ViCa wiki page on the UK, written mainly in the summer of 2008, summarises the use of “virtual campus” in UK tertiary education as follows:
As a matter of historical interest, the actual phrase virtual campus is (still) used in the way it is defined in this chapter at the following UK universities and colleges:
*Universities. University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University and Robert Gordon University. (Sheffield Hallam University used the phrase for several years but is said to feel that nowadays the phrase is insufficiently distinctive.)
*Colleges. City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (Londonderry), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium.
*NHS. The NHS University (NHSU) and several medical schools including at Kings College London use or used the phrase.
*Ulster University’s Campus One describes itself as a virtual campus.
*One supplier’s product is called the “Teknical Virtual Campus”

A search – Search 1 – was done in Google on 14 May 2009 for
"virtual campus" site:uk .There are 11600 hits (!) of which the first 50 have been analysed. It excludes material which is actually about virtual campuses outside the UK but which might have been described by articles published on “.uk” web sites. A second search – Search 2 – tried to establish current usage within HE/FE (post-secondary) with a tighter search: 2008 OR 2009 "virtual campus" -"virtual campus tour" site:ac.uk There are still 724 English pages. The first 150 have been reviewed.
Conclusions: At the top level, although few of the original university adopters of the phrase use “virtual campus” as much or as visibly as before, it is still used for a number of departmental, consortium and private provider initiatives – and also by an increasing number of colleges. However, there are a number of uses that are out of scope – including for “virtual tours” of a physical campus and for various experiments with Second Life. Finally, it continues to be used beyond the boundaries of post-secondary education, for example in prisons and by commercial training providers in a way that would be valid if the providers were in scope for us. In more detail:
# The following UK universities use the phrase “Virtual Campus” (or in some cases the short form “Virtual” – e.g. Brookes Virtual) within the usual range of Re.ViCa senses at an institutional level. It can appear in a variety of ways: in their strapline for their e-learning initiative, as a component of a URL, a link from their home page, or a regularly used phrase in their top-level narratives: University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University (Brookes Virtual) and Robert Gordon University. Not all these universities have it as part of their strapline for their e-learning initiative.
# A number of other universities do not use in such a visible sense but the phrase appears – or has appeared – in places in their literature. These include Sheffield Hallam University, Huddersfield University.
# A further number of other universities use the phrase at a departmental level: Kings College London (more than one department), Liverpool John Moores University (computing).
# A few more use synonyms – online campus, global campus, etc – in this way, such as Middlesex University (Computing – Global Campus).
# Many colleges use the phrase “virtual campus” at an institutional level. These include the ones already cited above: City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (now part of North West Regional College), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium (of four colleges around Bristol) – and some new arrivals such as Forth Valley College, Midlands Bible College and Wirral Metropolitan College. A number of these (new and old) used the phrase first because they bought the VLE called “Virtual Campus” from the firm Teknical, now taken over by Serco.
# Consortia users of the phrase include GIS Consortium, UNIGIS and Leeds Teacher Training (SCITT).
# Private (for profit) providers include Kaplan, in their guise as Kaplan Open Learning, an affiliate college of the University of Essex.
# Wider uses include Prisoners Education Trust and CiREM.
# Many universities use it – “out of scope” for us – to describe virtual tours of the physical campus. These include University of Aberdeen, University of Brighton, Lancaster University, University of Nottingham, University of Stirling, University of Warwick, University of Worcester and York St John University
# There are several university experiments with Second Life to model a physical campus which may in time extent into our kind of virtual campus functions. These include University of East London and University of Sussex.

===Spain===

A spanish definition of a virtual campus focuses on the virtual campus as a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies (Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra, Van Dusen (1997 ).

===Finland===

Finnish Virtual University, one the major projects of Finnish information society activities late 1990’s and the 2000’s in higher education field, defines its own portal as a virtual campus (Finnish: virtuaalikampus) for students, teachers, researchers and administrative staff working in online education The portal links together the virtual activities of the Finnish universities and provides services that can be used by all the participants.
SOCRATES Thematic Network Enhancing Engineering Education in Europe – E4 Survey of Virtual Campus and Virtual University Activities in Europe (2002) takes holistic approach and defines virtual campus as a broad conceptual framework for tools, services and facilities for students, faculty and staff. The word “campus” is used to denote the environment for the people who study, carry out research or work at the university. These elements include e learning, research activities, administrative services or other functions, i.e. complementing and supporting life on the physical university campus.
The approach taken by Finnish higher education society nowadays is a logic continuum of E4 definition, following the ideas of the National Information Society Policy for 2007 -2011 (The Ubiquitous Information Society Advisory Board): the key processes and interaction are largely based on the utilisation of electronic communications and information technology. ICT applications contribute to service provision and availability and create new operating models and new skills. The key elements are communications infrastructure, user-oriented services, development of digital contents and promotion of innovation activities and telework and development of science infrastructure. The use of ICT in teaching and studying is promoted. It is not seen as a separate target area as such but merely integrated into all processes of education and development of new electronic learning environment. This approach is often described as “ICT supported university” (Finnish: TVT-tuettu yliopisto) or “digitalization of the university” in university context (Sources: Ubiquitous Information Society, Action Programme 2008–2011 Government Resolution on the Objectives of the National Information Society Policy for 2007-2011 ).

===Netherlands===

In the Netherlands the term ‘virtual campus’ is synonym to ‘digital campus’ which is often referred to as ‘a digital working and learning environment’. This working and learning environment is seen from a educational perspective (not from a business point of view) and includes digital components (but is not solely an electronically environment). This definition comes close to what we nowadays call blended learning. A virtual campus encloses human – and technological- activities for educational purposes (based on: Van Elk, L. ELO-definiëring (2004). Digital University).
When a closer look is taken at the definition of a virtual campus from a business perspective then it matches almost everything that is related to e-learning in general. So a virtual campus is an environment in which individuals can attend practical training sessions, anyplace, anytime, anywhere. With just-in-time support, various learning materials (audio, video, written) and learning at own pace (based on website http://www.info2people.nl/page/VirtualCampus.htm ).
It is remarkable that the word ‘virtual campus’ is not used very much in the field of higher education. Although all universities have a virtual environment to offer, they most of the time use the expression ‘electronic learning environment’ or ‘portal’for virtual support services. It looks like the word ‘virtual campus’ is outdated.

===Italy===

Telematic University
In Italy further to the approval of the law n° 341/1990 on the restructuring of the university didactic rule (university autonomy), public-private consortia were established for distance teaching universities. Further to this law, in April 2005 the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree about “the criteria and procedures for accrediting distance education courses of the state and non state universities and of higher education institutions enables to issue academic titles, was enacted”.
This act, commonly called the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree, since it was enacted by the then Minister of Education, University and Research, Ms Letizia Moratti, with the then Minister for Innovation and Technologies, Mr. Lucio Stanca, concretely implements the institution of the Telematic universities, authorised to issue academic titles.
In Italy distance education courses are established and implemented by state and non state universities and make use of computer-based and Telematic technologies in accordance with the technical requirements indicated by the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree. These universities have to be organised “according to the most advanced computer-based and Telematic technologies and are aimed at issuing academic titles envisage by laws currently in force”. The academic titles “can be issued by university institutions promoted by public and private bodies and acknowledge according to the criteria and procedures envisaged by the Decree”. There are specific rules as it regards the acknowledgement of study courses. More specifically, it is envisaged a Charter of Services that envisages a didactic methodology and the conclusion of a specific contract with the student. The distance education courses are characterised, as stated in the Decree: “by the use of web-based connections for the use of training materials and the development of educational activities based on the interactivity with teachers-tutors and with the other students, by the use of PC , by the continuous monitoring of the learning progress according to the selective and rigorous criteria envisaged to assure the quality of the courses and the reliability of the educational offer'' […] "The didactic organisation of the distance education courses valorises potentials of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the highest degree and more specifically as it regards multimediality and interactivity in order to favour customised study paths and to optimise learning”.
The Italian situation can be better understood if one takes into due account the recent history of distance higher education initiatives and the experience of renewal we had beginning Nineties with the Law n° 341/1990. The “Reform of the University Didactic Rules” that was started up caused the appearance of new higher education multimedia systems whose achievements only Consorzio NETTUNO, in which 12,000 students were enrolled, seemed to be able to build on.
With the “Moratti-Stanca” Decree of April 2003 it was established that the Minister of the University could acknowledge the establishment of new Telematic universities by decree. Starting from 2004 it acknowledged 11 universities as a whole. The path undertaken by the Italian legislator was full of initiatives, even if not all of them were up to the undertaking. Actually, not all the Telematic universities acknowledged by ministerial decree were able of carrying on proposals for distance education complying with the standards set a national level.

== Multicampus University (K.U.Leuven)==

The 'traditional university' Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ([[K.U.Leuven]]) in [[Belgium]] progressively organizes its educational support from a multicampus perspective.
In recent decades, the [[K.U.Leuven]] in Belgium has become a multicampus university. As a result of the historic expansion of the university its three groups of faculties have become separate entities, geographically spread over Leuven: Human Sciences are housed in the centre of the city, Exact Sciences in the east and Medical Sciences in the north. Since 1965, the university also has an additional campus in Kortrijk, in the west of Belgium. And in 2002, thirteen institutions of higher education in Flanders have joined forces with the K.U.Leuven in the [http://associatie.kuleuven.be/eng/ K.U.Leuven Association] in order to occupy a position of strength within the new European educational landscape and to work together towards quality improvements in education. This Association has 23 different campuses. In addition the K.U.Leuven profiles itself as an international university. The institution has agreements with various universities worldwide to enable and support a growing number student and staff exchanges between campuses. Lastly, with the introduction of ICT the university is also facing an extended form of multicampus education. Online networks of student groups and/or teaching staff – sometimes linked to but often independent from the institution – are emerging, in learning communities or communities of practice. Each participant in these networks can be considered a small virtual ‘campus’, learning from home, work or through a mobile device.

==== Enhancing or replacing physical mobility with virtual mobility====
The current structure of the university thus challenges the K.U.Leuven to organize and support its education with attention for communication and collaboration between the various campuses. Today this is most often realized through physical mobility: staff and/or student move between different locations. This is the case for interdisciplinary courses between Leuven’s three groups of faculties and for staff mobility between Kortrijk and Leuven. It is also the most common form for international exchanges. Yet the university is progressively supporting initiatives that replace or enhance physical with virtual mobility, seeking to integrate aspects of ‘virtual campuses’ into traditional education to stimulate collaboration between the sites of the Association, to support student and/or staff exchanges in Europe or in the world, to enhance communication with developing countries or to sustain virtual learning communities.

===== Joint course materials =====
At a basic level (virtual/blended) multicampus education in Leuven is revealed in initiatives that create, offer and localize joint course materials. While teaching staff and students remain at their own campus for the entire course, specific course modules learning materials are used that have been developed, at a distance, by an inter-institutional (multicampus) teaching team. These course materials are often offered on a common website, a databank or a virtual learning environment. Recently there are also teachers who (co-)develop or use ‘Open Educational Resources’.

===== Pooled infrastructure =====
Not only course materials are collaboratively created or shared. Also (laboratory)-infrastructure is shared between locations to avoid a double set up of equipment. In some cases this pooled infrastructure is also virtual. Some (dangerous) laboratory experiments or experiments that require students and staff to be at different locations (students watch a complex surgical operation) can now happen thanks to virtual support to bridge the distance between the actual experiment and the audience. The infrastructure of the experiment itself is in a limited number of cases entirely digital by means of a simulation on a common virtual platform.

===== Joint learning activities =====
Furthermore, multicampus education can be about joint learning activities. For the ‘Student Business Game’ for instance, students from different institutions f the Association K.U.Leuven play a business game on their own campus after which the winning teams compete with each other via videoconferencing before a jury of teaching and company staff. Joint learning activities can also be about e-coaching, about writing an academic paper at a distance or student placements. All activities invite multiple sites to collaborate in the creation, delivery or support of the activity, with the help of technology. At K.U.Leuven joint learning activities are particularly interesting for interdisciplinary modules, courses or programs, such as activities involving both learners studying medicine or nursing, industrial or civil engineering, etc.

===== Joint courses =====
Building on joint learning activities, another type of multicampus are joint courses. A joint course can be (a) a course developed by one campus (institution) and offered to students at another campus (institution), (b) a course developed by one institution and used but adapted by another institution or (c) a jointly developed course offered to students of all involved institutions (Haake et al., 2006). One variation of this type are virtual seminars: co-created or co-delivered seminars set up as a single course, or in a series of courses - broadcasted over multiple sites using ICT (videoconferencing, web conferencing, streaming, etc) . The KULeuven has a strong expertise and long tradition in organizing virtual seminars. The ‘Pentalfa’ project for instance is a multidisciplinary, post-graduate distance learning initiative of the Faculty of Medicine, aimed to offer (extra) training broadcasted to various hospitals of the Flemish Hospital Network K.U.Leuven. It is currently in its 8th year and there are plans to enhance the initiative with an international component. The university is also looking into the use of virtual seminars for knowledge exchange and networking between the institutions of the Association and beyond (society in general, companies, alumni, etc.).

===== Multicampus programmes =====
Next, multicampus education is also revealed in the offer of a complete, ‘multicampus’ programme, which many institutions can be contributing in. A number of Bachelors and Masters are already set up within the Association K.U.Leuven, involving multiple teaching teams from different institutions. The challenge is to streamline these programs around a common denominator, yet with respect to any local specificities of each campus involved. Virtual initiatives – joint learning materials, joint learning activities, joint courses – all play a vital part in this. Eventually a completely virtual multicampus programme comes close to the traditional form of distance education, as offered by the Open University for instance. From the perspective of more and better flexibility in education, it could be interesting to bring distance and regular education together. Regular programs could put forward a number of distance learning courses (and vice versa), in replacement of or as an enhancement to their offer: they could support or realize the transition between certain bachelors and masters in a flexible way, (work) students could enhance their own study package with a number of distance education courses. In Flanders, the current offers of both the regular universities and the Open University are still entirely separate from each other. Yet under certain conditions the Open University does already allow its students to take courses from other universities in addition to the curriculum of the own education. K.U.Leuven is currently studying the opportunity to present this interpretation of multicampus to its students.

===== Virtual support activities for physical mobility =====
Ultimately, multicampus education is also about a range of virtual support activities with regard to real, physical mobility. A large range of actions can be mentioned here. At the early, preparatory phase of a physical student (or staff) exchange, multicampus support can be given through the set up of community websites for future exchange students where they can meet current students who help them find housing, give them information etc. Within the Association K.U.Leuven such a platform is being created and tested for new foreign students to find a ‘(virtual) buddy’ . There is also the opportunity for teaching staff to meet the interested new students online, for a language ‘pre-selection’ or just a first get-together. This has been tested as a pilot in the [[REVE]] project for the Erasmus Mundus Master in Adapted Physical Activity (Rajagopal et. al., 2006; Bijnens H. et. al., 2006). After the exchange, the aforementioned communities can continue to live on as a virtual alumni platform; or students could be examined at a distance through virtual mobility (video communication).

=== Source ===
[[Bijnens]] H., '''[[De Gruyter]] J.''', [[Op de Beeck]] I., [[Bacsich]] P., [[Reynolds]] S., [[Van Petegem]] W., Re-defining virtual campuses: from a “fully-fletched” virtual campus to a blended model. Paper accepted for the EDEN conference. Lisbon, June 11-14, 2008.

== History and detail ==

The concept of virtual university, now so ubiquitous, is in fact only around 11 years old in its current usage. By the phrase virtual university, we (and most people) mean a university which carries out much of its teaching, perhaps all of it, at a distance from the learner.

Even at an early workshop on this topic, at the EdMedia/EdTelecom conference in Boston in June 1996, organised at short notice by Robin Mason and me (both then at the UK Open University), the room was packed out. There was a workshop on virtual universities at Online Educa at Berlin in November 1996 and the topic featured largely in the Sheffield conference “Flexible Learning on the Information Super-Highway” in May 1997. Since then the topic has exploded, with conferences around the world featuring the concept, sometimes to the exclusion of anything else.

In the past, virtual teaching was carried out by posting text-books to the student, who read them and sent back assignments to be marked. Communication between the stu-dent and the academic was via correspondence – hence the phrases correspondence teaching and correspondence university. This approach in fact still happens in many institutions today, especially in less developed parts of the world.

In the early 1970s, the use of television broadcasting for teaching in Universities (ad-ditional to correspondence teaching) became popular, most notably in the UK Open University – originally called the “University of the Air”. Some TV-based universities still exist, but the tale of the use of broadcast TV in universities (including open uni-versities) has so far been one of a long broad retreat masked by a number of tempo-rary local advances.
The paradigm of mostly correspondence and print (with perhaps a little TV) lasted many years, but from the early 1990s, under the impact of information technology in general and the Internet in particular, a new paradigm emerged. This is to use the Internet for all the teaching in a virtual university – thus courses would be “delivered” to the student with a PC at home (or at work – and sometimes in a learning centre) and the student would interact via e-mail and Web pages. Increasingly, people use the term e-university for this. In the past, many other terms were prevalent, each with their own nuancing – online university, net university, etc.

In an extreme model – pure-play, as it is called in the dot-com world – this use of the Internet would totally replace the use of text-books, correspondence teaching and tele-vision. While there are some institutions adopting this extreme view (which has the advantage of simplifying the logistics), it is most common to be blended, that is, to have a mix of old and new technologies, with the new gradually growing in impor-tance.

In the Gazetteer, which gives a list of e-universities around the world (and their Web sites), we give the following pragmatic description of e-universities:

: Accredited university-level institutions delivering degree-awarding courses, with a substantial percentage delivered at a distance, with a substantial percentage of these using e-learning. If there is a face-to-face university at the core, we expect the courses delivered at a distance to come from a separately named part of the university, and to be referenced from a high level of the university Web site by such phrases as “Virtual Campus”, “Online Service” or some such.
Because of the need to fund the development of materials, and the fact that collabora-tion is easier and cheaper via the Internet, it became common to develop virtual uni-versity systems via consortia of universities. However, there is no firm evidence that this is a better approach in general than a single university doing the development, often called a virtual campus.

The phrase virtual campus became prominent in the UK around 1997, when various UK universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly, especially in the UK, a university may no longer use the phrase virtual campus while still in fact having one.

A number of other phrases have crept in over the years. A distance-teaching univer-sity is essentially a correspondence university. An open university is in strict terms a university which has an open admissions policy (i.e., anyone can become a student, although not anyone can graduate – students still have to pass the course) but increas-ingly this term is used to describe distance-teaching universities in general, and even those which are not open in this sense. It was for reasons of this sort that the European Commission theorists coined the phrase open and distance learning (ODL), basically to avoid making difficult distinctions.

And in the last few years, the phrase borderless education (rarely borderless university) has come into vogue, under influence from Australian work.

== Defining “VIRTUAL CAMPUS” – A boundary approach==

=== Overview ===

Although the phrase ‘virtual campus’ is an important concept in the field of education, there is no theoretical framework for it. This chapter focuses on the development of such a theoretical framework. Similar to the work Stoof, Martens, Van Merrienboer & Bastiaens (2002) did for the concept of competence, we propose the boundary approach for virtual campuses, an aid to support stakeholders in the field of e-learning in thinking about the concept ‘virtual campus’. Here the concept of the ‘virtual campus’is being explored by focusing on its dimensions. This holds the quest for one absolute definition of it is abandoned and that instead definitions are being valued against their degree of viability.
The expression "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

===The boundary approach for the concept of virtual campus===

As the previous section shows there are a lot of variables involved defining the concept of the virtual campus. Depending on the context, the target group, the different goals and the technology involved a definition of ‘virtual campus’ can be formulated. The partners in the project group of the ReVica project do not want to give one single definition of the concept of the virtual campus. Since there will never be one right answer on the question what an virtual campus is,we suggest to use a conceptual representation aid as is shown in figure 1 to discuss the concept of the virtual campus. Figure 1 show the concept of a virtual campus as an amoeba-like form. The amoeba represents the virtual campus as a limited and demarcated concept, which is expressed by drawing its boundary. The boundary is being shaped by two opposing forces, being visualized as arrows (Based on the work of Stoof, Martens, Van Merriënboer & Bastiaens, 2002, p 352). From inside the figure, forces expand the boundary. This process is labeled as the ‘inside-out approach’ of the concept of the virtual campus. These are dimensions that define and construct the concept of the virtual campus. In Re.ViCa we aim to take virtual campus as synonymous with large-scale e-learning initiative. This ‘large-scale e-learning initiative’ is the inside-out dimension.
On the other hand, the forces from outside the figure reduce the boundary. This outside-in approach focuses on the selection of terms that best express the intended meaning of the virtual campus (so it clarifies the relationships). In Re.ViCa we avoid the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but this begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators, these are all outside in dimensions, which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied. An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is major if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:

* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure).
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director.
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures.
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor).
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development
As said before as a project group we do not want to take the arrogant view to present one final definition of the virtual campus, Time will catch up on us when we do that and our work will become obsolete. For the time being we present a working definition, that involves large scale initiatives (an inside out dimension) which are recognizable on the list of characteristics above. The boundary approach makes it easier to change the definition in the future and discuss new opinions.

----
> [[Glossary]]
 
> [[Main Page]]

[[Category:Definienda]]

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T09:35:02Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* United Kingdom */

== Overview ==

The phrase "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

== The Re.ViCa Working Definition of Virtual Campus: A modern synthesis ==

In Re.ViCa we aim to take ''virtual campus'' as synonymous with ''large-scale e-learning initiative''. This avoids the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied.

An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is ''major'' if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:
* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure)
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor)
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development

== Virtual campus definition of the European Commission==

Cooperation between higher education institutions in the field of e-learning, regarding: design of joint curricula development by several universities, including agreements for the evaluation, validation and recognition of acquired competences, subject to national procedures; large–scale experiments of virtual mobility in addition to physical mobility and development of innovative dual mode curricula, based on both traditional and on-line learning methods. This broad definition involves many issues from partnerships between traditional and/or distance universities and HEI with a view to offering joint certifications (for undergraduate and/or postgraduate levels) and cooperation with learning support services. This might also include collaborative activities in strategic areas of education or research through cooperation involving researchers, academics, students, management, administrative and technical personnel. 'Virtual campuses' should not be confused with e-learning platforms.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/guide/glossary_en.html

At the e-learningeuropa.info portal 'Virtual Campus' is defined as "Part of a university or faculty that offers educational facilities at any time or, in theory, any place, by Internet."

Source: http://www.elearningeuropa.info/main/index.php?page=glossary&abc=V

At a European Commission consultation workshop held in Brussels on 23rd November 2004
entitled “The ‘e’ for our universities – virtual campus” (EACEA, 2004), one of the working
groups proposed three definitions emphasising different aspects of a virtual campus. These
were the:

(i) Collaboration perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes ICT-based collaboration of different partners supporting both, learning offers and research in a distributed setting.

(ii) Enterprise (economic) perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an ICT-based
distributed learning and research enterprise.

(iii) Networked organisation perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an environment, which augments and/or integrates learning and research services offered by different partners.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/archive/elearning/doc/workshops/virtual%20campuses/report_en.pdf

== Virtual campus definition of the BENVIC Project==
The concept of a Virtual Campus refers to a specific format of distance education and on-line learning in which students, teaching staff and even university administrative and technical staff mainly 'meet' or communicate trough technical links.

Source: http://www.benvic.odl.org/indexpr.html

== Virtual campus definition of Wikipedia ==
A Virtual Campus refers to the online offerings of a college or university where college work is completed either partially or wholly online, often with the assistance of the teacher, professor, or teaching assistant.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Campus

== Virtual Campus by Van Dusen ==
The Virtual Campus is a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies

Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra

Van Dusen (1997
== Virtual campus synonyms in other countries ==
=== Belgium ===
# "Campus Virtuel" (FR) such as for the
## [http://www.elearning.ulg.ac.be/modules/freecontent/index.php?id=69 Virtual Campus of the University of Liege], [http://nettskolen.nki.no/in_english/megatrends/Liege_Article.pdf MegaTrends case study (PDF)]
## [http://www.campusvirtuel.be Campusvirtuel.be] from 3 Business Schools ([http://www.solvay.edu Solvay], [http://www.hec.ulg.ac.be/EN/index.php HEC-ULg] and [http://www.uclouvain.be/en-lsm.html LSM]), article in French: [http://www.uclouvain.be/259258.html "Solvay, HEC-ULg et la LSM créent ensemble un campus virtuel"]
# "Virtuele Campus" (NL) which was '''formerly''' used to describe:
## [http://www.secondlifecrew.be/795/hogeschool-heeft-zijn-eigen-virtuele-campus.html a terminated school project as a Second Life campus] for [http://www.kahosl.be/site/index.php?p=/nl/page/system:index/kaho/ Catholic University College Ghent (formerly KaHo Sint-Lieven)]
## [http://www.virtuelecampus.be a virtual tour and information guide of the University of Antwerp], which is now redirected to a new URL with the appropriate title "

=== France ===
# "Université Virtuelle"
# "Campus Virtuel"
# "Campus numérique"
# "Université Numérique (de Région)"

Visit our wiki page '''[[VC definition - france|VC definition - France]]'''

===United Kingdom===

The Re.ViCa wiki page on the UK, written mainly in the summer of 2008, summarises the use of “virtual campus” in UK tertiary education as follows:
As a matter of historical interest, the actual phrase virtual campus is (still) used in the way it is defined in this chapter at the following UK universities and colleges:
*Universities. University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University and Robert Gordon University. (Sheffield Hallam University used the phrase for several years but is said to feel that nowadays the phrase is insufficiently distinctive.)
*Colleges. City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (Londonderry), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium.
*NHS. The NHS University (NHSU) and several medical schools including at Kings College London use or used the phrase.
*Ulster University’s Campus One describes itself as a virtual campus.
*One supplier’s product is called the “Teknical Virtual Campus”

A search – Search 1 – was done in Google on 14 May 2009 for
"virtual campus" site:uk .There are 11600 hits (!) of which the first 50 have been analysed. It excludes material which is actually about virtual campuses outside the UK but which might have been described by articles published on “.uk” web sites. A second search – Search 2 – tried to establish current usage within HE/FE (post-secondary) with a tighter search: 2008 OR 2009 "virtual campus" -"virtual campus tour" site:ac.uk There are still 724 English pages. The first 150 have been reviewed.
Conclusions: At the top level, although few of the original university adopters of the phrase use “virtual campus” as much or as visibly as before, it is still used for a number of departmental, consortium and private provider initiatives – and also by an increasing number of colleges. However, there are a number of uses that are out of scope – including for “virtual tours” of a physical campus and for various experiments with Second Life. Finally, it continues to be used beyond the boundaries of post-secondary education, for example in prisons and by commercial training providers in a way that would be valid if the providers were in scope for us. In more detail:
# The following UK universities use the phrase “Virtual Campus” (or in some cases the short form “Virtual” – e.g. Brookes Virtual) within the usual range of Re.ViCa senses at an institutional level. It can appear in a variety of ways: in their strapline for their e-learning initiative, as a component of a URL, a link from their home page, or a regularly used phrase in their top-level narratives: University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University (Brookes Virtual) and Robert Gordon University. Not all these universities have it as part of their strapline for their e-learning initiative.
# A number of other universities do not use in such a visible sense but the phrase appears – or has appeared – in places in their literature. These include Sheffield Hallam University, Huddersfield University.
# A further number of other universities use the phrase at a departmental level: Kings College London (more than one department), Liverpool John Moores University (computing).
# A few more use synonyms – online campus, global campus, etc – in this way, such as Middlesex University (Computing – Global Campus).
# Many colleges use the phrase “virtual campus” at an institutional level. These include the ones already cited above: City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (now part of North West Regional College), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium (of four colleges around Bristol) – and some new arrivals such as Forth Valley College, Midlands Bible College and Wirral Metropolitan College. A number of these (new and old) used the phrase first because they bought the VLE called “Virtual Campus” from the firm Teknical, now taken over by Serco.
# Consortia users of the phrase include GIS Consortium, UNIGIS and Leeds Teacher Training (SCITT).
# Private (for profit) providers include Kaplan, in their guise as Kaplan Open Learning, an affiliate college of the University of Essex.
# Wider uses include Prisoners Education Trust and CiREM.
# Many universities use it – “out of scope” for us – to describe virtual tours of the physical campus. These include University of Aberdeen, University of Brighton, Lancaster University, University of Nottingham, University of Stirling, University of Warwick, University of Worcester and York St John University
# There are several university experiments with Second Life to model a physical campus which may in time extent into our kind of virtual campus functions. These include University of East London and University of Sussex.

== Multicampus University (K.U.Leuven)==

The 'traditional university' Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ([[K.U.Leuven]]) in [[Belgium]] progressively organizes its educational support from a multicampus perspective.
In recent decades, the [[K.U.Leuven]] in Belgium has become a multicampus university. As a result of the historic expansion of the university its three groups of faculties have become separate entities, geographically spread over Leuven: Human Sciences are housed in the centre of the city, Exact Sciences in the east and Medical Sciences in the north. Since 1965, the university also has an additional campus in Kortrijk, in the west of Belgium. And in 2002, thirteen institutions of higher education in Flanders have joined forces with the K.U.Leuven in the [http://associatie.kuleuven.be/eng/ K.U.Leuven Association] in order to occupy a position of strength within the new European educational landscape and to work together towards quality improvements in education. This Association has 23 different campuses. In addition the K.U.Leuven profiles itself as an international university. The institution has agreements with various universities worldwide to enable and support a growing number student and staff exchanges between campuses. Lastly, with the introduction of ICT the university is also facing an extended form of multicampus education. Online networks of student groups and/or teaching staff – sometimes linked to but often independent from the institution – are emerging, in learning communities or communities of practice. Each participant in these networks can be considered a small virtual ‘campus’, learning from home, work or through a mobile device.

==== Enhancing or replacing physical mobility with virtual mobility====
The current structure of the university thus challenges the K.U.Leuven to organize and support its education with attention for communication and collaboration between the various campuses. Today this is most often realized through physical mobility: staff and/or student move between different locations. This is the case for interdisciplinary courses between Leuven’s three groups of faculties and for staff mobility between Kortrijk and Leuven. It is also the most common form for international exchanges. Yet the university is progressively supporting initiatives that replace or enhance physical with virtual mobility, seeking to integrate aspects of ‘virtual campuses’ into traditional education to stimulate collaboration between the sites of the Association, to support student and/or staff exchanges in Europe or in the world, to enhance communication with developing countries or to sustain virtual learning communities.

===== Joint course materials =====
At a basic level (virtual/blended) multicampus education in Leuven is revealed in initiatives that create, offer and localize joint course materials. While teaching staff and students remain at their own campus for the entire course, specific course modules learning materials are used that have been developed, at a distance, by an inter-institutional (multicampus) teaching team. These course materials are often offered on a common website, a databank or a virtual learning environment. Recently there are also teachers who (co-)develop or use ‘Open Educational Resources’.

===== Pooled infrastructure =====
Not only course materials are collaboratively created or shared. Also (laboratory)-infrastructure is shared between locations to avoid a double set up of equipment. In some cases this pooled infrastructure is also virtual. Some (dangerous) laboratory experiments or experiments that require students and staff to be at different locations (students watch a complex surgical operation) can now happen thanks to virtual support to bridge the distance between the actual experiment and the audience. The infrastructure of the experiment itself is in a limited number of cases entirely digital by means of a simulation on a common virtual platform.

===== Joint learning activities =====
Furthermore, multicampus education can be about joint learning activities. For the ‘Student Business Game’ for instance, students from different institutions f the Association K.U.Leuven play a business game on their own campus after which the winning teams compete with each other via videoconferencing before a jury of teaching and company staff. Joint learning activities can also be about e-coaching, about writing an academic paper at a distance or student placements. All activities invite multiple sites to collaborate in the creation, delivery or support of the activity, with the help of technology. At K.U.Leuven joint learning activities are particularly interesting for interdisciplinary modules, courses or programs, such as activities involving both learners studying medicine or nursing, industrial or civil engineering, etc.

===== Joint courses =====
Building on joint learning activities, another type of multicampus are joint courses. A joint course can be (a) a course developed by one campus (institution) and offered to students at another campus (institution), (b) a course developed by one institution and used but adapted by another institution or (c) a jointly developed course offered to students of all involved institutions (Haake et al., 2006). One variation of this type are virtual seminars: co-created or co-delivered seminars set up as a single course, or in a series of courses - broadcasted over multiple sites using ICT (videoconferencing, web conferencing, streaming, etc) . The KULeuven has a strong expertise and long tradition in organizing virtual seminars. The ‘Pentalfa’ project for instance is a multidisciplinary, post-graduate distance learning initiative of the Faculty of Medicine, aimed to offer (extra) training broadcasted to various hospitals of the Flemish Hospital Network K.U.Leuven. It is currently in its 8th year and there are plans to enhance the initiative with an international component. The university is also looking into the use of virtual seminars for knowledge exchange and networking between the institutions of the Association and beyond (society in general, companies, alumni, etc.).

===== Multicampus programmes =====
Next, multicampus education is also revealed in the offer of a complete, ‘multicampus’ programme, which many institutions can be contributing in. A number of Bachelors and Masters are already set up within the Association K.U.Leuven, involving multiple teaching teams from different institutions. The challenge is to streamline these programs around a common denominator, yet with respect to any local specificities of each campus involved. Virtual initiatives – joint learning materials, joint learning activities, joint courses – all play a vital part in this. Eventually a completely virtual multicampus programme comes close to the traditional form of distance education, as offered by the Open University for instance. From the perspective of more and better flexibility in education, it could be interesting to bring distance and regular education together. Regular programs could put forward a number of distance learning courses (and vice versa), in replacement of or as an enhancement to their offer: they could support or realize the transition between certain bachelors and masters in a flexible way, (work) students could enhance their own study package with a number of distance education courses. In Flanders, the current offers of both the regular universities and the Open University are still entirely separate from each other. Yet under certain conditions the Open University does already allow its students to take courses from other universities in addition to the curriculum of the own education. K.U.Leuven is currently studying the opportunity to present this interpretation of multicampus to its students.

===== Virtual support activities for physical mobility =====
Ultimately, multicampus education is also about a range of virtual support activities with regard to real, physical mobility. A large range of actions can be mentioned here. At the early, preparatory phase of a physical student (or staff) exchange, multicampus support can be given through the set up of community websites for future exchange students where they can meet current students who help them find housing, give them information etc. Within the Association K.U.Leuven such a platform is being created and tested for new foreign students to find a ‘(virtual) buddy’ . There is also the opportunity for teaching staff to meet the interested new students online, for a language ‘pre-selection’ or just a first get-together. This has been tested as a pilot in the [[REVE]] project for the Erasmus Mundus Master in Adapted Physical Activity (Rajagopal et. al., 2006; Bijnens H. et. al., 2006). After the exchange, the aforementioned communities can continue to live on as a virtual alumni platform; or students could be examined at a distance through virtual mobility (video communication).

=== Source ===
[[Bijnens]] H., '''[[De Gruyter]] J.''', [[Op de Beeck]] I., [[Bacsich]] P., [[Reynolds]] S., [[Van Petegem]] W., Re-defining virtual campuses: from a “fully-fletched” virtual campus to a blended model. Paper accepted for the EDEN conference. Lisbon, June 11-14, 2008.

== History and detail ==

The concept of virtual university, now so ubiquitous, is in fact only around 11 years old in its current usage. By the phrase virtual university, we (and most people) mean a university which carries out much of its teaching, perhaps all of it, at a distance from the learner.

Even at an early workshop on this topic, at the EdMedia/EdTelecom conference in Boston in June 1996, organised at short notice by Robin Mason and me (both then at the UK Open University), the room was packed out. There was a workshop on virtual universities at Online Educa at Berlin in November 1996 and the topic featured largely in the Sheffield conference “Flexible Learning on the Information Super-Highway” in May 1997. Since then the topic has exploded, with conferences around the world featuring the concept, sometimes to the exclusion of anything else.

In the past, virtual teaching was carried out by posting text-books to the student, who read them and sent back assignments to be marked. Communication between the stu-dent and the academic was via correspondence – hence the phrases correspondence teaching and correspondence university. This approach in fact still happens in many institutions today, especially in less developed parts of the world.

In the early 1970s, the use of television broadcasting for teaching in Universities (ad-ditional to correspondence teaching) became popular, most notably in the UK Open University – originally called the “University of the Air”. Some TV-based universities still exist, but the tale of the use of broadcast TV in universities (including open uni-versities) has so far been one of a long broad retreat masked by a number of tempo-rary local advances.
The paradigm of mostly correspondence and print (with perhaps a little TV) lasted many years, but from the early 1990s, under the impact of information technology in general and the Internet in particular, a new paradigm emerged. This is to use the Internet for all the teaching in a virtual university – thus courses would be “delivered” to the student with a PC at home (or at work – and sometimes in a learning centre) and the student would interact via e-mail and Web pages. Increasingly, people use the term e-university for this. In the past, many other terms were prevalent, each with their own nuancing – online university, net university, etc.

In an extreme model – pure-play, as it is called in the dot-com world – this use of the Internet would totally replace the use of text-books, correspondence teaching and tele-vision. While there are some institutions adopting this extreme view (which has the advantage of simplifying the logistics), it is most common to be blended, that is, to have a mix of old and new technologies, with the new gradually growing in impor-tance.

In the Gazetteer, which gives a list of e-universities around the world (and their Web sites), we give the following pragmatic description of e-universities:

: Accredited university-level institutions delivering degree-awarding courses, with a substantial percentage delivered at a distance, with a substantial percentage of these using e-learning. If there is a face-to-face university at the core, we expect the courses delivered at a distance to come from a separately named part of the university, and to be referenced from a high level of the university Web site by such phrases as “Virtual Campus”, “Online Service” or some such.
Because of the need to fund the development of materials, and the fact that collabora-tion is easier and cheaper via the Internet, it became common to develop virtual uni-versity systems via consortia of universities. However, there is no firm evidence that this is a better approach in general than a single university doing the development, often called a virtual campus.

The phrase virtual campus became prominent in the UK around 1997, when various UK universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly, especially in the UK, a university may no longer use the phrase virtual campus while still in fact having one.

A number of other phrases have crept in over the years. A distance-teaching univer-sity is essentially a correspondence university. An open university is in strict terms a university which has an open admissions policy (i.e., anyone can become a student, although not anyone can graduate – students still have to pass the course) but increas-ingly this term is used to describe distance-teaching universities in general, and even those which are not open in this sense. It was for reasons of this sort that the European Commission theorists coined the phrase open and distance learning (ODL), basically to avoid making difficult distinctions.

And in the last few years, the phrase borderless education (rarely borderless university) has come into vogue, under influence from Australian work.

== Defining “VIRTUAL CAMPUS” – A boundary approach==

=== Overview ===

Although the phrase ‘virtual campus’ is an important concept in the field of education, there is no theoretical framework for it. This chapter focuses on the development of such a theoretical framework. Similar to the work Stoof, Martens, Van Merrienboer & Bastiaens (2002) did for the concept of competence, we propose the boundary approach for virtual campuses, an aid to support stakeholders in the field of e-learning in thinking about the concept ‘virtual campus’. Here the concept of the ‘virtual campus’is being explored by focusing on its dimensions. This holds the quest for one absolute definition of it is abandoned and that instead definitions are being valued against their degree of viability.
The expression "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

===The boundary approach for the concept of virtual campus===

As the previous section shows there are a lot of variables involved defining the concept of the virtual campus. Depending on the context, the target group, the different goals and the technology involved a definition of ‘virtual campus’ can be formulated. The partners in the project group of the ReVica project do not want to give one single definition of the concept of the virtual campus. Since there will never be one right answer on the question what an virtual campus is,we suggest to use a conceptual representation aid as is shown in figure 1 to discuss the concept of the virtual campus. Figure 1 show the concept of a virtual campus as an amoeba-like form. The amoeba represents the virtual campus as a limited and demarcated concept, which is expressed by drawing its boundary. The boundary is being shaped by two opposing forces, being visualized as arrows (Based on the work of Stoof, Martens, Van Merriënboer & Bastiaens, 2002, p 352). From inside the figure, forces expand the boundary. This process is labeled as the ‘inside-out approach’ of the concept of the virtual campus. These are dimensions that define and construct the concept of the virtual campus. In Re.ViCa we aim to take virtual campus as synonymous with large-scale e-learning initiative. This ‘large-scale e-learning initiative’ is the inside-out dimension.
On the other hand, the forces from outside the figure reduce the boundary. This outside-in approach focuses on the selection of terms that best express the intended meaning of the virtual campus (so it clarifies the relationships). In Re.ViCa we avoid the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but this begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators, these are all outside in dimensions, which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied. An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is major if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:

* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure).
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director.
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures.
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor).
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development
As said before as a project group we do not want to take the arrogant view to present one final definition of the virtual campus, Time will catch up on us when we do that and our work will become obsolete. For the time being we present a working definition, that involves large scale initiatives (an inside out dimension) which are recognizable on the list of characteristics above. The boundary approach makes it easier to change the definition in the future and discuss new opinions.

----
> [[Glossary]]
 
> [[Main Page]]

[[Category:Definienda]]

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T09:32:27Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Virtual campus synonyms in other countries */

== Overview ==

The phrase "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

== The Re.ViCa Working Definition of Virtual Campus: A modern synthesis ==

In Re.ViCa we aim to take ''virtual campus'' as synonymous with ''large-scale e-learning initiative''. This avoids the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied.

An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is ''major'' if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:
* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure)
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor)
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development

== Virtual campus definition of the European Commission==

Cooperation between higher education institutions in the field of e-learning, regarding: design of joint curricula development by several universities, including agreements for the evaluation, validation and recognition of acquired competences, subject to national procedures; large–scale experiments of virtual mobility in addition to physical mobility and development of innovative dual mode curricula, based on both traditional and on-line learning methods. This broad definition involves many issues from partnerships between traditional and/or distance universities and HEI with a view to offering joint certifications (for undergraduate and/or postgraduate levels) and cooperation with learning support services. This might also include collaborative activities in strategic areas of education or research through cooperation involving researchers, academics, students, management, administrative and technical personnel. 'Virtual campuses' should not be confused with e-learning platforms.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/guide/glossary_en.html

At the e-learningeuropa.info portal 'Virtual Campus' is defined as "Part of a university or faculty that offers educational facilities at any time or, in theory, any place, by Internet."

Source: http://www.elearningeuropa.info/main/index.php?page=glossary&abc=V

At a European Commission consultation workshop held in Brussels on 23rd November 2004
entitled “The ‘e’ for our universities – virtual campus” (EACEA, 2004), one of the working
groups proposed three definitions emphasising different aspects of a virtual campus. These
were the:

(i) Collaboration perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes ICT-based collaboration of different partners supporting both, learning offers and research in a distributed setting.

(ii) Enterprise (economic) perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an ICT-based
distributed learning and research enterprise.

(iii) Networked organisation perspective: The term "virtual campus" denotes an environment, which augments and/or integrates learning and research services offered by different partners.

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/education/archive/elearning/doc/workshops/virtual%20campuses/report_en.pdf

== Virtual campus definition of the BENVIC Project==
The concept of a Virtual Campus refers to a specific format of distance education and on-line learning in which students, teaching staff and even university administrative and technical staff mainly 'meet' or communicate trough technical links.

Source: http://www.benvic.odl.org/indexpr.html

== Virtual campus definition of Wikipedia ==
A Virtual Campus refers to the online offerings of a college or university where college work is completed either partially or wholly online, often with the assistance of the teacher, professor, or teaching assistant.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Campus

== Virtual Campus by Van Dusen ==
The Virtual Campus is a metaphore for the teaching, learning and research environment created by the convergence of new powerful instruction and communication technologies

Source: E-learning in Spain: The consolidation of the earliest take-off, Albert Sangra

Van Dusen (1997
== Virtual campus synonyms in other countries ==
=== Belgium ===
# "Campus Virtuel" (FR) such as for the
## [http://www.elearning.ulg.ac.be/modules/freecontent/index.php?id=69 Virtual Campus of the University of Liege], [http://nettskolen.nki.no/in_english/megatrends/Liege_Article.pdf MegaTrends case study (PDF)]
## [http://www.campusvirtuel.be Campusvirtuel.be] from 3 Business Schools ([http://www.solvay.edu Solvay], [http://www.hec.ulg.ac.be/EN/index.php HEC-ULg] and [http://www.uclouvain.be/en-lsm.html LSM]), article in French: [http://www.uclouvain.be/259258.html "Solvay, HEC-ULg et la LSM créent ensemble un campus virtuel"]
# "Virtuele Campus" (NL) which was '''formerly''' used to describe:
## [http://www.secondlifecrew.be/795/hogeschool-heeft-zijn-eigen-virtuele-campus.html a terminated school project as a Second Life campus] for [http://www.kahosl.be/site/index.php?p=/nl/page/system:index/kaho/ Catholic University College Ghent (formerly KaHo Sint-Lieven)]
## [http://www.virtuelecampus.be a virtual tour and information guide of the University of Antwerp], which is now redirected to a new URL with the appropriate title "

=== France ===
# "Université Virtuelle"
# "Campus Virtuel"
# "Campus numérique"
# "Université Numérique (de Région)"

Visit our wiki page '''[[VC definition - france|VC definition - France]]'''

===United Kingdom===

The Re.ViCa wiki page on the UK, written mainly in the summer of 2008, summarises the use of “virtual campus” in UK tertiary education as follows:
As a matter of historical interest, the actual phrase virtual campus is (still) used in the way it is defined in this chapter at the following UK universities and colleges:
*Universities. University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University and Robert Gordon University. (Sheffield Hallam University used the phrase for several years but is said to feel that nowadays the phrase is insufficiently distinctive.)
*Colleges. City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (Londonderry), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium.
*NHS. The NHS University (NHSU) and several medical schools including at Kings College London use or used the phrase.
*Ulster University’s Campus One describes itself as a virtual campus.
*One supplier’s product is called the “Teknical Virtual Campus”

A search – Search 1 – was done in Google on 14 May 2009 for
"virtual campus" site:uk .There are 11600 hits (!) of which the first 50 have been analysed. It excludes material which is actually about virtual campuses outside the UK but which might have been described by articles published on “.uk” web sites. A second search – Search 2 – tried to establish current usage within HE/FE (post-secondary) with a tighter search: 2008 OR 2009 "virtual campus" -"virtual campus tour" site:ac.uk There are still 724 English pages. The first 150 have been reviewed.
Conclusions: At the top level, although few of the original university adopters of the phrase use “virtual campus” as much or as visibly as before, it is still used for a number of departmental, consortium and private provider initiatives – and also by an increasing number of colleges. However, there are a number of uses that are out of scope – including for “virtual tours” of a physical campus and for various experiments with Second Life. Finally, it continues to be used beyond the boundaries of post-secondary education, for example in prisons and by commercial training providers in a way that would be valid if the providers were in scope for us. In more detail:
1. The following UK universities use the phrase “Virtual Campus” (or in some cases the short form “Virtual” – e.g. Brookes Virtual) within the usual range of Re.ViCa senses at an institutional level. It can appear in a variety of ways: in their strapline for their e-learning initiative, as a component of a URL, a link from their home page, or a regularly used phrase in their top-level narratives: University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University (Brookes Virtual) and Robert Gordon University. Not all these universities have it as part of their strapline for their e-learning initiative.
2. A number of other universities do not use in such a visible sense but the phrase appears – or has appeared – in places in their literature. These include Sheffield Hallam University, Huddersfield University.
3. A further number of other universities use the phrase at a departmental level: Kings College London (more than one department), Liverpool John Moores University (computing).
4. A few more use synonyms – online campus, global campus, etc – in this way, such as Middlesex University (Computing – Global Campus).
5. Many colleges use the phrase “virtual campus” at an institutional level. These include the ones already cited above: City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (now part of North West Regional College), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium (of four colleges around Bristol) – and some new arrivals such as Forth Valley College, Midlands Bible College and Wirral Metropolitan College. A number of these (new and old) used the phrase first because they bought the VLE called “Virtual Campus” from the firm Teknical, now taken over by Serco.
6. Consortia users of the phrase include GIS Consortium, UNIGIS and Leeds Teacher Training (SCITT).
7. Private (for profit) providers include Kaplan, in their guise as Kaplan Open Learning, an affiliate college of the University of Essex.
8. Wider uses include Prisoners Education Trust and CiREM.
9. Many universities use it – “out of scope” for us – to describe virtual tours of the physical campus. These include University of Aberdeen, University of Brighton, Lancaster University, University of Nottingham, University of Stirling, University of Warwick, University of Worcester and York St John University
10. There are several university experiments with Second Life to model a physical campus which may in time extent into our kind of virtual campus functions. These include University of East London and University of Sussex.

== Multicampus University (K.U.Leuven)==

The 'traditional university' Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ([[K.U.Leuven]]) in [[Belgium]] progressively organizes its educational support from a multicampus perspective.
In recent decades, the [[K.U.Leuven]] in Belgium has become a multicampus university. As a result of the historic expansion of the university its three groups of faculties have become separate entities, geographically spread over Leuven: Human Sciences are housed in the centre of the city, Exact Sciences in the east and Medical Sciences in the north. Since 1965, the university also has an additional campus in Kortrijk, in the west of Belgium. And in 2002, thirteen institutions of higher education in Flanders have joined forces with the K.U.Leuven in the [http://associatie.kuleuven.be/eng/ K.U.Leuven Association] in order to occupy a position of strength within the new European educational landscape and to work together towards quality improvements in education. This Association has 23 different campuses. In addition the K.U.Leuven profiles itself as an international university. The institution has agreements with various universities worldwide to enable and support a growing number student and staff exchanges between campuses. Lastly, with the introduction of ICT the university is also facing an extended form of multicampus education. Online networks of student groups and/or teaching staff – sometimes linked to but often independent from the institution – are emerging, in learning communities or communities of practice. Each participant in these networks can be considered a small virtual ‘campus’, learning from home, work or through a mobile device.

==== Enhancing or replacing physical mobility with virtual mobility====
The current structure of the university thus challenges the K.U.Leuven to organize and support its education with attention for communication and collaboration between the various campuses. Today this is most often realized through physical mobility: staff and/or student move between different locations. This is the case for interdisciplinary courses between Leuven’s three groups of faculties and for staff mobility between Kortrijk and Leuven. It is also the most common form for international exchanges. Yet the university is progressively supporting initiatives that replace or enhance physical with virtual mobility, seeking to integrate aspects of ‘virtual campuses’ into traditional education to stimulate collaboration between the sites of the Association, to support student and/or staff exchanges in Europe or in the world, to enhance communication with developing countries or to sustain virtual learning communities.

===== Joint course materials =====
At a basic level (virtual/blended) multicampus education in Leuven is revealed in initiatives that create, offer and localize joint course materials. While teaching staff and students remain at their own campus for the entire course, specific course modules learning materials are used that have been developed, at a distance, by an inter-institutional (multicampus) teaching team. These course materials are often offered on a common website, a databank or a virtual learning environment. Recently there are also teachers who (co-)develop or use ‘Open Educational Resources’.

===== Pooled infrastructure =====
Not only course materials are collaboratively created or shared. Also (laboratory)-infrastructure is shared between locations to avoid a double set up of equipment. In some cases this pooled infrastructure is also virtual. Some (dangerous) laboratory experiments or experiments that require students and staff to be at different locations (students watch a complex surgical operation) can now happen thanks to virtual support to bridge the distance between the actual experiment and the audience. The infrastructure of the experiment itself is in a limited number of cases entirely digital by means of a simulation on a common virtual platform.

===== Joint learning activities =====
Furthermore, multicampus education can be about joint learning activities. For the ‘Student Business Game’ for instance, students from different institutions f the Association K.U.Leuven play a business game on their own campus after which the winning teams compete with each other via videoconferencing before a jury of teaching and company staff. Joint learning activities can also be about e-coaching, about writing an academic paper at a distance or student placements. All activities invite multiple sites to collaborate in the creation, delivery or support of the activity, with the help of technology. At K.U.Leuven joint learning activities are particularly interesting for interdisciplinary modules, courses or programs, such as activities involving both learners studying medicine or nursing, industrial or civil engineering, etc.

===== Joint courses =====
Building on joint learning activities, another type of multicampus are joint courses. A joint course can be (a) a course developed by one campus (institution) and offered to students at another campus (institution), (b) a course developed by one institution and used but adapted by another institution or (c) a jointly developed course offered to students of all involved institutions (Haake et al., 2006). One variation of this type are virtual seminars: co-created or co-delivered seminars set up as a single course, or in a series of courses - broadcasted over multiple sites using ICT (videoconferencing, web conferencing, streaming, etc) . The KULeuven has a strong expertise and long tradition in organizing virtual seminars. The ‘Pentalfa’ project for instance is a multidisciplinary, post-graduate distance learning initiative of the Faculty of Medicine, aimed to offer (extra) training broadcasted to various hospitals of the Flemish Hospital Network K.U.Leuven. It is currently in its 8th year and there are plans to enhance the initiative with an international component. The university is also looking into the use of virtual seminars for knowledge exchange and networking between the institutions of the Association and beyond (society in general, companies, alumni, etc.).

===== Multicampus programmes =====
Next, multicampus education is also revealed in the offer of a complete, ‘multicampus’ programme, which many institutions can be contributing in. A number of Bachelors and Masters are already set up within the Association K.U.Leuven, involving multiple teaching teams from different institutions. The challenge is to streamline these programs around a common denominator, yet with respect to any local specificities of each campus involved. Virtual initiatives – joint learning materials, joint learning activities, joint courses – all play a vital part in this. Eventually a completely virtual multicampus programme comes close to the traditional form of distance education, as offered by the Open University for instance. From the perspective of more and better flexibility in education, it could be interesting to bring distance and regular education together. Regular programs could put forward a number of distance learning courses (and vice versa), in replacement of or as an enhancement to their offer: they could support or realize the transition between certain bachelors and masters in a flexible way, (work) students could enhance their own study package with a number of distance education courses. In Flanders, the current offers of both the regular universities and the Open University are still entirely separate from each other. Yet under certain conditions the Open University does already allow its students to take courses from other universities in addition to the curriculum of the own education. K.U.Leuven is currently studying the opportunity to present this interpretation of multicampus to its students.

===== Virtual support activities for physical mobility =====
Ultimately, multicampus education is also about a range of virtual support activities with regard to real, physical mobility. A large range of actions can be mentioned here. At the early, preparatory phase of a physical student (or staff) exchange, multicampus support can be given through the set up of community websites for future exchange students where they can meet current students who help them find housing, give them information etc. Within the Association K.U.Leuven such a platform is being created and tested for new foreign students to find a ‘(virtual) buddy’ . There is also the opportunity for teaching staff to meet the interested new students online, for a language ‘pre-selection’ or just a first get-together. This has been tested as a pilot in the [[REVE]] project for the Erasmus Mundus Master in Adapted Physical Activity (Rajagopal et. al., 2006; Bijnens H. et. al., 2006). After the exchange, the aforementioned communities can continue to live on as a virtual alumni platform; or students could be examined at a distance through virtual mobility (video communication).

=== Source ===
[[Bijnens]] H., '''[[De Gruyter]] J.''', [[Op de Beeck]] I., [[Bacsich]] P., [[Reynolds]] S., [[Van Petegem]] W., Re-defining virtual campuses: from a “fully-fletched” virtual campus to a blended model. Paper accepted for the EDEN conference. Lisbon, June 11-14, 2008.

== History and detail ==

The concept of virtual university, now so ubiquitous, is in fact only around 11 years old in its current usage. By the phrase virtual university, we (and most people) mean a university which carries out much of its teaching, perhaps all of it, at a distance from the learner.

Even at an early workshop on this topic, at the EdMedia/EdTelecom conference in Boston in June 1996, organised at short notice by Robin Mason and me (both then at the UK Open University), the room was packed out. There was a workshop on virtual universities at Online Educa at Berlin in November 1996 and the topic featured largely in the Sheffield conference “Flexible Learning on the Information Super-Highway” in May 1997. Since then the topic has exploded, with conferences around the world featuring the concept, sometimes to the exclusion of anything else.

In the past, virtual teaching was carried out by posting text-books to the student, who read them and sent back assignments to be marked. Communication between the stu-dent and the academic was via correspondence – hence the phrases correspondence teaching and correspondence university. This approach in fact still happens in many institutions today, especially in less developed parts of the world.

In the early 1970s, the use of television broadcasting for teaching in Universities (ad-ditional to correspondence teaching) became popular, most notably in the UK Open University – originally called the “University of the Air”. Some TV-based universities still exist, but the tale of the use of broadcast TV in universities (including open uni-versities) has so far been one of a long broad retreat masked by a number of tempo-rary local advances.
The paradigm of mostly correspondence and print (with perhaps a little TV) lasted many years, but from the early 1990s, under the impact of information technology in general and the Internet in particular, a new paradigm emerged. This is to use the Internet for all the teaching in a virtual university – thus courses would be “delivered” to the student with a PC at home (or at work – and sometimes in a learning centre) and the student would interact via e-mail and Web pages. Increasingly, people use the term e-university for this. In the past, many other terms were prevalent, each with their own nuancing – online university, net university, etc.

In an extreme model – pure-play, as it is called in the dot-com world – this use of the Internet would totally replace the use of text-books, correspondence teaching and tele-vision. While there are some institutions adopting this extreme view (which has the advantage of simplifying the logistics), it is most common to be blended, that is, to have a mix of old and new technologies, with the new gradually growing in impor-tance.

In the Gazetteer, which gives a list of e-universities around the world (and their Web sites), we give the following pragmatic description of e-universities:

: Accredited university-level institutions delivering degree-awarding courses, with a substantial percentage delivered at a distance, with a substantial percentage of these using e-learning. If there is a face-to-face university at the core, we expect the courses delivered at a distance to come from a separately named part of the university, and to be referenced from a high level of the university Web site by such phrases as “Virtual Campus”, “Online Service” or some such.
Because of the need to fund the development of materials, and the fact that collabora-tion is easier and cheaper via the Internet, it became common to develop virtual uni-versity systems via consortia of universities. However, there is no firm evidence that this is a better approach in general than a single university doing the development, often called a virtual campus.

The phrase virtual campus became prominent in the UK around 1997, when various UK universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly, especially in the UK, a university may no longer use the phrase virtual campus while still in fact having one.

A number of other phrases have crept in over the years. A distance-teaching univer-sity is essentially a correspondence university. An open university is in strict terms a university which has an open admissions policy (i.e., anyone can become a student, although not anyone can graduate – students still have to pass the course) but increas-ingly this term is used to describe distance-teaching universities in general, and even those which are not open in this sense. It was for reasons of this sort that the European Commission theorists coined the phrase open and distance learning (ODL), basically to avoid making difficult distinctions.

And in the last few years, the phrase borderless education (rarely borderless university) has come into vogue, under influence from Australian work.

== Defining “VIRTUAL CAMPUS” – A boundary approach==

=== Overview ===

Although the phrase ‘virtual campus’ is an important concept in the field of education, there is no theoretical framework for it. This chapter focuses on the development of such a theoretical framework. Similar to the work Stoof, Martens, Van Merrienboer & Bastiaens (2002) did for the concept of competence, we propose the boundary approach for virtual campuses, an aid to support stakeholders in the field of e-learning in thinking about the concept ‘virtual campus’. Here the concept of the ‘virtual campus’is being explored by focusing on its dimensions. This holds the quest for one absolute definition of it is abandoned and that instead definitions are being valued against their degree of viability.
The expression "virtual campus" became prominent around 1997, when various universities launched their versions of a virtual campus. It is often applied to a single university which has a virtual university “fringe” round a physical campus, but there are some totally virtual campuses, such as the Open University of Catalonia. Now there are at least 10 virtual campus operations in the UK and many more elsewhere. Increasingly a university may no longer use the phrase "virtual campus" while still in fact having one.

===The boundary approach for the concept of virtual campus===

As the previous section shows there are a lot of variables involved defining the concept of the virtual campus. Depending on the context, the target group, the different goals and the technology involved a definition of ‘virtual campus’ can be formulated. The partners in the project group of the ReVica project do not want to give one single definition of the concept of the virtual campus. Since there will never be one right answer on the question what an virtual campus is,we suggest to use a conceptual representation aid as is shown in figure 1 to discuss the concept of the virtual campus. Figure 1 show the concept of a virtual campus as an amoeba-like form. The amoeba represents the virtual campus as a limited and demarcated concept, which is expressed by drawing its boundary. The boundary is being shaped by two opposing forces, being visualized as arrows (Based on the work of Stoof, Martens, Van Merriënboer & Bastiaens, 2002, p 352). From inside the figure, forces expand the boundary. This process is labeled as the ‘inside-out approach’ of the concept of the virtual campus. These are dimensions that define and construct the concept of the virtual campus. In Re.ViCa we aim to take virtual campus as synonymous with large-scale e-learning initiative. This ‘large-scale e-learning initiative’ is the inside-out dimension.
On the other hand, the forces from outside the figure reduce the boundary. This outside-in approach focuses on the selection of terms that best express the intended meaning of the virtual campus (so it clarifies the relationships). In Re.ViCa we avoid the issue of giving distance e-learning a privileged position over campus-based e-learning but this begs the question of what is large-scale? Here we suggest some indicators, these are all outside in dimensions, which suggest large-scale - note that not all of them need to be satisfied. An e-learning initiative in a university - or consortium of universities - is major if it has many (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:

* It requires at least one per cent of the institutional budget (this is a rule of thumb taken from Activity Based Costing theory that it is pointless to track from the top any initiatives below that level of expenditure).
* The person responsible (as the majority proportion of his/her job) for leading that initiative has a rank and salary at least equivalent to that of a university full professor at Head of Department level, or equivalent rank of administrative or technical staff (usually an Assistant Director) - and ideally that of Dean or full Director.
* There is a specific department to manage and deliver the iniative with a degree of autonomy from mainstream IT, library, pedagogic or quality structures.
* Progress of the initiative is overseen by a Steering Group chaired by one of the most senior managers in the institution (in UK terms, a Pro-Vice Chancellor).
* The initiative is part of the institution's business plan and is not totally dependent on any particular externally funded project
* There are strategy, planning and operational documents defining the initiative and regularly updated
* The head of the institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector, President, etc) will from time to time in senior meetings be notified of progress and problems with the initiative
* The head of the institution is able to discuss the initiative in general terms with equivalent heads of other institutions - in the way that he/she would be able to discuss a new library, laboratory or similar large-scale development
As said before as a project group we do not want to take the arrogant view to present one final definition of the virtual campus, Time will catch up on us when we do that and our work will become obsolete. For the time being we present a working definition, that involves large scale initiatives (an inside out dimension) which are recognizable on the list of characteristics above. The boundary approach makes it easier to change the definition in the future and discuss new opinions.

----
> [[Glossary]]
 
> [[Main Page]]

[[Category:Definienda]]

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T09:03:55Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* The boundary approach for the concept of virtual campus */

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T09:00:57Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* History and detail */

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T08:54:02Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Finnish definitions */

Virtual campus

2009-06-03T08:52:04Z

Theo.bastiaens: Changed protection level for "Virtual campus" [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed]

New Zealand

2009-05-28T14:20:04Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Universities */

== Partners situated in New Zealand ==

None.

== New Zealand in a nutshell ==
[[Image:LocationNewZealand.png|thumb|left|200px|Location map for the New Zealand]]
[[Image:New_Zealand_towns_and_cities.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Topographic map of New Zealand with islands and main population centres labelled ]]
New Zealand (Maori: Aotearoa) is an geographically isolated island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean. It comprises two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island), and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing but in free association); Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica).

The population of New Zealand is around 4.1 million according to the [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/nz.html CIA Factbook]. This makes it rather similar in size to several European countries, rather larger than [[Lithuania]], slightly smaller than Ireland and rather smaller than [[Norway]]. In [[UK]] terms, it is slightly smaller than [[Scotland]] (5.0 million) and slightly larger than [[Wales]] (3.0 million). Thus population-wise as well as politically and economically it is a good match to these countries/regions.

The indigenous Māori being the largest minority, the population is mostly of European descent. Also significant minorities are Asians and non-Māori Polynesians, especially in the urban areas. As a Commonwealth country with strong historic links with the [[UK]] in general and [[Scotland]] in particular, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_New_Zealand Elizabeth II] is the Head of State. In her absence, she is represented by a non-partisan Governor-General. Actually the position of Queen Elizabeth II is essentially symbolic, and she has no real political influence. Political power is rather held by the democratically elected Parliament of New Zealand under the leadership of the Prime Minister, who is the head of government.

== New Zealand education policy ==

In the comparison with international standards New Zealand has a well performing education system. Therefore the focus of education policy lays on consolidation of education. This consolidation is carried out by creation of required infrastructure and in building up and support by institutions of quality-assurance. This way weaknesses in the educational system are to be identified at an early stage. Furthermore is the creation of an advantageous political environment for lecturers and learners intended. Special attention is paid to investments to peform better for and with Māori learners, Pasifika learners, children with specific barriers to learning and communities in lower socioeconomic areas.

[http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistry/PublicationsAndResources/StatementOfIntent/SOI2008.aspx The Ministry of Education’s Statement of Intent 2008-2013 (SOI)] sets out key elements of appropriate priorities for education:

*All children develop strong learning foundations
- increasing participation in high-quality early childhood education
- increasing literacy and numeracy achievement in primary school
- earlier identification of and intervention for children with specific barriers to learning.

* All young people participate, engage and achieve in education
- increasing engagement and achievement in secondary education so that young people stay at school longer and leave with higher-level qualifications
- more successful pathways into tertiary education and work
- higher levels of achievement in tertiary education by the age of 25.

* Learners have access to high-quality Māori language education that delivers positive learning and language outcomes
- increasing numbers of high-quality teachers proficient in te reo Māori
- increasing effectiveness of teaching and learning in and through te reo Māori.

* The education system produces the knowledge and develops people with the skills to drive New Zealand’s future economic and social success
- building an education system for the 21st-century
- increasing education’s contribution to economic transformation and innovation through new knowledge, skills and research.

* Education agencies work effectively and efficiently to achieve education outcomes
- building leadership, accountability, relationships, competence and confidence.

In previous years the [http://www.minedu.govt.nz/ Ministry of Education] focused on critical drivers of presence, engagement and achievement for all learners, namely:
* the effectiveness of the relationships that underpin teaching and learning
* family and community engagement
* providers focused on the use of evidence to support learning and achievement.

== New Zealand education system ==
[[Image:Neuseeland.png|thumb|right|200px|New Zealand´s Education System]]

The New Zealand education system comprises following guiding principles:
- culturally appropriate early childhood services
- primary and secondary education that is free for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents
- equitable and affordable access to tertiary education and quality assured and portable education qualifications
- the provision of flexible pathways for study

Last item regards to the fact that students are not streamed or channeled through particular types of school from which future study options are determined.

Generally the education system in New Zealand is divided into
1. pre-school education,
2. primary education,
3. secondary education,
4. tertiary education
Kindergarten education is usually run by private operators and not mandatory provided for all children. Primary school goes up to year 6, intermediate school finishes at year 8 and secondary school is the remaining five years of schooling. Between the ages of 6 and 16 Primary and Secondary education is compulsory for students.

== Higher education ==

=== Universities in New Zealand ===

New Zealand has eight universities. Most used to be constituent colleges of the federal [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Zealand University of New Zealand] but this was dissolved in 1961.

== Universities ==
'''Table 1'''
{|border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Location'''
!width=""|'''Foundation'''
|-valign="top"
{| class="prettytable sortable"
|-style="background-color:#efefef;"
| [http://www.otago.ac.nz/ University of Otago] || Dunedin || 1869
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/ University Canterbury] || Christchurch || 1873
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.auckland.ac.nz/ University of Auckland] || Auckland || 1883
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/ Victoria- University Wellington] || Wellington || 1897
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.massey.ac.nz/ Massey-University] || Palmerston North, Auckland, Wellington || 1927
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.waikato.ac.nz/about/history.shtml University of Waikato] || Hamilton (New Zealand)|Hamilton || 1964
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/ Lincoln University] || Lincoln, Canterbury || 1990
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.aut.ac.nz/ Auckland University of Technology] || Auckland || 2000
|}

The total number of students at the Universities at New Zealand is about 170 000. University of Otago is deemed to be the oldest University in Country. Auckland University of Technology as the youngest University was founded in the year 2000, whose origin as technical school lies in the year 1895. At the smallest University of New Zealand – Lincoln University – are 4.100 students registered, at the largest – Massey University – study 42.000 peeople (As at 2003).

Until the year of 1961 the sole University of New Zealand (1870-1961) (Maori: Te Wananga o Aotearoa) as by law founded Organization concentrated several constituent colleges of higher education at various locations around New Zealand.

===Polytechnics in New Zealand ===

There are also 23 polytechnics or institutes of technology in New Zealand. A useful [[NZQA]] observes:

: Polytechnics have traditionally specialised in vocational training, but that role has expanded over the last decade to meet the needs of learners and the economy. Many are involved in research activities, particularly in applied and technological areas and other degrees.

[http://www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz/ Open Polytechnic]

(Also say about Maori institutions.)

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process ===

Regardless New Zealand is not eligible to join the Bologna Process, it is engaged in these higher education reforms. The tertiary education system of New Zealand is already comparable to the Bologna ideal. Closely align with the key elements of the Bologna Process do the three-level degree structure, Register of Quality Assured Qualifications, quality assurance standards, efforts at increasing participation in tertiary education, and policies that promote institutional autonomy. Beyond that one has been undertaken further work across the tertiary education system to build on this high level of comparability. Thus New Zealand has acceded to the Lisbon Qualification Recognition Convention, is checking the introduction of an Diploma Supplement, and is verifying the comparability of the Register of Quality Assured Qualifications with Ireland’s National Framework of Qualifications.

== Administration and finance ==

Centralised, similar to England.

== Quality assurance ==

The administration and qualitiy assurance of national qualifications in New Zealand is primary coordinated by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).

NZQA:
registers and monitors all national qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework
runs national senior secondary school examinations
registers and monitors private providers of education and training to ensure they meet quality standards
administers a qualifications recognition service for overseas people wanting to live, work or study in New Zealand

== New Zealand HEIs in the information society ==

=== Towards the information society ===

=== Information society strategy ===

==== Benchmarking e-learning ====

New Zealand is the home of the [[eMM]] methodology, developed by Dr [[Stephen Marshall]] at the [http://www.vuw.ac.nz University of Wellington]. He is a consultant to the UK [[Higher Education Academy]] Benchmarking Exercise. After a large amount of government-funded activity (see the 9 MB [http://www.utdc.vuw.ac.nz/research/emm/documents/SectorReport.pdf report]) in 2004-2005, where nine institutions were benchmarked (six universities and three polytechnics), recently (up to summer 2007) there does not seem to be an externally funded benchmarking programme oriented to New Zealand tertiary institutions - but this situation may soon change.

== References ==

http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistry/PublicationsAndResources/StatementOfIntent/SOI2008.aspx

http://www.minedu.govt.nz/~/media/MinEdu/Files/EducationSectors/InternationalEducation/PolicyStrategy/NZandBologna.pdf

http://www.nzvcc.ac.nz/node/349

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/17331/882273_MoE_State_of_Education_v7_p5.pdf

http://www.nzvcc.ac.nz/academic-quality

http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/upload/Documents/Digital%20Strategy%202.0%20FINAL.pdf

----
See also [[Australia]].
 
> [[Countries]]
 
>> [[Main Page]]

[[Category:New Zealand| ]]
[[Category:Australasia]]
[[Category:OECD]]

New Zealand

2009-05-28T14:19:23Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Universities in New Zealand */

== Partners situated in New Zealand ==

None.

== New Zealand in a nutshell ==
[[Image:LocationNewZealand.png|thumb|left|200px|Location map for the New Zealand]]
[[Image:New_Zealand_towns_and_cities.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Topographic map of New Zealand with islands and main population centres labelled ]]
New Zealand (Maori: Aotearoa) is an geographically isolated island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean. It comprises two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island), and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing but in free association); Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency (New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica).

The population of New Zealand is around 4.1 million according to the [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/nz.html CIA Factbook]. This makes it rather similar in size to several European countries, rather larger than [[Lithuania]], slightly smaller than Ireland and rather smaller than [[Norway]]. In [[UK]] terms, it is slightly smaller than [[Scotland]] (5.0 million) and slightly larger than [[Wales]] (3.0 million). Thus population-wise as well as politically and economically it is a good match to these countries/regions.

The indigenous Māori being the largest minority, the population is mostly of European descent. Also significant minorities are Asians and non-Māori Polynesians, especially in the urban areas. As a Commonwealth country with strong historic links with the [[UK]] in general and [[Scotland]] in particular, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_New_Zealand Elizabeth II] is the Head of State. In her absence, she is represented by a non-partisan Governor-General. Actually the position of Queen Elizabeth II is essentially symbolic, and she has no real political influence. Political power is rather held by the democratically elected Parliament of New Zealand under the leadership of the Prime Minister, who is the head of government.

== New Zealand education policy ==

In the comparison with international standards New Zealand has a well performing education system. Therefore the focus of education policy lays on consolidation of education. This consolidation is carried out by creation of required infrastructure and in building up and support by institutions of quality-assurance. This way weaknesses in the educational system are to be identified at an early stage. Furthermore is the creation of an advantageous political environment for lecturers and learners intended. Special attention is paid to investments to peform better for and with Māori learners, Pasifika learners, children with specific barriers to learning and communities in lower socioeconomic areas.

[http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistry/PublicationsAndResources/StatementOfIntent/SOI2008.aspx The Ministry of Education’s Statement of Intent 2008-2013 (SOI)] sets out key elements of appropriate priorities for education:

*All children develop strong learning foundations
- increasing participation in high-quality early childhood education
- increasing literacy and numeracy achievement in primary school
- earlier identification of and intervention for children with specific barriers to learning.

* All young people participate, engage and achieve in education
- increasing engagement and achievement in secondary education so that young people stay at school longer and leave with higher-level qualifications
- more successful pathways into tertiary education and work
- higher levels of achievement in tertiary education by the age of 25.

* Learners have access to high-quality Māori language education that delivers positive learning and language outcomes
- increasing numbers of high-quality teachers proficient in te reo Māori
- increasing effectiveness of teaching and learning in and through te reo Māori.

* The education system produces the knowledge and develops people with the skills to drive New Zealand’s future economic and social success
- building an education system for the 21st-century
- increasing education’s contribution to economic transformation and innovation through new knowledge, skills and research.

* Education agencies work effectively and efficiently to achieve education outcomes
- building leadership, accountability, relationships, competence and confidence.

In previous years the [http://www.minedu.govt.nz/ Ministry of Education] focused on critical drivers of presence, engagement and achievement for all learners, namely:
* the effectiveness of the relationships that underpin teaching and learning
* family and community engagement
* providers focused on the use of evidence to support learning and achievement.

== New Zealand education system ==
[[Image:Neuseeland.png|thumb|right|200px|New Zealand´s Education System]]

The New Zealand education system comprises following guiding principles:
- culturally appropriate early childhood services
- primary and secondary education that is free for New Zealand citizens and permanent residents
- equitable and affordable access to tertiary education and quality assured and portable education qualifications
- the provision of flexible pathways for study

Last item regards to the fact that students are not streamed or channeled through particular types of school from which future study options are determined.

Generally the education system in New Zealand is divided into
1. pre-school education,
2. primary education,
3. secondary education,
4. tertiary education
Kindergarten education is usually run by private operators and not mandatory provided for all children. Primary school goes up to year 6, intermediate school finishes at year 8 and secondary school is the remaining five years of schooling. Between the ages of 6 and 16 Primary and Secondary education is compulsory for students.

== Higher education ==

=== Universities in New Zealand ===

New Zealand has eight universities. Most used to be constituent colleges of the federal [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Zealand University of New Zealand] but this was dissolved in 1961.

== Universities ==
'''Table 1'''
{|border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Location'''
!width=""|'''Foundation'''
|-valign="top"
{| class="prettytable sortable"
|-style="background-color:#efefef;"
| [http://www.otago.ac.nz/ University of Otago] || Dunedin || 1869
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/ University Canterbury] || Christchurch || 1873
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.auckland.ac.nz/ University of Auckland] || Auckland || 1883
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/ Victoria- University Wellington] || Wellington || 1897
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.massey.ac.nz/ Massey-University] || Palmerston North, Auckland, Wellington || 1927
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.waikato.ac.nz/about/history.shtml University of Waikato] || Hamilton (New Zealand)|Hamilton || 1964
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.unitec.ac.nz/ Unitec] || Auckland || 1976
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/ Lincoln University] || Lincoln, Canterbury || 1990
|-valign="top"
| [http://www.aut.ac.nz/ Auckland University of Technology] || Auckland || 2000
|}

The total number of students at the Universities at New Zealand is about 170 000. University of Otago is deemed to be the oldest University in Country. Auckland University of Technology as the youngest University was founded in the year 2000, whose origin as technical school lies in the year 1895. At the smallest University of New Zealand – Lincoln University – are 4.100 students registered, at the largest – Massey University – study 42.000 peeople (As at 2003).

Until the year of 1961 the sole University of New Zealand (1870-1961) (Maori: Te Wananga o Aotearoa) as by law founded Organization concentrated several constituent colleges of higher education at various locations around New Zealand.

===Polytechnics in New Zealand ===

There are also 23 polytechnics or institutes of technology in New Zealand. A useful [[NZQA]] observes:

: Polytechnics have traditionally specialised in vocational training, but that role has expanded over the last decade to meet the needs of learners and the economy. Many are involved in research activities, particularly in applied and technological areas and other degrees.

[http://www.openpolytechnic.ac.nz/ Open Polytechnic]

(Also say about Maori institutions.)

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process ===

Regardless New Zealand is not eligible to join the Bologna Process, it is engaged in these higher education reforms. The tertiary education system of New Zealand is already comparable to the Bologna ideal. Closely align with the key elements of the Bologna Process do the three-level degree structure, Register of Quality Assured Qualifications, quality assurance standards, efforts at increasing participation in tertiary education, and policies that promote institutional autonomy. Beyond that one has been undertaken further work across the tertiary education system to build on this high level of comparability. Thus New Zealand has acceded to the Lisbon Qualification Recognition Convention, is checking the introduction of an Diploma Supplement, and is verifying the comparability of the Register of Quality Assured Qualifications with Ireland’s National Framework of Qualifications.

== Administration and finance ==

Centralised, similar to England.

== Quality assurance ==

The administration and qualitiy assurance of national qualifications in New Zealand is primary coordinated by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA).

NZQA:
registers and monitors all national qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework
runs national senior secondary school examinations
registers and monitors private providers of education and training to ensure they meet quality standards
administers a qualifications recognition service for overseas people wanting to live, work or study in New Zealand

== New Zealand HEIs in the information society ==

=== Towards the information society ===

=== Information society strategy ===

==== Benchmarking e-learning ====

New Zealand is the home of the [[eMM]] methodology, developed by Dr [[Stephen Marshall]] at the [http://www.vuw.ac.nz University of Wellington]. He is a consultant to the UK [[Higher Education Academy]] Benchmarking Exercise. After a large amount of government-funded activity (see the 9 MB [http://www.utdc.vuw.ac.nz/research/emm/documents/SectorReport.pdf report]) in 2004-2005, where nine institutions were benchmarked (six universities and three polytechnics), recently (up to summer 2007) there does not seem to be an externally funded benchmarking programme oriented to New Zealand tertiary institutions - but this situation may soon change.

== References ==

http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistry/PublicationsAndResources/StatementOfIntent/SOI2008.aspx

http://www.minedu.govt.nz/~/media/MinEdu/Files/EducationSectors/InternationalEducation/PolicyStrategy/NZandBologna.pdf

http://www.nzvcc.ac.nz/node/349

http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/17331/882273_MoE_State_of_Education_v7_p5.pdf

http://www.nzvcc.ac.nz/academic-quality

http://www.digitalstrategy.govt.nz/upload/Documents/Digital%20Strategy%202.0%20FINAL.pdf

----
See also [[Australia]].
 
> [[Countries]]
 
>> [[Main Page]]

[[Category:New Zealand| ]]
[[Category:Australasia]]
[[Category:OECD]]

Open Universiteit Nederland - case study

2009-05-27T09:14:49Z

Theo.bastiaens: Changed protection level for "Open Universiteit Nederland - case study" [edit=revica:move=revica]

[[Open Universiteit Nederland]] (English: '''Dutch Open University''') is an independent government-funded institute for distance learning at university level in the [[Netherlands]].

The Dutch government's purpose in founding Open Universiteit Nederland was to make higher education accessible to anyone with the necessary aptitudes and interests, regardless of formal qualifications. It welcomed its first students in September 1984.

Open Universiteit Nederland goes by many names and abbreviations. Other names include:
* Open University of the Netherlands
* Open Universiteit
* Open universiteit
* Dutch OU

The canonical abbreviation (that is, the we use in Re.ViCa) is '''OUN'''.

Other abbreviations include '''Ou''' (two-character abbreviations are deprecated as they are easily confused with ISO abbreviations for countries) and '''OUNL'''.

It is a member of [[EADTU]].

== Institution ==

=== The present ===
''' Provide a general description of the institution in its current state, putting the e-learning into context.'''

Working together within networks and alliances, [http://www.ou.nl/ Open Universiteit Nederland] develops, provides and promotes higher distance education. The university is a pioneer in the innovation of higher education and aims at the wide-ranging needs of its students, the market and the community at large. Open Universiteit Nederland seeks to be an institution that is strongly anchored in the Dutch higher education system through its educational, research and innovation activities. An Institution that operates in the field of lifelong learning and is also a provider of market-oriented and commercial education. It is a frontrunner in open higher distance education and tries to be a leader in educational innovation, also on an international scope. With a scope of activities that links up with the needs of society, Open Universiteit Nederland can count on broad interest, as reflected in the significant enrolment numbers for its different educational offerings.

''' What is the institution's annual budget? '''

budget EUR 62.7 million

''' How many students does the institution have in total '''

active students 29,104

'''student profile'''

51% female, 49% male
age 18-25: 10%
age 26-35: 32%
60% of the student body has a full-time job
34% of students choose Open Universiteit Nederland because
of the time- and location-independent character of its study
programmes
44% are second-chance students, who have never completed
a higher professional (HBO) or university-level programme at
a Dutch educational institution before (10.542 students)

''' How many staff does the institution have as full-time equivalents? '''

staff members 751

''' What is the institution's "business model"? '''

[http://www.ou.nl/ Open Universiteit Nederland], founded in 1984, is the youngest
university in the Netherlands. It is the only university in the country
that provides open higher distance education. In addition to this
legally assigned task, Open Universiteit Nederland has two other
legal tasks: contributing to the innovation of Dutch higher education
and contributing to solving the shortage of teaching staff in Dutch
primary and secondary schools.

''' What percentage of the institution's students are based outside the home country? '''

710 students live in other parts of the world
9.5% (1,991 students) are enrolled at a Belgian study centre

''' Describe the institution's approach to virtual mobility. '''

‘Gaining international experience without having to go abroad.’ that,
is the prime potential of virtual mobility. Most students at distance teaching universities don’t have the time for an exchange programme. For them [http://www.ou.nl/ OUNL] wants to create rich virtual
networks. That way you still get the exchange underway.’ In this area OUNL is not a novice. Since several years the School of Science organizes the European virtual seminar. Students from various countries work and study together in this. Other benefit are virtual networks in which OUNL easily meets the requirement of internationalization. It makes them in their words ‘a more complete university.’

'''Describe how the institution manages its "brand" (a) in general and (b) in respect of any e-learning aspects '''

The [http://www.ou.nl/ OUNL] manages its brand with slogans as ‘Once a newcomer, now a flexible and innovative university’ and since 2008 with ‘ We’ve got to be open’. Next to this they are proud in their academic stature, solid expertise and quality of learning material.

A short text from their brochure shows this in detail:

Of all the universities in the Netherlands, Open Universiteit Nederland is, at twenty years
old, by far the youngest. Ever since its establishment it provides higher distance
education for adults. And from the start it does so at academic level, without setting
prerequisites regarding the prior education of students. Open Universiteit Nederland
offers people who never had the opportunity earlier to attend a school of higher
education the chance to do so as yet. Many take advantage of this opportunity. Early in
2004 the 250,000th student was welcomed, and during the past several years total
enrolment averaged 24,000. The programme offerings of Open Universiteit Nederland
have clearly met a great need all these twenty years. During that time the written course
materials and other productions have achieved name and fame. A good name calls for
commitment: the educational offering must be of top quality, because students study at
long distance and independently.
In addition to providing distance education, Open Universiteit Nederland has two other
legally assigned tasks. It contributes to the innovation of Dutch higher education and
has gained widespread recognition for this; to expand the specific expertise that this
requires, it has set up ambitious research and development programmes. The third task
is to help address the teacher shortage. Based on its solid expertise in well-considered
distance education, Open Universiteit Nederland enthusiastically supports the training
and professionalization of teachers.

=== The past ===

''' Give a narrative description of the institution's history since its foundation, concentrating on key dates, recent years and any e-learning issues. '''

'''History, Targets and Innovation'''

The [http://www.ou.nl/ Open University of the Netherlands] was founded in 1984. In that year they welcomed their first students. Nevertheless its history goes back to the seventies.

''Establishing an Open University''
After a period of counseling and report writing in 1977 the Ministery of Education published a first policy on the ‘ Open Universiteit Nederland’ . This policy was the start of a process that lead to ‘ the Law on the Open University ‘ that took action on the 1.Januar 1985. The Open University at that time had already been preparing its start for a considerable amount of time. For example its headquarters in Heerlen opened in 1981. Spread throughout the Netherlands and Belgium over time so called ‘ Study-centers’ were established to support student in the region.

''Educational Target''

The Open University was founded to offer scientific education to all persons interested (but of course with also the capabilities to do so). Their social task was to give people a second opportunity for a degree in higher education. It was a possibly to study next to, of course, the traditional track in higher education that is also provided in the Netherlands.
The Open University makes ‘higher education for everybody’ possible by not having formal entry requirements, freedom in study-time,-place and –pace and a specially developed didactical approach for guided self-study.

''Innovation''

After the first phase of development, the Open University came in a more mature phase in 1995 and its innovative targets were reformulated and more pinpointed towards innovation of higher education, meaning innovation of its own curriculum but also from other higher educational institutes in the Netherlands. A special focus here is on the innovation, development and implementation of new technologies and new educational insights. For that the OUNL works together with many national and international partners.

== External environment ==

'''What is the institution's funding from government as a percentage of annual income?'''

Their institution’s funding from government in 2008 was EUR 35,3 million.
Source: http://rijksbegroting.minfin.nl/2008/begrotingsvoorstel_behandeling/begroting,kst108428b_32.html

'''Describe the external quality assurance and/or accreditation regime affecting the institution, or state that it is the same as for other institutions in the country. Mention any features relevant to e-learning.'''

Quality is seen as an intrinsic issue to the [http://www.ou.nl/ Open University]. They are keen to ensure that their programmes continue to merit their reputation for quality. But there’s always room for improvement. That is why the Open University’s faculties assess the quality of their products, for example with Sein, a tool developed by the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies that allows students to evaluate the course they have taken just after sitting an examination. They also conduct regular opinion polls about other matters. For example, they conduct a biannual poll among students, graduates and others asking for their opinion of our website, course catalogues, level of contact and loyalty, and tutoring and mentoring. The OUNL uses the results to make improvements and develop new strategies.

'''Describe the approach to credit transfer with other similar institutions.
List the main associations that the institution is a member of, with a note as to the relevance of each to e-learning (if any).'''

Distance education is a good thing in itself, but society requires more. The Open University
wants to help meet those requirements, preferably in cooperation with others. Anyone aiming
to develop relevant initiatives will find the necessary “open mindedness” at the Open University
of the Netherlands. In their opinion together, we can use the available expertise to solve the problems facing society.
They are eager to share their knowledge and expertise in open partnerships. They welcome pioneering innovations, and are keen to openly share expertise and inspiration (according to their brochure).

== Strategy ==

'''Describe or provide a document describing the current institutional strategy.'''

''The Mission:''

[http://www.ou.nl Open Universiteit Nederland] is a distance teaching university that develops, delivers and promotes outstanding innovative educational programmes and tools in cooperation with its
network and alliance partners. As the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning, it aims to satisfy today’s wide ranging learning requirements and meet the pressing need to improve the level of knowledge in society.

The OUNL’s educational, research and innovation activities are anchored in the Dutch system of higher education. For almost 25 years, they have been the only university for higher distance education in the Netherlands
and Belgian Flanders. They play a leading role in educational innovation and are helping to tackle the labour shortage problem in teaching in the Netherlands. They see themselves as the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning, and aim to play a key role on both a national and international scale.

Describe or provide a document describing the current learning and teaching strategy.
They market their learning and teaching strategy as ‘ An open path to a knowledge society’
As they see themselves as the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning, the Open University opens itself up to students, companies, public authorities and other universities that share their ambitions.’ We’ve got to be open if we are going to work together to boost the level of knowledge in our society’. In other words, the Open University is a university – open to everyone.

'''Describe or provide a document describing the current e-learning strategy.'''

Students are at the core of their educational system. Students themselves determine where, when and at what pace they will work through their programme, so that they can find the right balance between studying and their work, their family and their hobbies. The Open University helps by offering students their own space within an advanced electronic learning environment. Course sites and discussion groups, e-mail and conferencing tools ensure that distance education is available to everyone. The Open University has been a pioneer in using e-learning tools for many years now. Its courses and programmes make use of interactive DVDs, multimedia resources and the Internet. Personal contact with students continues to be a vital element of its teaching methods. That is why the Open University has study centres and support centres in both the Netherlands and Belgian Flanders. Here is where students meet their teachers and fellow students during tutoring sessions, examinations, lectures and graduation ceremonies. The study centres are also the Open University’s answer to the growing demand for “blended learning”, which combines distance teaching and face-to-face instruction.

By 2009 the OUNL wants to be a genuine Internet university. They capitalize on the opportunities that the Internet offers in education and for their students, much more than is now the case. Their aims? Online tutoring,
online testing, quality assurance, and multimedia. Wherever possible, tutoring, testing, information and
counseling will take place online within just a few year’s time. By 2014 at the latest, they expect their students and staff to have their own personal digital learning and working environment that they can set up to suit their own wishes
and requirements. Ultimately, the OUNL wants to be able to describe its selves as a provider of multimedia, interactive distance education in which both the Internet and traditional printed books play an important role.
'''
An open channel to flexible and innovative education'''

Distance education need not be remote. The Open University of the Netherlands tries to show
that it can be close by. In fact in their vision they need to be, because this kind of education only works
if the university can offer its students flexible and innovative learning tools.
And that is precisely what the Open University tries to do, by offering outstanding academic courses and
programmes for anyone who wishes to grow or to keep growing. They have an open mind for new educational, didactic and technological models and incorporate them into their own programmes and courses.

== Structure ==

'''Describe the institutional structure, preferably supplying an organogram.'''

Open Universiteit Nederland is organised into three departments, seven schools and a network of twelve regional study centres and three support centres in various parts of the country. It also has six study centres in Belgium (Flanders) and one in the Dutch Antilles.

[[Image:Map_of_study_centres_departments.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Map of study and support centres in the Netherlands and Flanders]]

''Schools''

Open Universiteit Nederland has seven Schools, which develop and provide educational materials and conducts educational programmes:

• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/272.html School of Management]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/273.html School of Cultural Sciences ]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/274.html School of Computer Science]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/292.html School of Science]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/312.html School of Psychology ]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/313.html School of Law ]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/314.html School of Education].

Each school is headed by a dean of studies, who supervises teams of subject specialists and educational technologists engaged in developing courses and programmes. This often takes place in co-operation with specialists from other educational institutes or from trade and industry.

''Departments''

Expertise- and trainingcentres:
[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/22/853.html CELSTEC] (Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies)

[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/1/91/147.html Ruud de Moor Centre] (RdMC)

[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/1/92/850.html Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning ] (NELLL)

[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/90/064.html Lex, The Learning Experience] (LEX)

Department of Educational Support Services; this department provides operational services, ranging from staff administration to the distribution of course materials.

''Boards and councils''

Furthermore, the Open Universiteit Nederland has several boards and councils.
''
Administration''

The universitys day-to-day administrative affairs are handled by the Executive Board, which reports to the Supervisory Board.
Educational affairs
Examinations are organised and co-ordinated by the Examination Board, which determines exam results and issues certificates and exemptions. The Board of Promotions is responsible for awarding degrees and for drawing up the relevant regulations.
Representation
Open Universiteit Nederland has a Works Council, with advisory rights and the right of approval in specific areas of policy. A consultative body monitors the rights of the university's employees. Finally, students are represented in an elected Student Council which may advise the Executive Board student matters.

== Learning and Teaching processes ==

=== Learning and teaching design and delivery ===

'''Describe how choice of pedagogies and technologies is made for a typical programme that is envisaged to include significant e-learning.'''

In the end the choice of pedagogies and technologies is a responsibility of each different school. The faculty is support by a diverse and large offer of instruments and technologies (like WEB 2.0 software) . The faculty combines their own tools in a media-mix.
The students have a virtual study place of their own. There they see their courses, content and possibilities to communicate etc.
There is no ‘ one’ strategy to the development of materials, teaching online or blended learning approach.

'''Describe what scope staff have at delivery stage to refine or in some cases override design decisions made earlier.'''

Within their schools they have their own Freedom. Decisions are based on an agreement between University board and their deans.

=== Learning and teaching development ===

'''
How much e-learning content is sourced from outside the institution'''

Almost no e-learning material is sourced from outside the university. They have guest writers who help developing their learning materials.

'''Of all e-learning content sourced from outside the institution, what fraction is OER?'''

Some instructional material that they’ve produced for independent study is now available free of charge. Driving force behind the development of OER is Prof. Fred Mulder, vice-chancellor of the Open University of the Netherlands. Anyone can enroll in interesting short courses via the Internet, without payment. The material is there to be consulted
flexibly. Their purpose is it to entice people to learn and closing the gap between informal and formal learning.” The aim is to have 500 out of every 10,000 users enroll in a programme of higher education. The William
and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science were so pleased by this initiative that they have agreed to fund it. More than twenty courses are now available on the university’s website, and so far they have attracted more than 50,000 visitors (summer 2008).

'''When staff in the institution develop content, is the content (a) owned by them and licensed to the institution, (b) owned by the institution but with some licensing back to staff, (c) owned by the institution but with no licensing back to staff, (d) unclear or disputed IPR position?'''

In general all material that is developed on campus is owned by the university.

'''When content is sourced for a programme within the institution, how much is sourced from other departments within the institution?'''

CELSTEC (the former Educational Technology and Expertise Center) used to have a service providing role and helped the schools with the development of their material. Nowadays they mainly conduct research.

'''What is the role of student-generated content in the institution's programmes?'''

It is depending on the course and study programme. Of course Web 2.0 software changes traditional learning approaches rapidly. Student-generated content is growing rapidly.

=== Learning and teaching evaluation and quality ===

'''Describe the quality procedures (a) in general terms and (b) with respect to e-learning.'''

The Quality depends heavily on the Dutch accreditation system. All Study programmes are accredited by the [http://www.Nvao.net NVAO].

== Meta Learning and Teaching processes ==

=== Communications ===

'''Describe how the institution communicates good practice in e-learning within itself,
focusing on communications across internal boundaries.'''

The institute has regular meetings on innovative e-learning issues. They have their own journals in which best practices are published. They organize training sessions for faculty, whenever new software is implemented.

'''Describe how the institution communicates its good practice in e-learning to organizations outside.'''

They work together in funded projects with other educational institutes. They provide consultancy and organize commercial training events for others.
'''
Describe how the institution communicates good practice in e-learning from outside organizations into its own organization.'''

They depend heavily on the overview researchers have of their own field of expertise. Whenever interesting things are seen or happen. This will be picked up by them and (hopefully) transferred on to others.

'''Describe recent occasions on which institutional leaders or managers have made presentations with significant reference to e-learning.'''
The board of the OUNL constantly stresses the importance of innovation and e-learning. They see that as the core business of OUNL.

=== Value for money ===

== Staff ==

=== Teachers, lecturers, trainers and equivalent support roles ===

'''Describe the approach to development of e-learning technical and pedagogic skills among staff, taking account of the different needs of different categories of staff. Set this within the context of staff development generally.'''

There is a training program in didactical skills for faculty. Next to this quite a lot of training courses are offered to staff for further developing their e-learning and software skills.

== Students ==

Studying at the Open University allows professionals to sharpen their skills. In fact, many of its students already have degrees and take one or more courses to acquire additional know-how or to retrain for a different occupation.

Students enrolled at the Open University are following one of the university's courses or fully accredited Bachelor or Master degree programmes. About 60% of these students remain in paid employment throughout their studies, and nearly 35% have enrolled because it leaves them free to choose their own time and place of study and lets them progress at their own pace (see also Strategy and Students Profile).

== Technology ==

The Open University is an innovative institute where new learning technologies are embedded in their curricula. For that sake they also established the research institute ‘CELSTEC’. The Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies (CELSTEC) is a Centre of Excellence in the fields of Learning Sciences and Technology Enhanced Learning. CELSTEC aims to research, develop and provide sustainable and evidence-based solutions for the advancement of learning at work, at school, at home and on the move. This is accomplished by combining state-of-the-art research in the Learning Sciences with the innovative powers of new media, mobile devices and the Internet. New solutions are extensively tested in our laboratories and in real practice, following the principles of open innovation ([http://celstec.org www.celstec.org]).

== Futures ==

'''Innovation in Cooperation'''

The OUNL tries to share their expertise worldwide. Increasingly, they are trying to build long-term relationships with foreign partner institutes and companies, wherever possible in the form of strategic alliances. In fact, they have joined forces in the field of teaching, research and innovation with universities around the world, frequently in projects belonging to European programmes. The Open University of the Netherlands is also a leading member of EADTU (European Association of Distance Teaching Universities), in which open universities and institutions for distance teaching in Europe work together on projects and in task forces to develop business models, quality assurance, lifelong learning, multilingual open resources, cross-border virtual entrepreneurship, and virtual mobility.
They play a prominent role during national and international conferences, symposiums and seminars. Education, government and business must join forces, draw mutual inspiration, and encourage partnerships.

'''Innovation in Research'''

The OUNL has concentrated expertise in interdisciplinary research on lifelong learning in the
Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning, or NeLLL. This centre of excellence makes all the
knowledge acquired in the area of lifelong learning available to other organisations and to
anyone who is part of the Netherlands’ knowledge society. They also run a series of
research programmes focusing the expertise required to innovate in higher education.
The educational research conducted by CELSTEC, the Centre for Learning Sciences and
Technologies, is classed as “very good” to “excellent”. Quality Assurance Netherlands Universities awarded two of its research programmes the highest marks of any Dutch university. CELSTEC is described as a “major international player”. By focusing on research into lifelong learning and innovative educational, didactic and technological models, the Open University occupies a special place in the “Sampler of Outstanding and Interesting Research”, a booklet describing examples of outstanding research at Dutch universities published by the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU). The Sampler refers to the Open University as a “world
leader” when it comes to educational technology.

'''Innovation in Teaching'''

The Open University is the first university in the Netherlands to have taken Accreditation of Prior Learning – APL – on boardl. APL emphasises the skills that people have, not the ones they lack. That inspires them to go back to school and to continue to work on their personal development, an attitude entirely in keeping with the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning.
Students can now also be awarded exemptions and be admitted toprogrammes, based, for example, on their work experience. When possible, the Open University shares the expertise that its Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies has acquired in assessing and accrediting prior learning.

==References and reports==

[http://www.ou.nl Open Universiteit Nederland]

----
> [[Programmes]]
 
> [[Netherlands]]

[[Category:Netherlands]]
[[Category:Evolution of existing institutions]]
[[Category:Case studies]]
[[Category:Case study for FernUni Hagen]]
[[Category:Institutional reports]]

Open Universiteit Nederland - case study

2009-05-27T09:12:59Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Technology */

Open Universiteit Nederland - case study

2009-05-27T09:08:54Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Students */

[[Open Universiteit Nederland]] (English: '''Dutch Open University''') is an independent government-funded institute for distance learning at university level in the [[Netherlands]].

The Dutch government's purpose in founding Open Universiteit Nederland was to make higher education accessible to anyone with the necessary aptitudes and interests, regardless of formal qualifications. It welcomed its first students in September 1984.

Open Universiteit Nederland goes by many names and abbreviations. Other names include:
* Open University of the Netherlands
* Open Universiteit
* Open universiteit
* Dutch OU

The canonical abbreviation (that is, the we use in Re.ViCa) is '''OUN'''.

Other abbreviations include '''Ou''' (two-character abbreviations are deprecated as they are easily confused with ISO abbreviations for countries) and '''OUNL'''.

It is a member of [[EADTU]].

== Institution ==

=== The present ===
''' Provide a general description of the institution in its current state, putting the e-learning into context.'''

Working together within networks and alliances, [http://www.ou.nl/ Open Universiteit Nederland] develops, provides and promotes higher distance education. The university is a pioneer in the innovation of higher education and aims at the wide-ranging needs of its students, the market and the community at large. Open Universiteit Nederland seeks to be an institution that is strongly anchored in the Dutch higher education system through its educational, research and innovation activities. An Institution that operates in the field of lifelong learning and is also a provider of market-oriented and commercial education. It is a frontrunner in open higher distance education and tries to be a leader in educational innovation, also on an international scope. With a scope of activities that links up with the needs of society, Open Universiteit Nederland can count on broad interest, as reflected in the significant enrolment numbers for its different educational offerings.

''' What is the institution's annual budget? '''

budget EUR 62.7 million

''' How many students does the institution have in total '''

active students 29,104

'''student profile'''

51% female, 49% male
age 18-25: 10%
age 26-35: 32%
60% of the student body has a full-time job
34% of students choose Open Universiteit Nederland because
of the time- and location-independent character of its study
programmes
44% are second-chance students, who have never completed
a higher professional (HBO) or university-level programme at
a Dutch educational institution before (10.542 students)

''' How many staff does the institution have as full-time equivalents? '''

staff members 751

''' What is the institution's "business model"? '''

[http://www.ou.nl/ Open Universiteit Nederland], founded in 1984, is the youngest
university in the Netherlands. It is the only university in the country
that provides open higher distance education. In addition to this
legally assigned task, Open Universiteit Nederland has two other
legal tasks: contributing to the innovation of Dutch higher education
and contributing to solving the shortage of teaching staff in Dutch
primary and secondary schools.

''' What percentage of the institution's students are based outside the home country? '''

710 students live in other parts of the world
9.5% (1,991 students) are enrolled at a Belgian study centre

''' Describe the institution's approach to virtual mobility. '''

‘Gaining international experience without having to go abroad.’ that,
is the prime potential of virtual mobility. Most students at distance teaching universities don’t have the time for an exchange programme. For them [http://www.ou.nl/ OUNL] wants to create rich virtual
networks. That way you still get the exchange underway.’ In this area OUNL is not a novice. Since several years the School of Science organizes the European virtual seminar. Students from various countries work and study together in this. Other benefit are virtual networks in which OUNL easily meets the requirement of internationalization. It makes them in their words ‘a more complete university.’

'''Describe how the institution manages its "brand" (a) in general and (b) in respect of any e-learning aspects '''

The [http://www.ou.nl/ OUNL] manages its brand with slogans as ‘Once a newcomer, now a flexible and innovative university’ and since 2008 with ‘ We’ve got to be open’. Next to this they are proud in their academic stature, solid expertise and quality of learning material.

A short text from their brochure shows this in detail:

Of all the universities in the Netherlands, Open Universiteit Nederland is, at twenty years
old, by far the youngest. Ever since its establishment it provides higher distance
education for adults. And from the start it does so at academic level, without setting
prerequisites regarding the prior education of students. Open Universiteit Nederland
offers people who never had the opportunity earlier to attend a school of higher
education the chance to do so as yet. Many take advantage of this opportunity. Early in
2004 the 250,000th student was welcomed, and during the past several years total
enrolment averaged 24,000. The programme offerings of Open Universiteit Nederland
have clearly met a great need all these twenty years. During that time the written course
materials and other productions have achieved name and fame. A good name calls for
commitment: the educational offering must be of top quality, because students study at
long distance and independently.
In addition to providing distance education, Open Universiteit Nederland has two other
legally assigned tasks. It contributes to the innovation of Dutch higher education and
has gained widespread recognition for this; to expand the specific expertise that this
requires, it has set up ambitious research and development programmes. The third task
is to help address the teacher shortage. Based on its solid expertise in well-considered
distance education, Open Universiteit Nederland enthusiastically supports the training
and professionalization of teachers.

=== The past ===

''' Give a narrative description of the institution's history since its foundation, concentrating on key dates, recent years and any e-learning issues. '''

'''History, Targets and Innovation'''

The [http://www.ou.nl/ Open University of the Netherlands] was founded in 1984. In that year they welcomed their first students. Nevertheless its history goes back to the seventies.

''Establishing an Open University''
After a period of counseling and report writing in 1977 the Ministery of Education published a first policy on the ‘ Open Universiteit Nederland’ . This policy was the start of a process that lead to ‘ the Law on the Open University ‘ that took action on the 1.Januar 1985. The Open University at that time had already been preparing its start for a considerable amount of time. For example its headquarters in Heerlen opened in 1981. Spread throughout the Netherlands and Belgium over time so called ‘ Study-centers’ were established to support student in the region.

''Educational Target''

The Open University was founded to offer scientific education to all persons interested (but of course with also the capabilities to do so). Their social task was to give people a second opportunity for a degree in higher education. It was a possibly to study next to, of course, the traditional track in higher education that is also provided in the Netherlands.
The Open University makes ‘higher education for everybody’ possible by not having formal entry requirements, freedom in study-time,-place and –pace and a specially developed didactical approach for guided self-study.

''Innovation''

After the first phase of development, the Open University came in a more mature phase in 1995 and its innovative targets were reformulated and more pinpointed towards innovation of higher education, meaning innovation of its own curriculum but also from other higher educational institutes in the Netherlands. A special focus here is on the innovation, development and implementation of new technologies and new educational insights. For that the OUNL works together with many national and international partners.

== External environment ==

'''What is the institution's funding from government as a percentage of annual income?'''

Their institution’s funding from government in 2008 was EUR 35,3 million.
Source: http://rijksbegroting.minfin.nl/2008/begrotingsvoorstel_behandeling/begroting,kst108428b_32.html

'''Describe the external quality assurance and/or accreditation regime affecting the institution, or state that it is the same as for other institutions in the country. Mention any features relevant to e-learning.'''

Quality is seen as an intrinsic issue to the [http://www.ou.nl/ Open University]. They are keen to ensure that their programmes continue to merit their reputation for quality. But there’s always room for improvement. That is why the Open University’s faculties assess the quality of their products, for example with Sein, a tool developed by the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies that allows students to evaluate the course they have taken just after sitting an examination. They also conduct regular opinion polls about other matters. For example, they conduct a biannual poll among students, graduates and others asking for their opinion of our website, course catalogues, level of contact and loyalty, and tutoring and mentoring. The OUNL uses the results to make improvements and develop new strategies.

'''Describe the approach to credit transfer with other similar institutions.
List the main associations that the institution is a member of, with a note as to the relevance of each to e-learning (if any).'''

Distance education is a good thing in itself, but society requires more. The Open University
wants to help meet those requirements, preferably in cooperation with others. Anyone aiming
to develop relevant initiatives will find the necessary “open mindedness” at the Open University
of the Netherlands. In their opinion together, we can use the available expertise to solve the problems facing society.
They are eager to share their knowledge and expertise in open partnerships. They welcome pioneering innovations, and are keen to openly share expertise and inspiration (according to their brochure).

== Strategy ==

'''Describe or provide a document describing the current institutional strategy.'''

''The Mission:''

[http://www.ou.nl Open Universiteit Nederland] is a distance teaching university that develops, delivers and promotes outstanding innovative educational programmes and tools in cooperation with its
network and alliance partners. As the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning, it aims to satisfy today’s wide ranging learning requirements and meet the pressing need to improve the level of knowledge in society.

The OUNL’s educational, research and innovation activities are anchored in the Dutch system of higher education. For almost 25 years, they have been the only university for higher distance education in the Netherlands
and Belgian Flanders. They play a leading role in educational innovation and are helping to tackle the labour shortage problem in teaching in the Netherlands. They see themselves as the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning, and aim to play a key role on both a national and international scale.

Describe or provide a document describing the current learning and teaching strategy.
They market their learning and teaching strategy as ‘ An open path to a knowledge society’
As they see themselves as the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning, the Open University opens itself up to students, companies, public authorities and other universities that share their ambitions.’ We’ve got to be open if we are going to work together to boost the level of knowledge in our society’. In other words, the Open University is a university – open to everyone.

'''Describe or provide a document describing the current e-learning strategy.'''

Students are at the core of their educational system. Students themselves determine where, when and at what pace they will work through their programme, so that they can find the right balance between studying and their work, their family and their hobbies. The Open University helps by offering students their own space within an advanced electronic learning environment. Course sites and discussion groups, e-mail and conferencing tools ensure that distance education is available to everyone. The Open University has been a pioneer in using e-learning tools for many years now. Its courses and programmes make use of interactive DVDs, multimedia resources and the Internet. Personal contact with students continues to be a vital element of its teaching methods. That is why the Open University has study centres and support centres in both the Netherlands and Belgian Flanders. Here is where students meet their teachers and fellow students during tutoring sessions, examinations, lectures and graduation ceremonies. The study centres are also the Open University’s answer to the growing demand for “blended learning”, which combines distance teaching and face-to-face instruction.

By 2009 the OUNL wants to be a genuine Internet university. They capitalize on the opportunities that the Internet offers in education and for their students, much more than is now the case. Their aims? Online tutoring,
online testing, quality assurance, and multimedia. Wherever possible, tutoring, testing, information and
counseling will take place online within just a few year’s time. By 2014 at the latest, they expect their students and staff to have their own personal digital learning and working environment that they can set up to suit their own wishes
and requirements. Ultimately, the OUNL wants to be able to describe its selves as a provider of multimedia, interactive distance education in which both the Internet and traditional printed books play an important role.
'''
An open channel to flexible and innovative education'''

Distance education need not be remote. The Open University of the Netherlands tries to show
that it can be close by. In fact in their vision they need to be, because this kind of education only works
if the university can offer its students flexible and innovative learning tools.
And that is precisely what the Open University tries to do, by offering outstanding academic courses and
programmes for anyone who wishes to grow or to keep growing. They have an open mind for new educational, didactic and technological models and incorporate them into their own programmes and courses.

== Structure ==

'''Describe the institutional structure, preferably supplying an organogram.'''

Open Universiteit Nederland is organised into three departments, seven schools and a network of twelve regional study centres and three support centres in various parts of the country. It also has six study centres in Belgium (Flanders) and one in the Dutch Antilles.

[[Image:Map_of_study_centres_departments.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Map of study and support centres in the Netherlands and Flanders]]

''Schools''

Open Universiteit Nederland has seven Schools, which develop and provide educational materials and conducts educational programmes:

• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/272.html School of Management]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/273.html School of Cultural Sciences ]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/274.html School of Computer Science]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/292.html School of Science]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/312.html School of Psychology ]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/313.html School of Law ]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/314.html School of Education].

Each school is headed by a dean of studies, who supervises teams of subject specialists and educational technologists engaged in developing courses and programmes. This often takes place in co-operation with specialists from other educational institutes or from trade and industry.

''Departments''

Expertise- and trainingcentres:
[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/22/853.html CELSTEC] (Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies)

[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/1/91/147.html Ruud de Moor Centre] (RdMC)

[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/1/92/850.html Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning ] (NELLL)

[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/90/064.html Lex, The Learning Experience] (LEX)

Department of Educational Support Services; this department provides operational services, ranging from staff administration to the distribution of course materials.

''Boards and councils''

Furthermore, the Open Universiteit Nederland has several boards and councils.
''
Administration''

The universitys day-to-day administrative affairs are handled by the Executive Board, which reports to the Supervisory Board.
Educational affairs
Examinations are organised and co-ordinated by the Examination Board, which determines exam results and issues certificates and exemptions. The Board of Promotions is responsible for awarding degrees and for drawing up the relevant regulations.
Representation
Open Universiteit Nederland has a Works Council, with advisory rights and the right of approval in specific areas of policy. A consultative body monitors the rights of the university's employees. Finally, students are represented in an elected Student Council which may advise the Executive Board student matters.

== Learning and Teaching processes ==

=== Learning and teaching design and delivery ===

'''Describe how choice of pedagogies and technologies is made for a typical programme that is envisaged to include significant e-learning.'''

In the end the choice of pedagogies and technologies is a responsibility of each different school. The faculty is support by a diverse and large offer of instruments and technologies (like WEB 2.0 software) . The faculty combines their own tools in a media-mix.
The students have a virtual study place of their own. There they see their courses, content and possibilities to communicate etc.
There is no ‘ one’ strategy to the development of materials, teaching online or blended learning approach.

'''Describe what scope staff have at delivery stage to refine or in some cases override design decisions made earlier.'''

Within their schools they have their own Freedom. Decisions are based on an agreement between University board and their deans.

=== Learning and teaching development ===

'''
How much e-learning content is sourced from outside the institution'''

Almost no e-learning material is sourced from outside the university. They have guest writers who help developing their learning materials.

'''Of all e-learning content sourced from outside the institution, what fraction is OER?'''

Some instructional material that they’ve produced for independent study is now available free of charge. Driving force behind the development of OER is Prof. Fred Mulder, vice-chancellor of the Open University of the Netherlands. Anyone can enroll in interesting short courses via the Internet, without payment. The material is there to be consulted
flexibly. Their purpose is it to entice people to learn and closing the gap between informal and formal learning.” The aim is to have 500 out of every 10,000 users enroll in a programme of higher education. The William
and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science were so pleased by this initiative that they have agreed to fund it. More than twenty courses are now available on the university’s website, and so far they have attracted more than 50,000 visitors (summer 2008).

'''When staff in the institution develop content, is the content (a) owned by them and licensed to the institution, (b) owned by the institution but with some licensing back to staff, (c) owned by the institution but with no licensing back to staff, (d) unclear or disputed IPR position?'''

In general all material that is developed on campus is owned by the university.

'''When content is sourced for a programme within the institution, how much is sourced from other departments within the institution?'''

CELSTEC (the former Educational Technology and Expertise Center) used to have a service providing role and helped the schools with the development of their material. Nowadays they mainly conduct research.

'''What is the role of student-generated content in the institution's programmes?'''

It is depending on the course and study programme. Of course Web 2.0 software changes traditional learning approaches rapidly. Student-generated content is growing rapidly.

=== Learning and teaching evaluation and quality ===

'''Describe the quality procedures (a) in general terms and (b) with respect to e-learning.'''

The Quality depends heavily on the Dutch accreditation system. All Study programmes are accredited by the [http://www.Nvao.net NVAO].

== Meta Learning and Teaching processes ==

=== Communications ===

'''Describe how the institution communicates good practice in e-learning within itself,
focusing on communications across internal boundaries.'''

The institute has regular meetings on innovative e-learning issues. They have their own journals in which best practices are published. They organize training sessions for faculty, whenever new software is implemented.

'''Describe how the institution communicates its good practice in e-learning to organizations outside.'''

They work together in funded projects with other educational institutes. They provide consultancy and organize commercial training events for others.
'''
Describe how the institution communicates good practice in e-learning from outside organizations into its own organization.'''

They depend heavily on the overview researchers have of their own field of expertise. Whenever interesting things are seen or happen. This will be picked up by them and (hopefully) transferred on to others.

'''Describe recent occasions on which institutional leaders or managers have made presentations with significant reference to e-learning.'''
The board of the OUNL constantly stresses the importance of innovation and e-learning. They see that as the core business of OUNL.

=== Value for money ===

== Staff ==

=== Teachers, lecturers, trainers and equivalent support roles ===

'''Describe the approach to development of e-learning technical and pedagogic skills among staff, taking account of the different needs of different categories of staff. Set this within the context of staff development generally.'''

There is a training program in didactical skills for faculty. Next to this quite a lot of training courses are offered to staff for further developing their e-learning and software skills.

== Students ==

Studying at the Open University allows professionals to sharpen their skills. In fact, many of its students already have degrees and take one or more courses to acquire additional know-how or to retrain for a different occupation.

Students enrolled at the Open University are following one of the university's courses or fully accredited Bachelor or Master degree programmes. About 60% of these students remain in paid employment throughout their studies, and nearly 35% have enrolled because it leaves them free to choose their own time and place of study and lets them progress at their own pace (see also Strategy and Students Profile).

== Technology ==

== Futures ==

'''Innovation in Cooperation'''

The OUNL tries to share their expertise worldwide. Increasingly, they are trying to build long-term relationships with foreign partner institutes and companies, wherever possible in the form of strategic alliances. In fact, they have joined forces in the field of teaching, research and innovation with universities around the world, frequently in projects belonging to European programmes. The Open University of the Netherlands is also a leading member of EADTU (European Association of Distance Teaching Universities), in which open universities and institutions for distance teaching in Europe work together on projects and in task forces to develop business models, quality assurance, lifelong learning, multilingual open resources, cross-border virtual entrepreneurship, and virtual mobility.
They play a prominent role during national and international conferences, symposiums and seminars. Education, government and business must join forces, draw mutual inspiration, and encourage partnerships.

'''Innovation in Research'''

The OUNL has concentrated expertise in interdisciplinary research on lifelong learning in the
Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning, or NeLLL. This centre of excellence makes all the
knowledge acquired in the area of lifelong learning available to other organisations and to
anyone who is part of the Netherlands’ knowledge society. They also run a series of
research programmes focusing the expertise required to innovate in higher education.
The educational research conducted by CELSTEC, the Centre for Learning Sciences and
Technologies, is classed as “very good” to “excellent”. Quality Assurance Netherlands Universities awarded two of its research programmes the highest marks of any Dutch university. CELSTEC is described as a “major international player”. By focusing on research into lifelong learning and innovative educational, didactic and technological models, the Open University occupies a special place in the “Sampler of Outstanding and Interesting Research”, a booklet describing examples of outstanding research at Dutch universities published by the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU). The Sampler refers to the Open University as a “world
leader” when it comes to educational technology.

'''Innovation in Teaching'''

The Open University is the first university in the Netherlands to have taken Accreditation of Prior Learning – APL – on boardl. APL emphasises the skills that people have, not the ones they lack. That inspires them to go back to school and to continue to work on their personal development, an attitude entirely in keeping with the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning.
Students can now also be awarded exemptions and be admitted toprogrammes, based, for example, on their work experience. When possible, the Open University shares the expertise that its Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies has acquired in assessing and accrediting prior learning.

==References and reports==

[http://www.ou.nl Open Universiteit Nederland]

----
> [[Programmes]]
 
> [[Netherlands]]

[[Category:Netherlands]]
[[Category:Evolution of existing institutions]]
[[Category:Case studies]]
[[Category:Case study for FernUni Hagen]]
[[Category:Institutional reports]]

Open Universiteit Nederland - case study

2009-05-27T09:07:32Z

Theo.bastiaens: Changed protection level for "Open Universiteit Nederland - case study" [edit=autoconfirmed:move=autoconfirmed]

[[Open Universiteit Nederland]] (English: '''Dutch Open University''') is an independent government-funded institute for distance learning at university level in the [[Netherlands]].

The Dutch government's purpose in founding Open Universiteit Nederland was to make higher education accessible to anyone with the necessary aptitudes and interests, regardless of formal qualifications. It welcomed its first students in September 1984.

Open Universiteit Nederland goes by many names and abbreviations. Other names include:
* Open University of the Netherlands
* Open Universiteit
* Open universiteit
* Dutch OU

The canonical abbreviation (that is, the we use in Re.ViCa) is '''OUN'''.

Other abbreviations include '''Ou''' (two-character abbreviations are deprecated as they are easily confused with ISO abbreviations for countries) and '''OUNL'''.

It is a member of [[EADTU]].

== Institution ==

=== The present ===
''' Provide a general description of the institution in its current state, putting the e-learning into context.'''

Working together within networks and alliances, [http://www.ou.nl/ Open Universiteit Nederland] develops, provides and promotes higher distance education. The university is a pioneer in the innovation of higher education and aims at the wide-ranging needs of its students, the market and the community at large. Open Universiteit Nederland seeks to be an institution that is strongly anchored in the Dutch higher education system through its educational, research and innovation activities. An Institution that operates in the field of lifelong learning and is also a provider of market-oriented and commercial education. It is a frontrunner in open higher distance education and tries to be a leader in educational innovation, also on an international scope. With a scope of activities that links up with the needs of society, Open Universiteit Nederland can count on broad interest, as reflected in the significant enrolment numbers for its different educational offerings.

''' What is the institution's annual budget? '''

budget EUR 62.7 million

''' How many students does the institution have in total '''

active students 29,104

'''student profile'''

51% female, 49% male
age 18-25: 10%
age 26-35: 32%
60% of the student body has a full-time job
34% of students choose Open Universiteit Nederland because
of the time- and location-independent character of its study
programmes
44% are second-chance students, who have never completed
a higher professional (HBO) or university-level programme at
a Dutch educational institution before (10.542 students)

''' How many staff does the institution have as full-time equivalents? '''

staff members 751

''' What is the institution's "business model"? '''

[http://www.ou.nl/ Open Universiteit Nederland], founded in 1984, is the youngest
university in the Netherlands. It is the only university in the country
that provides open higher distance education. In addition to this
legally assigned task, Open Universiteit Nederland has two other
legal tasks: contributing to the innovation of Dutch higher education
and contributing to solving the shortage of teaching staff in Dutch
primary and secondary schools.

''' What percentage of the institution's students are based outside the home country? '''

710 students live in other parts of the world
9.5% (1,991 students) are enrolled at a Belgian study centre

''' Describe the institution's approach to virtual mobility. '''

‘Gaining international experience without having to go abroad.’ that,
is the prime potential of virtual mobility. Most students at distance teaching universities don’t have the time for an exchange programme. For them [http://www.ou.nl/ OUNL] wants to create rich virtual
networks. That way you still get the exchange underway.’ In this area OUNL is not a novice. Since several years the School of Science organizes the European virtual seminar. Students from various countries work and study together in this. Other benefit are virtual networks in which OUNL easily meets the requirement of internationalization. It makes them in their words ‘a more complete university.’

'''Describe how the institution manages its "brand" (a) in general and (b) in respect of any e-learning aspects '''

The [http://www.ou.nl/ OUNL] manages its brand with slogans as ‘Once a newcomer, now a flexible and innovative university’ and since 2008 with ‘ We’ve got to be open’. Next to this they are proud in their academic stature, solid expertise and quality of learning material.

A short text from their brochure shows this in detail:

Of all the universities in the Netherlands, Open Universiteit Nederland is, at twenty years
old, by far the youngest. Ever since its establishment it provides higher distance
education for adults. And from the start it does so at academic level, without setting
prerequisites regarding the prior education of students. Open Universiteit Nederland
offers people who never had the opportunity earlier to attend a school of higher
education the chance to do so as yet. Many take advantage of this opportunity. Early in
2004 the 250,000th student was welcomed, and during the past several years total
enrolment averaged 24,000. The programme offerings of Open Universiteit Nederland
have clearly met a great need all these twenty years. During that time the written course
materials and other productions have achieved name and fame. A good name calls for
commitment: the educational offering must be of top quality, because students study at
long distance and independently.
In addition to providing distance education, Open Universiteit Nederland has two other
legally assigned tasks. It contributes to the innovation of Dutch higher education and
has gained widespread recognition for this; to expand the specific expertise that this
requires, it has set up ambitious research and development programmes. The third task
is to help address the teacher shortage. Based on its solid expertise in well-considered
distance education, Open Universiteit Nederland enthusiastically supports the training
and professionalization of teachers.

=== The past ===

''' Give a narrative description of the institution's history since its foundation, concentrating on key dates, recent years and any e-learning issues. '''

'''History, Targets and Innovation'''

The [http://www.ou.nl/ Open University of the Netherlands] was founded in 1984. In that year they welcomed their first students. Nevertheless its history goes back to the seventies.

''Establishing an Open University''
After a period of counseling and report writing in 1977 the Ministery of Education published a first policy on the ‘ Open Universiteit Nederland’ . This policy was the start of a process that lead to ‘ the Law on the Open University ‘ that took action on the 1.Januar 1985. The Open University at that time had already been preparing its start for a considerable amount of time. For example its headquarters in Heerlen opened in 1981. Spread throughout the Netherlands and Belgium over time so called ‘ Study-centers’ were established to support student in the region.

''Educational Target''

The Open University was founded to offer scientific education to all persons interested (but of course with also the capabilities to do so). Their social task was to give people a second opportunity for a degree in higher education. It was a possibly to study next to, of course, the traditional track in higher education that is also provided in the Netherlands.
The Open University makes ‘higher education for everybody’ possible by not having formal entry requirements, freedom in study-time,-place and –pace and a specially developed didactical approach for guided self-study.

''Innovation''

After the first phase of development, the Open University came in a more mature phase in 1995 and its innovative targets were reformulated and more pinpointed towards innovation of higher education, meaning innovation of its own curriculum but also from other higher educational institutes in the Netherlands. A special focus here is on the innovation, development and implementation of new technologies and new educational insights. For that the OUNL works together with many national and international partners.

== External environment ==

'''What is the institution's funding from government as a percentage of annual income?'''

Their institution’s funding from government in 2008 was EUR 35,3 million.
Source: http://rijksbegroting.minfin.nl/2008/begrotingsvoorstel_behandeling/begroting,kst108428b_32.html

'''Describe the external quality assurance and/or accreditation regime affecting the institution, or state that it is the same as for other institutions in the country. Mention any features relevant to e-learning.'''

Quality is seen as an intrinsic issue to the [http://www.ou.nl/ Open University]. They are keen to ensure that their programmes continue to merit their reputation for quality. But there’s always room for improvement. That is why the Open University’s faculties assess the quality of their products, for example with Sein, a tool developed by the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies that allows students to evaluate the course they have taken just after sitting an examination. They also conduct regular opinion polls about other matters. For example, they conduct a biannual poll among students, graduates and others asking for their opinion of our website, course catalogues, level of contact and loyalty, and tutoring and mentoring. The OUNL uses the results to make improvements and develop new strategies.

'''Describe the approach to credit transfer with other similar institutions.
List the main associations that the institution is a member of, with a note as to the relevance of each to e-learning (if any).'''

Distance education is a good thing in itself, but society requires more. The Open University
wants to help meet those requirements, preferably in cooperation with others. Anyone aiming
to develop relevant initiatives will find the necessary “open mindedness” at the Open University
of the Netherlands. In their opinion together, we can use the available expertise to solve the problems facing society.
They are eager to share their knowledge and expertise in open partnerships. They welcome pioneering innovations, and are keen to openly share expertise and inspiration (according to their brochure).

== Strategy ==

'''Describe or provide a document describing the current institutional strategy.'''

''The Mission:''

[http://www.ou.nl Open Universiteit Nederland] is a distance teaching university that develops, delivers and promotes outstanding innovative educational programmes and tools in cooperation with its
network and alliance partners. As the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning, it aims to satisfy today’s wide ranging learning requirements and meet the pressing need to improve the level of knowledge in society.

The OUNL’s educational, research and innovation activities are anchored in the Dutch system of higher education. For almost 25 years, they have been the only university for higher distance education in the Netherlands
and Belgian Flanders. They play a leading role in educational innovation and are helping to tackle the labour shortage problem in teaching in the Netherlands. They see themselves as the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning, and aim to play a key role on both a national and international scale.

Describe or provide a document describing the current learning and teaching strategy.
They market their learning and teaching strategy as ‘ An open path to a knowledge society’
As they see themselves as the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning, the Open University opens itself up to students, companies, public authorities and other universities that share their ambitions.’ We’ve got to be open if we are going to work together to boost the level of knowledge in our society’. In other words, the Open University is a university – open to everyone.

'''Describe or provide a document describing the current e-learning strategy.'''

Students are at the core of their educational system. Students themselves determine where, when and at what pace they will work through their programme, so that they can find the right balance between studying and their work, their family and their hobbies. The Open University helps by offering students their own space within an advanced electronic learning environment. Course sites and discussion groups, e-mail and conferencing tools ensure that distance education is available to everyone. The Open University has been a pioneer in using e-learning tools for many years now. Its courses and programmes make use of interactive DVDs, multimedia resources and the Internet. Personal contact with students continues to be a vital element of its teaching methods. That is why the Open University has study centres and support centres in both the Netherlands and Belgian Flanders. Here is where students meet their teachers and fellow students during tutoring sessions, examinations, lectures and graduation ceremonies. The study centres are also the Open University’s answer to the growing demand for “blended learning”, which combines distance teaching and face-to-face instruction.

By 2009 the OUNL wants to be a genuine Internet university. They capitalize on the opportunities that the Internet offers in education and for their students, much more than is now the case. Their aims? Online tutoring,
online testing, quality assurance, and multimedia. Wherever possible, tutoring, testing, information and
counseling will take place online within just a few year’s time. By 2014 at the latest, they expect their students and staff to have their own personal digital learning and working environment that they can set up to suit their own wishes
and requirements. Ultimately, the OUNL wants to be able to describe its selves as a provider of multimedia, interactive distance education in which both the Internet and traditional printed books play an important role.
'''
An open channel to flexible and innovative education'''

Distance education need not be remote. The Open University of the Netherlands tries to show
that it can be close by. In fact in their vision they need to be, because this kind of education only works
if the university can offer its students flexible and innovative learning tools.
And that is precisely what the Open University tries to do, by offering outstanding academic courses and
programmes for anyone who wishes to grow or to keep growing. They have an open mind for new educational, didactic and technological models and incorporate them into their own programmes and courses.

== Structure ==

'''Describe the institutional structure, preferably supplying an organogram.'''

Open Universiteit Nederland is organised into three departments, seven schools and a network of twelve regional study centres and three support centres in various parts of the country. It also has six study centres in Belgium (Flanders) and one in the Dutch Antilles.

[[Image:Map_of_study_centres_departments.JPG|thumb|right|200px|Map of study and support centres in the Netherlands and Flanders]]

''Schools''

Open Universiteit Nederland has seven Schools, which develop and provide educational materials and conducts educational programmes:

• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/272.html School of Management]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/273.html School of Cultural Sciences ]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/274.html School of Computer Science]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/292.html School of Science]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/312.html School of Psychology ]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/313.html School of Law ]
• [http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/12/314.html School of Education].

Each school is headed by a dean of studies, who supervises teams of subject specialists and educational technologists engaged in developing courses and programmes. This often takes place in co-operation with specialists from other educational institutes or from trade and industry.

''Departments''

Expertise- and trainingcentres:
[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/22/853.html CELSTEC] (Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies)

[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/1/91/147.html Ruud de Moor Centre] (RdMC)

[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/1/92/850.html Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning ] (NELLL)

[http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/90/064.html Lex, The Learning Experience] (LEX)

Department of Educational Support Services; this department provides operational services, ranging from staff administration to the distribution of course materials.

''Boards and councils''

Furthermore, the Open Universiteit Nederland has several boards and councils.
''
Administration''

The universitys day-to-day administrative affairs are handled by the Executive Board, which reports to the Supervisory Board.
Educational affairs
Examinations are organised and co-ordinated by the Examination Board, which determines exam results and issues certificates and exemptions. The Board of Promotions is responsible for awarding degrees and for drawing up the relevant regulations.
Representation
Open Universiteit Nederland has a Works Council, with advisory rights and the right of approval in specific areas of policy. A consultative body monitors the rights of the university's employees. Finally, students are represented in an elected Student Council which may advise the Executive Board student matters.

== Learning and Teaching processes ==

=== Learning and teaching design and delivery ===

'''Describe how choice of pedagogies and technologies is made for a typical programme that is envisaged to include significant e-learning.'''

In the end the choice of pedagogies and technologies is a responsibility of each different school. The faculty is support by a diverse and large offer of instruments and technologies (like WEB 2.0 software) . The faculty combines their own tools in a media-mix.
The students have a virtual study place of their own. There they see their courses, content and possibilities to communicate etc.
There is no ‘ one’ strategy to the development of materials, teaching online or blended learning approach.

'''Describe what scope staff have at delivery stage to refine or in some cases override design decisions made earlier.'''

Within their schools they have their own Freedom. Decisions are based on an agreement between University board and their deans.

=== Learning and teaching development ===

'''
How much e-learning content is sourced from outside the institution'''

Almost no e-learning material is sourced from outside the university. They have guest writers who help developing their learning materials.

'''Of all e-learning content sourced from outside the institution, what fraction is OER?'''

Some instructional material that they’ve produced for independent study is now available free of charge. Driving force behind the development of OER is Prof. Fred Mulder, vice-chancellor of the Open University of the Netherlands. Anyone can enroll in interesting short courses via the Internet, without payment. The material is there to be consulted
flexibly. Their purpose is it to entice people to learn and closing the gap between informal and formal learning.” The aim is to have 500 out of every 10,000 users enroll in a programme of higher education. The William
and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science were so pleased by this initiative that they have agreed to fund it. More than twenty courses are now available on the university’s website, and so far they have attracted more than 50,000 visitors (summer 2008).

'''When staff in the institution develop content, is the content (a) owned by them and licensed to the institution, (b) owned by the institution but with some licensing back to staff, (c) owned by the institution but with no licensing back to staff, (d) unclear or disputed IPR position?'''

In general all material that is developed on campus is owned by the university.

'''When content is sourced for a programme within the institution, how much is sourced from other departments within the institution?'''

CELSTEC (the former Educational Technology and Expertise Center) used to have a service providing role and helped the schools with the development of their material. Nowadays they mainly conduct research.

'''What is the role of student-generated content in the institution's programmes?'''

It is depending on the course and study programme. Of course Web 2.0 software changes traditional learning approaches rapidly. Student-generated content is growing rapidly.

=== Learning and teaching evaluation and quality ===

'''Describe the quality procedures (a) in general terms and (b) with respect to e-learning.'''

The Quality depends heavily on the Dutch accreditation system. All Study programmes are accredited by the [http://www.Nvao.net NVAO].

== Meta Learning and Teaching processes ==

=== Communications ===

'''Describe how the institution communicates good practice in e-learning within itself,
focusing on communications across internal boundaries.'''

The institute has regular meetings on innovative e-learning issues. They have their own journals in which best practices are published. They organize training sessions for faculty, whenever new software is implemented.

'''Describe how the institution communicates its good practice in e-learning to organizations outside.'''

They work together in funded projects with other educational institutes. They provide consultancy and organize commercial training events for others.
'''
Describe how the institution communicates good practice in e-learning from outside organizations into its own organization.'''

They depend heavily on the overview researchers have of their own field of expertise. Whenever interesting things are seen or happen. This will be picked up by them and (hopefully) transferred on to others.

'''Describe recent occasions on which institutional leaders or managers have made presentations with significant reference to e-learning.'''
The board of the OUNL constantly stresses the importance of innovation and e-learning. They see that as the core business of OUNL.

=== Value for money ===

== Staff ==

=== Teachers, lecturers, trainers and equivalent support roles ===

'''Describe the approach to development of e-learning technical and pedagogic skills among staff, taking account of the different needs of different categories of staff. Set this within the context of staff development generally.'''

There is a training program in didactical skills for faculty. Next to this quite a lot of training courses are offered to staff for further developing their e-learning and software skills.

== Students ==

== Technology ==

== Futures ==

'''Innovation in Cooperation'''

The OUNL tries to share their expertise worldwide. Increasingly, they are trying to build long-term relationships with foreign partner institutes and companies, wherever possible in the form of strategic alliances. In fact, they have joined forces in the field of teaching, research and innovation with universities around the world, frequently in projects belonging to European programmes. The Open University of the Netherlands is also a leading member of EADTU (European Association of Distance Teaching Universities), in which open universities and institutions for distance teaching in Europe work together on projects and in task forces to develop business models, quality assurance, lifelong learning, multilingual open resources, cross-border virtual entrepreneurship, and virtual mobility.
They play a prominent role during national and international conferences, symposiums and seminars. Education, government and business must join forces, draw mutual inspiration, and encourage partnerships.

'''Innovation in Research'''

The OUNL has concentrated expertise in interdisciplinary research on lifelong learning in the
Netherlands Laboratory for Lifelong Learning, or NeLLL. This centre of excellence makes all the
knowledge acquired in the area of lifelong learning available to other organisations and to
anyone who is part of the Netherlands’ knowledge society. They also run a series of
research programmes focusing the expertise required to innovate in higher education.
The educational research conducted by CELSTEC, the Centre for Learning Sciences and
Technologies, is classed as “very good” to “excellent”. Quality Assurance Netherlands Universities awarded two of its research programmes the highest marks of any Dutch university. CELSTEC is described as a “major international player”. By focusing on research into lifelong learning and innovative educational, didactic and technological models, the Open University occupies a special place in the “Sampler of Outstanding and Interesting Research”, a booklet describing examples of outstanding research at Dutch universities published by the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU). The Sampler refers to the Open University as a “world
leader” when it comes to educational technology.

'''Innovation in Teaching'''

The Open University is the first university in the Netherlands to have taken Accreditation of Prior Learning – APL – on boardl. APL emphasises the skills that people have, not the ones they lack. That inspires them to go back to school and to continue to work on their personal development, an attitude entirely in keeping with the Netherlands’ main university for lifelong learning.
Students can now also be awarded exemptions and be admitted toprogrammes, based, for example, on their work experience. When possible, the Open University shares the expertise that its Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies has acquired in assessing and accrediting prior learning.

==References and reports==

[http://www.ou.nl Open Universiteit Nederland]

----
> [[Programmes]]
 
> [[Netherlands]]

[[Category:Netherlands]]
[[Category:Evolution of existing institutions]]
[[Category:Case studies]]
[[Category:Case study for FernUni Hagen]]
[[Category:Institutional reports]]

Switzerland

2009-05-13T09:00:59Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Description of the Educational System in Switzerland */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and manages the universities of applied sciences. The Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==
[[Image:Grafik bildung e a.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The Swiss Education System © EDK CDIP CDEP CDPE, October 2008]]

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Federal Constitution Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which is under the responsibility of the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuchâtel, Freiburg, Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp]Detailed overview of the Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

File:Grafik bildung e a.jpg

2009-05-13T08:57:12Z

File:Grafik bildung e.pdf

2009-05-13T07:53:29Z

Germany from Re.ViCa

2009-05-07T14:59:29Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* References */

===Partners situated in Germany: ===

* [http://fernuni-hagen.de/ Fernuniversität in Hagen] (DE)

== Germany in a nutshell ==
[[Image:429px-Map_Germany_Länder-de.svg.png|thumb|left|200px|Germany and its "Länder"]]Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is a country in Central Europe. The territory of Germany covers 357,021 km² and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With over 82 million inhabitants, it comprises the largest population among the member states of the European Union and is home to the third-highest number of international migrants worldwide.

Germany (Deutschland) is a Federal Republic consisting of sixteen states, known in German as Länder (singular Land). Since Land is the literal German word for "country", the term Bundesländer (federal states; singular Bundesland) is commonly used colloquially, as it is more specific, though technically incorrect within the corpus of German law. The peoples of the states are the nation of Germany. The governments of the states are part of the authority of Germany.

==German education policy ==

Under the Basic Law (Grundgesetz) the exercise of
governmental powers and the fulfilment of governmental responsibility is incumbent upon
the individual Länder as far as the Basic Law does not provide for or allow for any other
arrangement. The Basic Law contains a few fundamental provisions on questions of
education, culture and science: thus for example it guarantees the freedom of art and scholarship,
research and teaching, the freedom of faith and creed, free
choice of profession and of the place of training, equality before the law and the rights of parents. The entire school system is
under the supervision of the state.

Unless the Basic Law awards legislative powers to the Federation, the Länder have the right
to legislate. Within the education system, this applies to the school sector, the higher
education sector, adult education and continuing education. Administration of the education
system in these areas is almost exclusively a matter for the Länder.

The scope of the Federal Government's responsibilities in the field of education is defined in
the Basic Law, which was amended by the federalism reform in 2006, according to which the
Federation bears responsibility particularly for the regulations governing the following
domains of education, science and research:

* In-company vocational training and vocational further education
* Admission to higher education institutions and higher education degrees
* Financial assistance for pupils and students
* Promotion of scientific and academic research and technological development, including
the promotion of up-and-coming academics
* Youth welfare
* Legal protection of participants of correspondence courses
* Regulations on entry to the legal profession
* Regulations on entry to medical and paramedical professions
* Employment promotion measures; occupational and labour market research

Additionally, the federalism reform transferred responsibility for the remuneration and
pensions of civil servants (e.g. teachers, professors and junior professors) to the Länder. The
Federation still has legislative authority over the status-related rights and duties of civil
servants, as well as the legislative authority over foreign affairs.
In addition to the division of responsibilities described above, the Basic Law also provides for
particular forms of cooperation between the Federation and the Länder within the scope of
the so-called “joint tasks” (Gemeinschaftsaufgaben). For example, in cases of supra-regional importance, the Federation and the Länder may cooperate in the promotion of:
* scientific research institutions and projects outside of institutions of higher education
* scientific and research projects at institutions of higher education (agreements require
the consent of all Länder)
* research buildings at institutions of higher education, including major equipment.

Additionally, the Federation and the Länder may cooperate on the basis of agreements
regarding the assessment of the performance of the German education system in comparison
with other countries as well as in the production of related reports and recommendations.

Within the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
(Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung – BMBF) is primarily responsible for the
Federation's areas of responsibility. Whenever necessary, consultations between Federation and Länder take place in the Bundesrat, the Joint Science Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz – GWK), the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (Kultusministerkonferenz – KMK), the Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat) and the Planning Committee for the Construction of Higher Education Institutions. In the course of the federalism reform for the modernisation of the federal system, the direct rights of participation of the Länder have been specified in detail. When legislative powers exclusive to the Länder in school education, culture or broadcasting are primarily affected, the federalism reform of 2006 requires that the exercise of the rights belonging to the Federal Republic of Germany as a member state of the European Union is delegated to a representative of the Länder designated by the Bundesrat.

Although Germany has had a history of a strong educational system, recent PISA student assessments revealed a weakness in certain subjects. In a test of 43 countries in the year 2000, Germany ranked 21st in reading and 20th in both mathematics and the natural sciences, prompting calls for reform and dominating the political debate for the last years.

Also as a result of this, '''fundamental changes''' are currently being implemented in the German education system. In this
context, special importance is attached to the various efforts for quality assurance and quality
development in the school sector, teacher training and the higher education sector. In the school sector, the introduction of national educational standards and the establishment of the Institute for
Educational Progress (Institut zur Qualitätsentwicklung im Bildungswesen – IQB) marked the
beginning of a paradigm shift towards an output-oriented control of the education system. In June
2006, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs adopted a
comprehensive strategy for educational monitoring. The global concept for the monitoring and further
development of educational processes consists of four interconnected areas: International
comparative studies of pupil achievement, the central review of the achievement of educational
standards in a comparison between the Länder, comparative studies in order to review the efficiency
of individual schools within the Länder, and the joint education reporting of the Federation and the
Länder.

In the higher education sector, the development of the consecutive structure of study courses and
the further development of accreditation and evaluation also serve the objectives of quality
development and quality assurance. The accreditation of study courses ensures minimum standards
for the academic curriculum and the professional relevance of the degrees. Evaluation is designed to
highlight the strengths and weaknesses of institutions and degree programmes, and thus to assist
higher education institutions in adopting systematic approaches to quality assurance in teaching. In
September 2005, the Standing Conference passed a quality assurance framework concept for teaching
at higher education institutions which is based on a stock-taking of measures in the Länder and
defines the core elements and standards required to guarantee the reliability and comparability of the
procedures.

Other central themes in education policy are for example: integration of immigrants (e.g. by improvement of German language skills), all-day school and the membered educational system. Big issues concerning higher education are: equal opportunities, tuition fees and the so called initiative of excellence that benefits only a few universities.

== Description of the Educational System in Germany==

The education system in the Federal Republic of Germany is divided into
* pre-school education,
* primary education,
* secondary education,
* tertiary education and
* continuing education.

Optional kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years old, after which school attendance is compulsory for nine or ten years. In Germany, students are graded on a scale of one through six, one being high and six being very low, or failing. Home-schooling is not permitted in any of the German Bundesländer except rare cases. Primary education usually lasts for four years (six in Berlin) and public schools are not stratified at this stage. In contrast, secondary education includes four types of schools based on a pupil's ability as determined by teacher recommendations: the Gymnasium includes the most gifted children and prepares students for university studies; the Realschule has a broader range of emphasis for intermediary students; the Hauptschule prepares pupils for vocational education, and the Gesamtschule or comprehensive school combines the three approaches. There are also Förderschulen (schools for the mentally challenged and physically challenged). One in 21 students attends a Förderschule.

In order to enter a university, high school students are required to take the Abitur examination; however, students possessing a diploma from a vocational school may also apply to enter. A special system of apprenticeship called Duale Ausbildung allows pupils in vocational training to learn in a company as well as in a state-run school. [[Image: 800px-Deutsches_Bildungssystem-quer.png|thumb|right|300px|The Education System in Germany]] In 2006, 415,000 graduates received the general qualification for university entrance which is approximately 43% of the typical age cohort of the population.

For detailled information see http://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/doc/Dokumentation/Bildungswesen_en_pdfs/en-2006.pdf

==German HEIs in the information society==
According to the Federal Statistical Office 2007/2008, Germany possesses 278 Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Science) Kunst- and Musikhochschulen (for music and art) and about 104 universities (state and state-recognised).

The Fachhochschulen offer shorter and more practice-oriented programs. They generally lead to credentials at the bachelor's level, but more and more Fachhochschulen also offer master's programs for those students eligible for further study. In addition, Germany's tertiary sector also includes either state-run or staterecognised Berufsakademien (professional academies) in some "Länder": Students receive academic training at Studienakademien (study institutions) and, at the same time, practical career training in a training establishment. A number of colleges of art and music offer programs in their areas.

At the universities, for many decades a master's level degree (differed in "Magister", "Diplom" or "Staatsexamen" - State Exam) was the first degree available and only the recent higher education reforms, which have introduced two-level programs at both the bachelor's and master's level have opened a chance to leave university earlier. The bachelor's degree in the beginning was introduced to avoid the drastic rates of non-completers, which in some university subjects were as high as 75 percent.

In German higher education there are two semesters each academic year. Most of the information materials are available in German only, and admission in most cases is depending on German language proficiency as well. Big issues in educatianol policy concerning higher education are: equal opportunities, tuition fees and the so called initiative of excellence that benefits only a few universities.

===Ongoing debates and future developments===
Since the beginning of the 1990s and not least against a background of inadequate financial
and human resources at the higher education institutes, the Federation and the Länder have
increased their efforts to modernise and internationalise the higher education system in
Germany. The reforms are aimed at facilitating differentiation by deregulation, performance
orientation, increasing the autonomy of higher education institutions and creating incentives,
hence also enhancing the international competitiveness of the German institutions of higher
education.
In order to implement these goals, reforms have been and still are introduced and carried out
on the structure of higher education study and the internal organisation of institutions of
higher education. Detailed state control is increasingly being replaced by the autonomous
decision-making of higher education institutions. Deregulation has significantly increased the
freedom of higher education institutions in terms of their organisational and staffing
decisions. The higher education institutions are increasingly taking on the national and
international challenge. In joint target agreements, the state and the institutions of higher
education cooperatively define the services to be provided, but without specifying concrete
measures. The target agreements are also used as control elements within the higher
education institutions. The growing autonomy of the higher education institutions is, for
example, also demonstrated by their entitlement to select applicants for admission.
Since 2005 the Länder have been free to decide on the imposition of financial contributions
from students. A number of Länder made use of this option for the first time in the winter
semester 2006/2007 by imposing study fees ranging up to Euro 500. Parallel student loan
systems provide that loans only must be repaid once the course has been completed and in
case of adequate income.
As part of the Excellence Initiative of the Federation and the Länder for the Promotion of
Science and Research in German Higher Education Institutions (Exzellenzinitiative des
Bundes und der Länder zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Forschung an deutschen
Hochschulen), the Federation and the Länder support scientific projects run by universities
and their cooperation partners in the higher education sector, in extramural research as well
as in the private economy. In detail, until 2011 additional funds totalling Euro 1.9 billion are
provided in the funding areas
* research schools for the promotion of scientific talent,
* excellence clusters for the promotion of leading science and
* future concepts for top-class research at universities.
In October 2006, the decisions on funding applications from higher education institutions in
the first round of funding of the Excellence Initiative were made.

== Virtual learning initiatives in Germany==

In Germany there are many public and private distance e-learning initiatives. In 2006 there were more than 350,000 people participating in distance e-learning programs. 88,000 of them were taking part in higher education: 63,000 in distance teaching universities and 25,000 in other universities. Participants mainly are female and between 20 and 30 years old.

===Organisation and politics===

Many universities have got their own "e-learning-competence-centres", that do research in e-learning and offer an e-learning-infrastructure as well as programs for academics like the [http://www.uni-due.de/e-competence/portrait.shtml E-Competence Agentur] of the universitiy of Duisburg-Essen. Some of those "competence-centers" are also on level of the "Bundesländer" (see above) like the [http://www.elearning-zentrum.de/index.cfm?uuid=B7DE77163923488DB81A71EAC9BC5CAF Kompetenzzentrum Niedersachsen eLearning]. On a national level there are virtual institutions of higer education, mostly consortiums of institutions in a region like the so called virtual university of applied sciences: [http://vfh164.tfh-berlin.de/vfhsite/ Virtuelle Fachhochschule] (for more detailed information see point 3 in Table 1 of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Switzerland Switzerland]), or virtual universities like the [http://www.vhb.org/ Virtuelle Hochschule Bayern] or the [http://www.vcrp.de/index.php Virtueller Campus Rheinlandpfalz]. Governmental support programs tried to create and support those e-learning-structures in universities (for example the program [http://www.bmbf.de/foerderungen/2576.php "eLearning-Dienste für die Wissenschaft"]).

Since the year 2000 the Gesellschaft für Medien in der Wissenschaft e.V. (GMW) arranges an anual trinational award (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), for supporting instructional motivated activities, that are contributing quality assurance and effective anchorage of digital media in higher education: the [http://www.medidaprix.org/ medida prix]. The award is supposed to initiate a structural change in institutions. Last governmental support programs focused on the topic of web 2.0 (see [http://www.bmbf.de/foerderungen/12128.php]). However e-learning is not a current issue in education politics.

E-learning-offers in the context of further education which are accompanied by tutorial support and assessment are a matter of distance education according to German law. The bill from 1977 is exactly called "Ferunterrichtsschutzgesetz" ([http://Media:www.bmbf.de/pub/fernusg_neu_2002.pdf FernUSG]). This regulation for the protection of distance education focuses not on the technique but on the teaching-method as the spatial separation between learner and teacher. Those distance-learning-offers require an accreditation by the [http://www.zfu.de Staatliche Zentralstelle für FernUnterricht] (ZFU) (federal agency for distance education). It is a special regulation for German providers (mainly for private sector) and is quite controversial – particularly in the European comparison.

In the year 2005 31 per cent of the federally accredited distance-education-courses (632) were classified as e-learning-courses. But more than 80 per cent of all distance-schools are supporting their distance education by e-learning nowadays. So the boundary between classical distance Education and E-Learning blurs.

An overview about current distance e-learning programs can be downloaded [http://www.forum-distance-learning.de/content/downloads/FU_Statistik2006.pdf here]. An historic overview about statistical dates concerning distance e-learning programs in higher education from 1999/2000 to 2006/2007 is available here: [[Media:Distance-E-Learning_unis_Englisch.pdf]] (in English language).

===Best practice: examples of virtual higher education in Germany===

In the following table interesting virtual learning opportunities in Germany are highlighted:

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"
|1. || [http://www.fernuni-hagen.de FernUniversität in Hagen ] || FernUniversität in Hagen || Hagen || Distance learning university.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.zfuw.de/ Distance and International Studies Center]|| Technische Universität Kaiserslautern || Kaiserslautern|| Higher Distance Education.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.euro-fh.de/ Europäische Fernhochschule Hamburg] || Europäische Fernhochschule Hamburg|| Hamburg|| Distance learning / continuing education.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.akad.de/ AKAD Privat-Hochschulen|| AKAD] || Stuttgart|| Privat higher education.
|-valign="top"
|5. || [http://www.hamburger-fh.de/home/index.php Hamburger Fernhochschule] || Klett-Gruppe || Hamburg|| Distance learning.
|-valign="top"
|6. || [http://www.mmbj.de/ Multimediales Begleitstudium Jura] ||European University Viadrina|| Frankfurt (Oder)|| Conjunctive courses Higher Education.
|-valign="top"
|7. || [http://www.wb-fernstudium.de/ Wilhelm Büchner Hochschule] || Wilhelm Büchner Hochschule|| Darmstadt|| University of Applied Sciences.
|-valign="top"
|8. || [http://www.zfh.de/ ZFH] || Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen || Koblenz|| Higher Distance Education.
|-valign="top"
|9. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=18&L=1 oncampus] || Lübeck University of Applied Sciences || Lübeck|| Higher Distance Education.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) The FernUniversität in Hagen is the only state-maintained distance teaching university in the German-speaking countries and regions. Presently, around 43.000 students are registered. Togehter with cross registered students the number even rise to 55.450 students. They benefit from the modern distance education system which combines pedagogically well prepared study units with individual support, net-based co-operation in seminars and working groups, online communication offers and face-to-face sessions. Contacts between students and tutors are to be found on the main campus at Hagen as well as in around 60 study centres in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Central and Eastern Europe. The FernUniversität offers a real alternative to on-campus studies with high-quality degrees (Bachelor, Master, ‘Diplom’, and Doctorate). Meanwhile, the FernUniversität has existed for more than 30 years and is an established institution in the scientific community.

2) The Distance and International Studies Center (DISC) of the Technical University of Kaiserslautern is a leading institution in the area of postgraduate programmes in Germany. The courses on offer range from e-commerce and -business to nano-biotechnology. For undergraduates the center offers electrical and technical engineering. A special opportunity: People can start their on-campus-studies after a first year of distance learning, for example alongside the last year of school or while working. Altogether the TU Kaiserslautern counts 2810 students in distance-education.

3) The state-accredited Europäische Fernhochschule Hamburg (European Distance-University Hamburg) is part of the Klett-Gruppe, one of the large suppliers of educational services in Europe. It offers courses in "European business administration" and a "Master of Business Administration" and confers the academic degrees of Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Diplom-Kaufmann/ -Kauffrau (FH) (university business graduate) and Master of Business Administration (MBA). The curriculum is internationaly orientated. In accordance to the Hamburg law regarding university education, students can be admitted to study European business administration even if they don't have a high school diploma or haven't completed their A-levels. Students can start their studies at Euro-FH anytime. In 2008/9 around 3200 students were registerd.

4) AKAD is the leading private institution of higher education in Germany. It offers bachelor-, master- and diploma- programmes especially for students working in the field of business (furthermore informatics and languages). Among study centres and cooperations there are three “Fachhochschulen” (Universities of applied sciences) belonging to AKAD: the AKAD FH, Stuttgart (2443 students in 2006/2007), Leipzig (1337) and Pinneberg (2064). Students can chose between full-time or part-time (50 or 25 percent) studies when studying with AKAD.

5) With 7200 students in 2008 the Hamburger Fern-Hochschule is one of the biggest private institutions of Higher Education in Germany. It offers study-programs in the business-, in the technology- and the health-sector. The programs are especially concepted for people working while studying. In 39 regional study centres in Germany and Austria students can get support near to their home. Students can start there studies or on January 1th or on July 1th.

6) The European University Viadrina offers in cooperation with other universities conjunctive multimedia courses. The project was sponsored by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Federal ministy of education and research). So called knowledgeTools® modularrly organized on a learning platform visualize the procedure of cases. They accompany and visulate the audit trail of assignments and exams.

7) The Wilhelm Büchner Hochschule or Priv. Fern-FH Darmstadt (Private Distance-University of Applied Science Darmstadt) is with 5000 students in 2008 the biggest technical university of applied sciences in Germany. It offers bachelor and diploma-degrees in informatics and engineering. Unlike public institutions students can start their studies at anytime during the year.

8) In 1996 the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen (Central Department of correspondance courses in Universities of applied sciences) was founded by a treaty of the Bundesländer Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland with domicile in Koblenz. Its task is to support the development and accomplishment of Distance Education in the institutions of Higher Education of the three Länder. The Bundesland Rheinland-Pfalz invigilates the initative.

9) The online study paths of the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences were invented within a first federal lead project called “Virtuelle Fachhochschule (VFH)” (=Virtual University of Applied Sciences). Between 1998 and late 2003 mainly seven universities from different Bundesländer were engaged in inventing online pathways. Lead-managed by the Lübeck University of Applied Sciences this university network developed a bachelor's and master's degree programme Media Informatics and a bachelor's programme Industrial Engineering. In the meantime in Lüneburg it is also offered a Continuing Education Master Programme and Consecutive Master Programme concerning Industrial Engineering, in cooperation with universities in Sweden, Norway, Finland, as a joint study programme of the Kiel University of Applied Sciences and Lübeck University of Applied Sciences.

== References ==

[http://www.hochschulkompass.de/]Extensive Information on Germany's higher education institutions

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany/]Wikipedia-article "Germany"

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_of_Germany]Wikipedia-article "States of Germany"

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany]Wikipedia-article "Education in Germany"

http://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/doc/Dokumentation/Bildungswesen_en_pdfs/en-2006.pdf The Education System in the Federal Republic of Germany presented by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany

[http://www.daad.org/ http://www.daad.org]Informations of the German Academic Exchange Service

[http://www.destatis.de/ http://www.destatis.de]Informations of the Federal Statistical Office

[http://www.forum-distance-learning.de/fdl_3fa8c95f7ea6.htm http://www.forum-distance-learning.de/fdl_3fa8c95f7ea6.htm]Informations on the topic of distance learning- Statistics about German distance Education

[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuelle_Universit%C3%A4t http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtuelle_Universit%C3%A4t]Wikipedia-article "Virtual university"

[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Learning http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Learning]Wikipedia-article "E-Learning"

[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernunterricht http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernunterricht]Wikipedia-article "Distance Education"

http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/06-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-deutschland.pdf NML-NIB in international context Country report Germany

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Germany]]

----

> [[Countries]]
 
>> [[Main Page]]

[[Category:Germany| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:European Union]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:G8 countries]]
[[Category:G-20 countries]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-05-07T13:33:18Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Responsibility of the Confederation */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and manages the universities of applied sciences. The Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Federal Constitution Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which is under the responsibility of the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuchâtel, Freiburg, Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp]Detailed overview of the Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-05-07T13:31:33Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Responsibility of the Confederation */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and manages the Universities of Applied Sciences. The Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Federal Constitution Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which is under the responsibility of the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuchâtel, Freiburg, Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp]Detailed overview of the Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-05-07T13:24:17Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Description of the Educational System in Switzerland */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Federal Constitution Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which is under the responsibility of the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuchâtel, Freiburg, Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp]Detailed overview of the Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-05-07T10:58:23Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Primary level */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which is under the responsibility of the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuchâtel, Freiburg, Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

Thus, the implementation of two-staged system of study was passed.
The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp]Detailed overview of the Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-05-07T10:56:17Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Description of the Educational System in Switzerland */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which is under the responsibility of the Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence, separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuchâtel, Freiburg, Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

Thus, the implementation of two-staged system of study was passed.
The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp]Detailed overview of the Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-05-07T09:58:42Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Tertiary */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which belongs to the ETHZ.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence, separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuchâtel, Freiburg, Lausanne, Geneva, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

Thus, the implementation of two-staged system of study was passed.
The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp]Detailed overview of the Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-05-07T09:22:43Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Swiss education policy */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which belongs to the ETHZ.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence, separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuenburg, Freiburg, Lausanne, Genf, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

Thus, the implementation of two-staged system of study was passed.
The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp]Detailed overview of the Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-04-30T14:26:05Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* References */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities; the characteristic of this is not a strict separation of the responsibilities but the cooperation of the Confederation, cantons and municipalities with one another. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which belongs to the ETHZ.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence, separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuenburg, Freiburg, Lausanne, Genf, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

Thus, the implementation of two-staged system of study was passed.
The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/129983.asp]Detailed overview of the Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-04-30T14:16:32Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Lower secondary level */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities; the characteristic of this is not a strict separation of the responsibilities but the cooperation of the Confederation, cantons and municipalities with one another. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which belongs to the ETHZ.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence, separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Upper secondary level===
After nine years of compulsory education, adolescents can pass over to the upper secondary level. The secondary education level II can be split up into general education and vocational education offers. Students can visit “Matura” schools or specialized middle schools depending on whether they prepare for academic studies or higher vocational education.
The different education offers at upper secondary level lasts from two to four years. Approx. 90% of the adolescents in Switzerland graduate with a certificate.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuenburg, Freiburg, Lausanne, Genf, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

Thus, the implementation of two-staged system of study was passed.
The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-04-30T14:15:01Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Secondary */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities; the characteristic of this is not a strict separation of the responsibilities but the cooperation of the Confederation, cantons and municipalities with one another. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which belongs to the ETHZ.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence, separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Lower secondary level===

The obligatory school system includes in addition to primary education also a lower secondary level (secondary education I). The lower secondary level provides a basic general education free of charge. There gained knowledge shall prepare for apprenticeship or attendance of secondary schools (“Maturitätsschulen“, “Fachmittelschulen”). Analogue to primary level the cantons and municipalities support the schools of the lower secondary level. In addition the cantons determine the learning targets and regulate the curricula. In 20 cantons the lower secondary level begins with the seventh class, in six cantons with the fifth or sixth class. At the lower secondary level the pupils are usually between 12 and 16 years of age.
The majority of cantons sub-divide the lower secondary level into two to three different types of schools as follows:

* Types of schools with basic courses

This school type provides the practical abilities and the general education of the pupils and prepare for apprenticeship.

* Types of schools with expanded courses

This school type improves the general education and prepare for secondary schools and vocational basic education.

* Types of schools with higher courses

This school type with higher courses exhibits highest level and usually prepares pupils for Matura schools, intermediate diploma schools, for vocational full-time schools, or for more demanding apprenticeship.

This dividing model offers low opportunities of permeability so in the different cantons tests are being made with different models without different types of schools on the lower secondary level.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuenburg, Freiburg, Lausanne, Genf, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

Thus, the implementation of two-staged system of study was passed.
The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]

Switzerland

2009-04-30T13:49:05Z

Theo.bastiaens: /* Primary */

For entities in Switzerland see [[:Category:Switzerland]].

==Switzerland in a nutshell==

[[Image:800px-KARTE schweiz verwaltungsgliederung.png |thumb|left|300px|Switzerland and its "Cantone"]]Switzerland (German: Schweiz, French: Suisse, Italian: Svizzera), officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked alpine country of roughly 7.6 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km². Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called cantons. Berne is the seat of the federal authorities, while the country's economic centres are its two global cities, Geneva and especially Zürich. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world.

It is bordered by Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. Switzerland has a long history of neutrality — it has not been at war since 1815 — and hosts many international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the U.N.'s two European offices. Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The country's formal name is Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft in German, Confédération suisse in French, Confederazione Svizzera in Italian and Confederaziun svizra in Romansh. The establishment of Switzerland is traditionally dated to August 1, 1291; the first of August is the national holiday.

The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton has its own constitution, legislature, government and courts. Most of the cantons' legislatures are unicameral parliaments, their size varying between fifty-eight and two hundred seats. A few legislatures are general assemblies known as Landsgemeinden. The cantonal governments consist of either five or seven members, depending on the canton. For the names of the institutions, see List of legislative and executive councils of the Cantons of Switzerland.

The Swiss Federal Constitution declares the cantons to be sovereign to the extent their sovereignty is not limited by federal law. The cantons also retain all powers and competencies not delegated to the Confederation by the Constitution. Most significantly, the cantons are responsible for healthcare, welfare, law enforcement and public education; they also retain the power of taxation. The cantonal constitutions determine the degree of autonomy accorded to the municipalities, which varies but almost always includes the power to levy taxes and pass municipal laws. The sizes of the cantons vary from 37 km² to 7,105 km²; the populations vary from 14,900 to 1,244,400.

As on the federal level, all cantons provide for direct democracy. Citizens may demand a popular vote to amend the cantonal constitution or laws, or to veto laws or spending bills passed by the parliament. General popular assemblies (Landsgemeinde) are now limited to the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden and Glarus. In all other cantons democratic rights are exercised by secret ballot.

==Swiss education policy==

The competences in the educational system are distributed between the Confederation, cantons and the municipalities; the characteristic of this is not a strict separation of the responsibilities but the cooperation of the Confederation, cantons and municipalities with one another. The responsibility for the legal implementation, financing and execution vary depending on the type of educational level and the respective educational facility. The primary responsibility for education lies within the cantons.
A goal of the Federal constitution is that "children and adolescents as well as those who have reached an employable age can receive education, vocational education and further education according to their capabilities", and that "children and adolescents shall be encouraged in their development into independent and socially responsible individuals and shall be supported in their social, cultural and political integration" (Federal Constitution Article 41, Paragraph 1 Letters f and g).

===Responsibilities of the cantons and the municipalities===

* According to the Confederation constitution, the cantons are According to the Federal constitution, the cantons are responsible for school education. "They must ensure that there is adequate primary school tuition available for all children. The primary school tuition is obligatory and is subject to state management or supervision. This is free of charge in public schools" (Federal Constitution Article 62). The cantons and their municipalities are wholly responsible for the decision making process, financing and execution of the primary Level and the compulsory schools.
* The cantons and the Confederation carry their respective responsibilities for the public education system at the Secondary Level. The Confederation regulates vocational education, the cantons organise its implementation and bear the majority of the financial expenses. The cantons and the Confederation regulate the Matura Schools jointly, the cantons manage the Matura Schools. The cantons are responsible for further general education schools on this level.
* In the area of the universities as well as in the rest of the tertiary area, the responsibility of the cantons and the Confederation is partly legislatory, partly as responsible body for the universities, with their efforts coordinated. The cantons are solely responsible for the universities of teacher education (Pädagogische Hochschulen - PH), which are also subject to inter-cantonal legislation. Furthermore, the individual cantons themselves are responsible for their cantonal universities.

The cantonal school law is implemented largely via the educational department in the cantons. The educational departments determine the curricula, official teaching material and the sizes of the classes.
Amongst other institutions, the municipalities manage the kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools, and are supported in this by the school commission and the Schulpflege (school council). These represent the local school authorities and have the responsibility for the premises and the acquisition of teaching aids. In some cases they also select the teachers or possess control functions. Parents may also be represented in the school commission and school council.

===Cooperation between the cantons and the school concordat===

The inter-cantonal cooperation and school coordination is one of the tasks of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). All cantonal government members responsible for education, literacy, culture and sport are represented in the EDK. The EDK encourages and obligates the cantons to cooperation and harmonisation (e.g. with regard to reforms, cooperation in the area of planning, research, school statistics). Basic instruments of the EDK are the intern-cantonal agreements and the concordat supported recommendation.
Inter-cantonal agreements are government contracts between the cantons (qualification agreements and the terms of their implementation, e.g. the recognition regulation for the professional training of teachers, financing and freedom of movement agreements such as the inter-cantonal university agreement). Furthermore, the EDK releases curricula for certain vocational studies.
The school concordat of 1970 is the legal basis of the EDK. This generally obliges the cantons to cooperative measures in the field of education. The school concordat regulates the beginning and duration of the school year, the age of enrolment at school and the length of the compulsory schooling. An enhancement of the school concordat from 1970 is being planned. The new intern-cantonal agreement for the harmonisation of the compulsory school of the EDK will regulate important new benchmarking figures of the compulsory school (enrolment age, earlier and more flexible school enrolment, length of compulsory schooling period) and provides the educational standards that must be accomplished.

===Responsibility of the Confederation===

The Confederation issues regulations for the professional education system at the upper secondary level as well as the tertiary level and is responsible for the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) (including research promotion). The Confederation is also responsible for the universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen - FH). The Confederation and the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK) regulate the Matura recognition jointly.
On a federal level, the Federal Department for Home Affairs (EDI) - and in particular the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) - are responsible for the following areas: Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH), university aid, scholarships, science and research as well as the reorganisation of the Swiss university system, in collaboration with the cantons and the universities. The Federal Department for Economics (EDV) or the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (BBT) regulates vocational education and the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS) or the Federal Office of Sports (BASPO) is responsible for sport.

== Description of the Educational System in Switzerland==

The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system to the cantons (Article 62). The Swiss constitution sets the foundations, namely that primary school is obligatory for every child and is free in public schools and that the confederation can run or support universities. Swiss people have voted on May 21, 2006 to reform the education system in one common program for all the cantons. Because of its diversity, there are many private international schools in Switzerland that encourage respect for all cultures.

The minimum age for primary school is about six years in all cantons but Obwalden, where it is five years and three months. Any boy or girl can take part in school if they choose to, but kids are separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. Primary school continues until grade four or five, depending on the school.

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. In PISA science literacy assessment, 15-year-old students in Switzerland had the 16th highest average score of 57 countries.

The first university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel, with a faculty of medicine. This place has a long tradition of chemical and medical research in Switzerland. Other large universities are the ETHZ in Zürich and the EPFL in Lausanne. There are 14 Universities in Switzerland, 10 of which are maintained at cantonal level and usually offer a range of non-technical subjects. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

Many Nobel prizes were awarded to Swiss scientists, for example to the world-famous physicist Albert Einstein or more recently to Heinrich Rohrer also in the field of physics. Geneva host the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the CERN. An other important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute which belongs to the ETHZ.

===Primary level===

After visiting Kindergarten children in Switzerland enter primary school at minimum age of six. The school attendance is obligatory and free of charge and lasts six years in 20 of the cantons and in the other cantons four or five years. The organization and financing of the primary schools is incumbent on responsibility of cantons and municipalities. The children attend principally schools in their place of residence, separated depending on whether they speak French, German or Italian. At the primary level is no classification concerning types of schools with achievement groups.

===Secondary===

At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), pupils are separated according to their capacities in several (often three) sections. The best students are taught advanced classes to be prepared for further studies and the matura, while students who assimilate a little bit more slowly receive an education more adapted to their needs. This separation can be summarized as follows:

* Pre-gymnasium: this division aims to prepare the students for Gymnasium (German)/gymnase/collège/lycée (French)/liceo (Italian) or other schools which deliver a Federal maturity diploma. Students often have the choice between a science stream (with many hours of mathematics, and an introduction to physics and chemistry) and a more literary stream with Latin (and sometimes Greek).
* Intermediate: this division targets intermediate students whose goal it is to go to technical or secretarial schools, for example.
* Pre-professional: This division regroups students who are more interested in manual jobs, and prepares them for an apprenticeship by giving them strong bases in spelling, reading and mathematics.

The purpose of this system is to give every student an education that fits his or her needs and interests, but it is also criticized because it segregates children based on intellectual capacity. Secondary I school continues until grade nine, which marks the end of compulsory school.

===Tertiary===

Tertiary education depends on the education chosen in secondary education. For students with a matura, university is the most common one. Apprentices who did a vocational high school will often add a Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences) or a Höhere Fachschule (higher university of applied sciences) to their curriculum. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, after Australia.

The Swiss higher education system is currently facing a tremdeous change. With the foundation of Fachhochschulen (Universities of Applied Scienes) and Pädagogische Hochschulen (teacher training colleagues) higher education has been diversified, thus expanding the existing offer. The declaration of Bologna includes a drastic change in the landscape of higher education in Switzerland in order to meet the common goals by the year 2010.

At the moment 10 cantonal universities take part of the higher education system of Switzerland (Neuenburg, Freiburg, Lausanne, Genf, Bern, Zürich, St. Gallen, Basel, Luzern, Svizzera italiana), two technichal universities (Lausanne und Zürich), the Pädagogische Hochschule St. Gallen and eight federally accredited Fachhochschulen (Bern, Suisse occidentale, Nordwestschweiz, Zentralschweiz, Ostschweiz, Zürich, Université professionnelle de la Suisse italienne und Kalaïdos). Moreover, some integrated Fachhochschule and a few non-integrated Pädagogische Fachhochschule also belong to the higher education system. Private Institutions are:

* SBS Swiss Business School
* European University (EU)
* Educatis University Switzerland
The Educatis University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Uri.
* European Graduate School - EGS University The EGS University is accredited by the Swiss Canton of Valais.
* Zentrum fuer Agogik ZAK (Centre for Agogics)
The ZAK is accredited by the Dutch Validation Council (DVC) and by the Netherlands Quality Agency B.V.

Here you can find the [http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/infothek/publ.html?publicationID=2538/ Educational Statistics of 2006] of the swiss Federal Statistical Office (in English language).

==Instituts of Higher Education==

===Universities of applied sciences===

Since 1997 the Swiss higher education landscape has received a second university type in addition to the traditional universities. These are the universities of applied sciences (FH), originating from a concentration of around 70 specialist schools (technical schools, higher commercial schools, etc). The brief of the universities of applied sciences (FH) is to offer practical and application-orientated university-level studies for graduates of vocational education.

Universities of teacher education (PH) also belong to the universities of applied sciences (FH). They are responsible for the training of the teachers.

Main task and general conditions:

* The main assignment of the universities of applied sciences (FH) consists of diploma studies, further education (post diploma studies (ND) or the Master of Advanced Studies [MAS], post diploma courses (NDK), application orientated research and development, services for the benefit of third parties, co-operation with colleges and research institutes in Switzerland and abroad.
* The Swiss Conference of universities of applied sciences, affiliated to the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal Educational Minister (FHR EDK), is the strategic and political body for all matters concerning international co-operation with universities. It coordinates the development planning throughout Switzerland and works together with the Confederation.
* The Conference of the universities of applied sciences (KFH) represents the interests of the universities of applied sciences before the Confederation and the cantons as well as other educational and research political institutions. As a rectors' conference, it is a specialist body within the Swiss Conference of the Cantonal School Ministers (EDK) and maintains close links to the Federal Office for Vocational Training and Technologies (BBT), which regulates and jointly finances the universities of applied sciences (FH) at a Swiss level.

Also available: [[Media:Fachhochschulen.pdf|Size and geographical position of Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===Universities===

The cantonal universities offer courses in theology, humanities and social science, mathematics and natural science, law, economics, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) offer courses in natural and engineering science, architecture, mathematics, pharmaceutical science as well as sport and military science. 9251 university diplomas / degrees are expected were achieved in 2005.

7889 university diplomas were issued in 2005.
In 2006 a total of 166,449 students attended a Swiss university facility, approx. two thirds of these attended a university and almost one third a university of applied sciences (FH).

The oldest university in Switzerland was founded in 1460 in Basel. Five of the ten cantonal universities are situated in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: the Universities of Basel, Bern, Lucerne, St. Gallen and Zurich. The University of Freiburg is located in the bilingual canton Freiburg (French and German). The Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel are located in French-speaking Switzerland and the Università della Svizzera Italiana is situated in Ticino in the Italian-speaking part of the country. In addition there are the two Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Lausanne and Zurich as well as the four research institutes belonging to the ETH domain: Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Federal Institute for Material Testing and Research (EMPA) and the Federal Research Institute for Water Supply, Wastewater Treatment and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG).

Also available: [[Media:Swissuniversities.pdf| Situation and size of the "Universitäre Hochschulen" in Switzerland in 2007 (PDF)]], 1 page

===The "Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" and other Confederation-recognised universities===

In addition to the higher education institutions mentioned above, there is also a private foundation for distance learning, "The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz" which was recognised by the Confederation in 2004.

The following universities have also been recognised by the Confederation.
* Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales (HEI), Geneva
* Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP), Lausanne
* Institut Universitaire Kurt Bösch (The Postgraduate University of the Canton of Valais), Sion

===Core mandates and general requirements===

* Among the core mandates of the universities (cantonale universities and the Federal Institutes of Technology) are teaching, research, and the provision of services.
* The universities have considerable academic, financial, and organisational autonomy. The Swiss University Conference (CUS) is entrusted with their national coordination.

== Higher education reform ==

=== The Bologna Process===

The coordination of implementation of the Bologna-Declaration at institutions of higher education in Switzerland lies since 1999 with [http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 CRUS (Rectors' Conference of Swiss Universities)]while the [http://www.kfh.ch/index.cfm?CFID=12787936&CFTOKEN=63541849 Rector' Conference of the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences (KFH)] has overall responsibility for this project organisation at universities of applied sciences.

In December 2002 guidelines of implementation standards for universities of applied sciences and universities of education were decreed by the [http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11553.php Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK)].Thus, the entering of two-staged system of study was passed.

Thus, the implementation of two-staged system of study was passed.
The implementation at universities of applied sciences was started in autumn 2005 with enactment of partly revised universities of applied sciences act. Center stage takes the two-staged system of study: Bachelor and Master. Furthermore the course achievement shall taken in account according to the pan-European effective system of credit points (ECTS).
In order to insure the quality of offerings for education the Bologna Process is guided tightly by the Confederate Commission of Universities of Applied Sciences. For this purpose an evalutation of bachelor courses was commissioned to review the capability concepts and requirements.

== Virtual learning Initiatives in Switzerland==

Since 1992 the Canton Valais – situated in the Southwest of Switzerland – pursues as a non-university Canton an active university policy. One of the priorities is the promotion of distance teaching. For this purpose three institutions have been established in the last years:

* Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz (university distance programs)

* Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (distance programs for an university of applied science)

Since Switzerland as a small country will not build up a distance university of its own, a co-operation model was chosen.

The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz has close co-operations with the FernUniversität in Hagen, the French universities of Besançon, Grenoble, Dijon and the Centre National d’Enseignement à Distance, the Canadian Télé-Université, and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities.

In the area of the university of applied science exist co-operations with different distance teaching networks. As most important partners the following are to be called: The Institut für Verbundstudien der Fachhochschulen (institute for network studies of the universities of applied science) Northrhine-Westphalia Iserlohn, the Zentralstelle für Fernstudien an Fachhochschulen ZFH Koblenz (central office for distance teaching at the university of applied science) and the Fernstudienagentur FHTW, Berlin (distance teaching agency).

By these activities both institutions form a national competence centre within the area of distance study and distance teaching, which includes all educational sectors.

Besides this Swiss students of course can attend all programs of [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Germany German], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/Italy Italian], [http://www.virtualschoolsandcolleges.eu/index.php/France French] or institutions of higher distance-education of other countries – depending on their language skills.

===Important virtual learning opportunities in Switzerland===

'''Table 1'''
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:11px;"
|-valign="top" style="background: #ECE5B6;"
!width=""|'''Nr'''
!width=""|'''Name'''
!width=""|'''Institution'''
!width=""|'''City'''
!width=""|'''Type'''
|-valign="top"

|1. || [http://www.fernfachhochschule.ch/ffhs Fernfachhochschule Schweiz / Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS), ] || FFHS|| Brig|| Distance Learning.
|-valign="top"
|2. || [http://www.fernuni.ch/ The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz] || The Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz|| Brig|| University distance programmes.
|-valign="top"
|3. || [http://www.oncampus.de/index.php?id=61 Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule]||Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule|| Brig|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|4. || [http://www.virtualcampus.ch/display.php?lang=1 The Swiss Virtual Campus] || Swiss University Conference|| Bern|| University distance programmes in cooperation.
|-valign="top"
|}

1) Since autumn 1998 the FFHS offers technical college courses for people in employment in the areas of economy, informatics and engineering according to the method of blended-learning. About 80 per cent of the education occurs in the accompanied correspondence courses; about 20 per cent of the time the students spent in one of the regional centres in Zurich, Bern, Basel or Brig. This study form – a combination of different forms of electronic learning with traditional education- and continuing-education methods and direct practise relation – closes a gap in the Swiss training system: The FFHS trains higher certified occupational people without taking them away from the job market.

Since 2004 the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz is a part of the Scuola Universitaria profession ale della Svizzera Italiana (SUPSI) approved by the Bundesrat. So it is integrated into the whole strategy of the SUPSI. The offer of the SUPSI is aimed traditionally on the Italian language area of Switzerland. Now with her partial school the SUPSI has got a foot in the door of German-speaking Switzerland. Besides it profits from the correspondence course competence of the FFHS.

Approximately 600 students are enrolled at the FFHS. The number of students is rising. In May 2008 201 people had registred newly for bachelor- or master-degrees.

On average two saturdays a months students (depending on there home-region) meet in regional centres Zürich, Bern, Basel or
Brig for attendance-courses. For this two-week-model it comes to a dilatation of the academic year: A "Semester" (term) starts around one month before a Semester in a typical full-time-Fachhochschule
and takes 18 weeks instead of 15. Students of the FFHS start their studies with 29 years of age in average, 40 per cent of them are married, and only 27 per cent are female. Most are living close to Zürich.

2) 1318 students (1571 including continuing education) were studying with the Foundation Fernstudien Schweiz in 2007; 955 in German language, 363 in French. The Foundation has got close cooperations with other Swiss and European universities (see above). It runs own bachelor-programs in Swiss Law, psychology and economics and many more in cooperation with German an French universities, especially with the FernUniversität in Hagen. There are study-centres in Brig, Pfäffikon and Sierre.

3) The “virtual” network of universities of applied sciences "Hochschulverbund Virtuelle Fachhochschule" (VFH) offers two online-study-programs since winter-term 2001/2002: „Medieninformatik“ (media informatics) and "Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen" (industrial engineering and management).

At the moment seven German universities of applied sciences (from different “Länder”) make part of the alliance as well as two associated institutions – one of them is the Fernfachhochschule Brig (see above).

4) The Federal Program Swiss Virtual Campus (SVC) promotes Communication Technology (ICT) based eLearning at Swiss Universities. While boosting e-learning resource production and application efficiency in general the awarding of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) recognition for successful course completion is targeted.
Thus the strategies of the Swiss Virtual Campus go hand in hand with the implementation of the Bologna resolution.

==References==

[http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php http://www.edk.ch/dyn/11586.php]The Swiss education system

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Switzerland] Education in Switzerland from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/themen/15.html] Information by the Federal Office of Statistics

[http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp http://www.educa.ch/dyn/152941.asp]Overview Swiss Universities

http://www.crus.ch/homenavigation/home.html?L=2 Information by the Rectors´Conference of the Swiss Universities

[http://www.fnm-austria.at/stategie/Dateiablage/view/nml-nib/09-nml-nib-international-laenderbericht-schweiz.pdf| NML-NIB im internationalen Kontext Länderbericht: Schweiz (PDF - DE)] by [http://www.fnm-austria.at/ FNM-Austria]

See also links in the text.

----

[[Internal evaluation Switzerland]]

----
> [[Countries]]

[[Category:Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:OECD]]
[[Category:German-speaking countries]]