Colleges of Switzerland informs students about its study abroad programs
Representatives from a variety of four-year colleges visited Saddleback College’s student quad last Wednesday, Sept. 3 to provided information to students for this fall’s Transfer Fair.
Students curious about transferring to an international university stopped
at a booth with the Swiss flag, which represented the Colleges of Switzerland, represented by Jasmine Leung and Zembia Chan.
The five different colleges represented by the Swiss Education Group offered degrees
in hospitality, hotel management, business, and even culinary arts.
Those studying hotel management reside in the idyllic Lucerne, Switzerland, where students are housed in a newly renovated hotel and wear uniforms in order to legitimize the professional atmosphere of hotel management, according to Leung and Chan.
The students are served three meals per day, with also the luxury of different restaurants. The accommodations within the “hotel” range from premium rooms to a suite if you so wish.
An advantage of international study includes immersion in local culture, often a skill necessary for certain careers. “Studying in Switzerland opens the students’ minds to different cultures,” Leung said. “They come back with a different perspective.”
Leung and Chang explained a student could earn dual degrees as well as practice a new language and get to see the world.
“Money can’t buy international experience,” Chan said. The program also offers a vast array of options including paid internships, which allow the students to get work experience.
Some students were interested in transfer possibilities a bit closer to home. Diana Garcia, a transfer mentor from the University of California, Riverside had quite a number of students stop by her booth.
“Most students were interested in things like required GPA, housing, and ways of transportation,” said Garcia
“A GPA of 2.4 or higher after completing 60 semester units of transferable college credit is the requirement for transfer students. As far as the dorms go, there are a number of different housing options, from eco-friendly housing to fully furnished and even single occupancy rooms,” Garcia said.
For further information about the Swiss Education Group and Colleges of Switzerland, visit http://www.swisseducation.com/or email [email protected], or call 604-628-1647. For UCR transfer information, visit http://admissions.ucr.edu/Home/transfer.
