María Jiménez (La Rioja), Miriam Guillén (Navarra), Inés Centeno (Sevilla) and Irati Alonso (Gipuzkoa) -from left to right in the photo below- are students of the third year of the Degree in attendance of Management of ISSA University of Navarra. During this semester they will be spending an international stay at the Haute École de Gestion de Genève University in Switzerland.

Why did you decide to go to exchange? What made you choose Geneva as your destination? 

The first reason why we decided to go to exchange was to consolidate the languages because in ISSA this aspect is very important and it was the best way to improve our level in a short period of time.

In this sense, Switzerland was one of the only countries that offered us the opportunity to put on internship three languages (English, French and German) at the same time, so we did not have many doubts when choosing the destination. In addition, Switzerland had the attraction of being international and multicultural. On the one hand, because it has three official languages, those mentioned above, and on the other hand, because Geneva is home to 97% of the world's nationalities, thanks to the presence of the United Nations headquarters.

What language are you using the most? What language are the classes being taught on? Are expectations being met with language?

The language we use the most is English, we are participating in the IBM program (International Business Management).International Business Management) program, which offers almost all of its courses in this language language. On the other hand, we are taking two subjects in French (language French and Oral Communication) as well as one in German. Without any doubt, our expectations are being fulfilled.

What is the methodology of work in the host universityHave you found many differences?

What we would highlight the method of the "Haute École de Gestion" - one of the most prestigious schools of management in Switzerland - and which is comparable to procedure followed at ISSA, is teamwork. The methodology is similar but in Switzerland they still give more importance to this aspect. In general we have a final project at each subject, plus weekly presentations at group, which are worth 50-60% of the final grade .

These works and projects meant a challenge at the beginning because being international teams the ways of working were very different, but at the same time this experience is being very enriching.

Which project would you highlight?

The project that focuses more on our possible employment opportunities, as ISSA students, is the one we do in "Project Management". One of the objectives of this subject is to study the different stages in the organization of events, conferences, etc.

Thus, challenge has been to organize a lecture for the United Nations, in particular for UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). To carry out this project we attended a real UNCTAD lecture that helped us to situate ourselves and understand the role of this United Nations agency, to help developing countries development to invest in order to continue growing. Thanks to this visit we were able to take into account the details that we had to take into account when carrying out our project, such as the choice of speakers, moderators, guests, seating arrangements or hostesses at protocol.

Finally, regarding what was learned during the project, we would highlight the management of resources and time. We found ourselves with a project in which there were many tasks and activities with minute details, and little time to organize them all, so your management was vital to be able to accomplish all of them.

In what way have you put in internship in that project the knowledge acquired so far in ISSA?

In these three years of programs of study, ISSA has not only offered us the opportunity to have an excellent command of English and French, 

two of the six official languages of the United Nations, but it has also taught us the points core topic to take into account for the organization of an event or a trip. Thanks to the theoretical knowledge acquired, we now have the opportunity to take it to internship in a most interesting and international scenario.

To conclude, how would you rate your experience in Switzerland?