ISBM LOCATION AND FOREWORD
Welcome to Beautiful Central Switzerland and the International School of Business Management ISBM
ISBM is situated in the canton Luzern. This location gives the students good opportunities in accessing to urban and modern life of Switzerland along with entertainment and fun.
ISBM is situated almost in the center of Switzerland, therefore, gives almost equal access to all parts of the country; modern transportation facilities connect to all major cities of the countries.
Welcome to ISBM
It is with great pleasure that we announce the Educational Programmes at the International School of Business Management in Lucerne (Switzerland). The International School of Business Management in Littau, Switzerland will offer, in conjunction with our core programmes, a specialised Hotel Management degree programme.
This manual doesn’t try to cover everything under the sun, as no student’s learning experience will be exactly the same. However, it does lay down some ground rules for your study at ISBM, academic and otherwise, in the hope that you can help to create a strong scholarly community.
This is a work in progress and will keep evolving over the years to accommodate changes in programmes, academic attitudes, quality assurance policies, student and faculty suggestions and other things.
I hope you find this manual useful in your studies. Please let us know if there is anything you feel should be included here. Learning is a two-way street, and we are learning just as much as you.
Good luck with your studies.
Yours sincerely
Principal
ABOUT SWITZERLAND
Switzerland (officially the Swiss Confederation, Confoederatio Helvetica in Latin): Birthplace of Tourism, Hospitality and Modern-day tourism.
200 years ago, the British named Switzerland "the healthy resort". Tourism is Switzerland's third largest industry, so leisure activities and entertainment are widely available and of course in keeping with the Swiss, high standard. Switzerland is also a small country and together with good transport infrastructure no where is far away so you have a wide choice of places for day trips and weekends away.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
One finds four different language-oriented cultures: German, French, Italian and Romansh. Some cities are bilingual. One will occasionally overhear dialogues in which one side is in French, the other in German.
Nearly half the population is Catholic, yet historically it was a centre of the Reformation. The Protestant population nearly equals the Catholic population.
SWISS GERMAN - SCHWIIZERTÜÜTSCH
Swiss German is very different from standard German. Historically, it resembles dialects spoken in Southern Germany in the Middle Ages, so it is pretty archaic and untouched by many changes which have changed the standard German (like the disappearance of diphtongs: when it is written Knie (knee), then a German will read it kni: but in Swiss, it will be something like (knie).
Some examples: l came is ich kam in Standard German, or ich bin gekommen if the more common Perfect tense is used, and it is i bi choo in some Swiss dialects.
TRANSLATION OF PLACE NAMES
Some place names have different names in different languages, but the official one that is used in official documents and postal system is mostly the same one (the names used in public transport schedules are sometimes different). If several places have the same name, the abbreviation of the canton is used after the name (e.g. Pfaffikon ZH and Pfaffikon SZ are quite different places). English names of places come usually from the French form.
SOCIAL INSURANCE SCHEMES
Illness Compulsory Insurance
Health care insurance ("basic insurance) for illness and accidents is obligatory for all people resident in Switzerland. Basic insurance must be arranged with a health insurance company for three months at the latest after taking up residence in Switzerland or after the birth of a child. Each family member must be individually insured, Each person must make his/her own insurance arrangements: the premiums are not deducted from pay (individual employers offer the appropriate services).
HEALTH
The Swiss Health Service may be expensive but the quality is excellent. In general there are no waiting lists, as the country has the highest rate of doctors to patient ratio in the world. As well as standard medical treatment, the Swiss are also leaders in the field of alternative medicines, plastic surgery and rejuvenation clinics.
WORKING CONDITIONS IN SWITZERLAND
WORKING CONDITIONS
Foreign workers must be employed under the same payment and working conditions as Swiss citizens. The authorities make sure that this principle is observed. Otherwise, the state does not interfere in relations between employer and employee. These are governed by agreements between the parties, by the law on employment contracts (Section 10 of the Swiss Code of Obligations) and by the labour law.
PEOPLE
On 1 January 1998 Switzerland's permanently resident population was 7,096,500, of whom 1 375,200 were foreigner nationals. The population density is 17 inhabitants per square kilometer.
RELIGION
There is freedom of religion and conscience. The two principal religious denominations in Switzerland - the Roman Catholics and the Protestant Reformed Church - are represented in approximately equal numbers.
GEOGRAPHY
Location:
Central Europe, east of France, north of Italy, south of Germany, west of Austria, landlocked; crossroads of northern and southern Europe along with south-eastern France and northern Italy, contains the highest elevations in Europe
Area:
land 39 7 70 sq km water 1,520 sq km
THE ECONOMY AND THE LABOUR MARKET
Despite its limited size and severe shortage of raw materials, Switzerland has achieved considerable economic success, thanks to its technical know-how, enterprising spirit, hard work and capital. The country is largely dependent on the importation of raw materials, semi-finished and fin- shed products, sources of energy and food.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
There are three official languages in Switzerland - German, French and Italian, plus the fourth one, Romanisch, which is sometimes also counted as one. It, however, does not mean that the whole country is trilingual. The cantons are clearly divided into German-, French- and Italian-speaking ones.