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UMEC
May 11-16, 2008
An incredibly insightful, diverse and valuable week has passed. swissnex Boston organized a weeklong study trip along the east coast for the majority of the nine Swiss University Presidents and Vice Presidents. To tackle a series of issues associated with the presidency of a University, we offered in depth encounters with University management and leadership at Boston University, Olin College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Yale University, meetings with MIT’s former president Charles Vest and the president of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges Richard Legon at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), and back up the coast to a meeting with young Swiss studying in Boston as well as with Glenn Strehle, MIT’s Treasurer Emeritus.
The mix of private and public, Ivy League, small and large, north and south, young and old, traditional and unconventional could not have been more prominent. However, as the week progressed and issues such as university structures and governance, funding and fundraising, global competition and networks, endowment and investment as well as truly impacting missions and philosophies were discussed in formal meetings, lunches, dinners and receptions, these initial difference started to blur. While each university has its own special history and presence, the questions and challenges they are facing are very similar.
Apart from the transatlantic exchanges, the value of the majority of Swiss university presidents’ having more than time- limited business exchanges with other rectorate members became a truly cherished the opportunity.
Swissnex Boston would like to thank all the incredible and fascinating people who have made this week only the beginning of many more fruitful contacts, exchanges and co-operations.
