The University System in Europe and Switzerland
In Europe, higher education institutions are taken to mean both universities and universities of applied sciences. The two types are equivalent but different. Put simply, a university focuses on science-oriented work with a high level of abstraction. In contrast, education and training at universities of applied sciences are practice-oriented and deal more with concrete issues, which corresponds to the philosophy of the HSLU.
We are a classic university of applied sciences. Universities of applied sciences are not to be confused with the higher technical colleges (HFS), which focus exclusively on practical issues and do not count as universities.
The Bachelor's Degree
The Bachelor's degree is the standard degree at universities of applied sciences. It qualifies graduates for direct entry into a profession. For Bachelor's graduates with above-average grades and an interest in application-oriented research, the universities of applied sciences offer consecutive Master's programmes. These last one-and-a-half to two years, depending on the field of study.
Graduating with a BSc in International Sustainable Tourism is a stepping stone to HSLU’s Master’s degree courses in Business Administration with the various majors, namely
Our "Study Currency": ECTS
ECTS stands for European Credit Transfer System, which enables transparent recognition of study achievements. ECTS credits are a unit of measurement for study time. Each education and training course is awarded a certain number of ECTS credits, depending on the average time required to complete the module.
In the case of the BSc in International Sustainable Tourism, this is 180 ECTS, which, according to the standard curriculum, corresponds to exactly 30 ECTS in all six semesters. One ECTS credit equals 30 working hours. The individual modules comprise 3 or 6 ECTS, the Bachelor thesis 9 ECTS (for the exact allocation of ECTS in the internship semester, see LINK here).
Thus, it can be said that the 3 ECTS modules, which are the most in this programme, require about 90 working hours each, including lectures, exercises, self-study and projects, assignments and exam preparation, and much more.
The Semestres
An academic year consists of two semesters: the autumn semester (regular programme start) and the spring semester.
The autumn semester begins in September of each year and ends with teaching units at the end of December. Afterwards, the examination period usually takes place from late January to mid-February.
The spring semester then begins after the semester break at the end of February until the end of June. Examinations usually take place subsequently until the first week of July. You can find the exact dates under Academic Dates.
Examination Types
Each module is completed with a performance record in the same semester. A performance record can consist of several equally or differently weighted parts: individual assignments, group projects or exams.
The performance record verifies the achievement of the specified learning objectives and, if passed, results in the recognition of the corresponding number of ECTS. In the modules of the first and second regular semester, at least 50% of the examination results per module consist of individual performances.
Our Grading System
The quality of the performance records of modules is usually indicated with numerical grades and, if appropriate, with the qualification "pass/fail". In general, a module is considered passed if at least 60% of the maximum possible performance is achieved.
The numerical assessment is expressed in the following grades, according to the official Swiss grading system:
- 6 = very good
- 5 = good
- 4 = sufficient
- 3 = insufficient (failed)
- 2 = weak (failed)
- 1 = very weak (failed)
Failed modules (3.5 and below) can be repeated once. If a second attempt is also failed, the student will be exmatriculated. However, a single 3.5 over the entire study programme may remain (cannot be applied to the Bachelor project). In semesters with several examination parts, the overall grade counts, i.e. a worse grade can be compensated by a better grade.
An unsatisfactory Bachelor preliminary study or Bachelor thesis can be remedied once, as long as the grade is not below 3.0. A grade of 4.0 is awarded for a reworked, passed thesis. In this case, a higher grade can no longer be achieved.
