Career prospects in an international IT environment Experts in the field offer their take on student prospects

Globalization is having an increasing effect on both professional and social life. IT specialists work more and more on interdisciplinary projects as part of intercultural teams, with excellent English language skills a key requirement. But this alone is not sufficient – intercultural skills and own international experiences are also essential here nowadays. This is why the School of Computer Science and Information Technology trains students to deal with these challenges as part of the bachelor’s degree in International IT Management. Below, experts from international working environments comment on the future career prospects of students.

«Intercultural skills play an important role.»

Porträt Patrick Brigger

«The bachelor’s degree in International IT Management is a very interesting option. ICT is evolving into different, highly specialized units that have the highest possible level of expertise in their branch. As an individual department, company or person, it is not possible to cover all areas. This makes it even more important to be able to work together with different partners. These partners are often not based in your home country. Instead, they are increasingly located in Asian countries such as China, Vietnam and India, or in Eastern Europe. Contractual negotiations with people from China are absolutely opposite to those carried out in western countries. Communication must take place in other languages and be supported with suitable tools. All this requires a degree program that goes far beyond that seen in “normal” IT studies.» Dr. Patrick Brigger, getAbstract AG, Co-Founder & CTO

«Our increasingly international economic area makes new demands on education.»

Porträt Gerda Schwindt

«With the bachelor’s degree in International IT Management, the Lucerne School of Computer Science and Information Technology has established a highly-sought course to meet the demands of an increasingly international business area in Central Switzerland. Moreover, this new degree program also represents a logical continuation of the international apprenticeship concept that was recently launched by the canton of Zug. As an international company, we are delighted to be able to offer all the possibilities associated with an international degree program to our talented young professionals – on all levels – with this new program, while at the same time also benefiting from an international pool of talent. This is ideal when it comes to meeting our demands for local specialists.» Gerda Schwindt, Glencore International AG,  Global Head HR

«The degree program gives students the skills necessary to meet both technological and cultural challenges.»

Porträt Andre Muff

«The bachelor’s degree in International IT Management is a very promising course that meets the demands of business both now and in the future. The graduates should be able to make their mark in constantly changing technical and cultural surroundings. Mastering technological and cultural challenges requires a special set of skills. Moreover, agile processes such as Scrum/SAFe and the design thinking approach are extremely important nowadays. Graduates must be familiar with these methods and gain the fundamental skills needed to master the methods of tomorrow.» André Muff, Siemens Schweiz AG, Leiter R&D Zug, Building Technologies Division