Hirschmann Scholarship at Universities of Applied Sciences

swissuniversities / Chamber of Universities of Applied Sciences

Get-Together 2021: Meeting Place Kornschütte Lucerne

On 26 November 2021, the Kornschütte at the Kornmarkt in Lucerne once again hosted the Get- Together of the Hirschmann scholarship holders.

Alexandra Richter, Head of University Services at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, and the academic think tank foraus with their teams prepared the meeting in a professional way.

40 scholarship holders attended. The departments of Life Sciences, Technology and IT, Architecture and Design, Construction and Planning, Music, Social Work, Economics, Psychology and Health as well as Fine Arts and Performing Arts from several Swiss universities were all represented.

Some of the guests were Dr. Eugen David, the retiring President of the Hirschmann Foundation, Dr. Markus Hodel, Rector of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Etienne Dayer, swissuniversities, Managing Director of the Chamber of Universities of Applied Sciences and Arts, Prof. Dr. Birgit Vosseler, Head of the Department of Health University of Applied Sciences and Arts EAST, Prof. Dr. Daniela Willi-Piezzi, Direttrice della Formazione di base della SUPSI, Prof. Martin Studer, MSE, Pro-Rector University of Applied Sciences Graubünden, Prof. Dr. Herber Binggeli, Hirschmann scholarship Expert, Meret Kunz, Chamber of Universities of Applied Sciences, swissuniversities, Lukas Hupfer, Co-Managing Director of foraus.

Topic: Information and Disinformation

In cooperation with foraus, the students reflected in advance on the topic of information and disinformation in a democracy, a topic they had selected themselves. Who provides the information? Who chooses the information? Who processes the information?

Can we trust social media, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, etc.? What exactly is advertising, what is a fact, what is deception? Is the audience defenceless against the stream of information? What are the efforts required to prevent disinformation? What can the public expect from the state, what can they expect from the media? What must we each contribute?

Students had been working in several groups on the topic at a workshop and online supervised by Wailea Zülch, Engagement Manager at foraus.

In the Kornschütte, Ms Zülch moderated the very interesting presentations of the students. For all participants, there was an opportunity to reflect on the topic themselves and to participate in the ongoing discussion.

Acknowledgements

Rector Markus Hodel opened his speech by thanking the Hirschmann Foundation on behalf of swissuniversities, the Chamber of Universities of Applied Sciences and the retiring President Eugen David for the scholarship programme, which has been in place for the past 14 years.

More than 800 students from Swiss universities have participated in the programme. The Hirschmann Foundation has spent around CHF 4 million on the scholarships programme since 2007.

Eugen David, in turn, expressed his gratitude to the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, especially to their Rector Markus Hodel, as well as to Alexandra Richter, who is responsible for administering the programme, and their team for their excellent cooperation. There have been no difficulties in all these years.

He also expressed his gratitude to Professors Herbert Binggeli and Xaver Büeler, who are in charge of preparing the selection of the scholarship holders very carefully. Finally, he thanked the representatives of swissuniversities and the various universities who attended for their ongoing support of the programme.

Eugen David showed his conviction that with the new presidency of the Hirschmann Foundation headed by Dr Barbara Rigassi, the Hirschmann Scholarship will remain in place as of January 2022. The evening ended with an aperitif. Students and lecturers had the opportunity to exchange ideas and to establish new friendships.

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