Switzerland Today
Greetings from Lausanne,
How high or low can we go? Yesterday saw a few drops of rain; more are expected later this week. But it’s still not enough to make a difference. As rivers and lakes recede further, the depleted water levels continue to exert pressure on shipping operators on the Rhine and fish and other wildlife.
Currency traders and economists are also watching the levels closely – this time the Swiss franc/euro exchange rate, which today hit a record.
Here are the latest news and stories from Switzerland on Monday.
In the news: Taiwan and Switzerland, OECD corporate tax reform and university ranking.
- A “good offices”agreement signed three years ago for Switzerland to represent United States interests in Venezuela has still not come into force, it has been confirmed. Switzerland received a similar set-back last week when Russia said it had turned down a Swiss offer to represent Ukrainian interests in Russia and Moscow’s interests in Ukraine because it no longer considers Switzerland a neutral country.
- In an interview with the CH-Media group, Taiwan’s top official in Switzerland, David Huang, said there is room for more “pragmatic cooperation” between the Asian island state (photo above) and the Alpine nation, including a trade accord.
- The Swiss government is facing criticism about its planned implementation of an international corporate tax reform. The left-wing Social Democratic Party said the proposed distribution of the expected additional revenue from the reform would benefit only four of the country’s 26 cantons and worsen competition between them.
- ETH Zurich took 20th place in this year’s Shanghai university rankingExternal link, scoring highly for civil engineering and environmental sciences. The University of Zurich was ranked 59th, the University of Geneva 62nd and the University of Basel 83rd. The top spots were again taken by American universities: Harvard (1st), Stanford (2nd) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (3rd).
- The Swiss franc hit an all-time highExternal link against the euro today: at 1pm, the Swiss currency wasExternal link trading at CHF0.9644 per €1; this compares with CHF1.09 per €1 one year ago.
Lakes Constance, Lucerne and Lugano have all reached historically low levels due to the ongoing drought.
Lakes Thun, Neuchâtel, Biel and Murten are the only ones that remain at their normal average levels, according to the Federal Office for the Environment.
Other lakes are generally well below average. Meanwhile, small and medium-sized rivers, especially in the midland region and in southern Switzerland are experiencing low water levels generally seen every 20 years.
The Rhine and Reuss have recorded some of their lowest-ever summer levels, while the Aare and Limmat are at levels seen every 2-5 years.
Rainfall expected for the middle of this week is not likely to make a difference and low water levels should continue in Switzerland’s main rivers and lakes.
The new school year is marked by an acute shortage of teachersExternal link at all levels in German-speaking cantons.
The new school year begins today in 15 cantons, including Basel, Bern, Graubünden Jura and St. Gallen.
Newspapers report a highernumber of students starting in German-speaking regions. In canton Aargau, for example over 80,000 students started school today – up 10% compared with 2016. Canton Zurich reports 31,500 children due to attend nursery schools and 157,500 students (+4,500 versus last year).
Many schools in these regions have had to find new additional teaching staff and employ some teachers without qualifications. In canton Bern, for example, one out of ten new teachers doesn’t have a teaching certificate. Assistants have been employed to support existing staff, whose administrative workloads have been reduced. Canton Zurich has also employed hundreds of additional auxiliary teaching staff, some of whom may give lessons.
Meanwhile, the teachers’ association last week warned of a decline in teaching quality at Swiss schools due to a lack of certified staff. The shortage of teachers is partly due to new recruits deciding to throw in the towel shortly after starting classroom work. Teachers complain of too many administrative tasks and meetings, and the integration of a growing number of students with behaviour problems.
Association president Dagmar Rösler says the cantons have notprepared adequately for the demographic changes: numerous baby boom generation teachers retiring and an increase in the number of pupils.
Off to Lugano! The Congress of the Swiss Abroad takes place this weekend.
We speak to some of the Swiss abroad who are travelling to the southern Swiss city.
The assembly of the Swiss Abroad is meeting again physically again for the first time since the pandemic: in Lugano from August 19-21. We contacted some of the delegates of the Council of the Swiss Abroad to see how they are preparing for the upcoming event.
Noel Frei (photo above) from Ethiopia writes: “On the one hand, the trip to Lugano is a journey into happiness now that everything is suddenly available again and you have the greatest nature on your doorstep. On the other, Switzerland is also associated with lots of appointments and expectations from people who are important to you. On top of that, you don’t have your own place to stay in Switzerland, which will probably also make it a bit stressful.”
“I go to the congress with the hope that there will be delivery, not just talk,” Frei went on. “Our voice is sometimes far away, but we can get louder.”
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