With the bilingual StartWeek – German and English – new students are given the opportunity to engage creatively with an interdisciplinarily, challenging and complex case study topic outside the core curriculum of the University of St.Gallen. At the same time, they get introduced to their new environment through an administrative and social induction.
Case Study and induction sessions
The StartWeek offers new students the opportunity to work on a case study in groups. The purpose of this exercise is to be introduced to group work that is required in the Assessment Year and also to the academic processes of the university. Furthermore, through this process, complex tasks are solved, rewarding experiences are shared and activities carried out as a team that will encourage teamwork, raise the team spirit, nurture a sense of responsibility, as well as challenge and encourage independent thinking. These are the qualities that distinguish students and graduates of the University of St.Gallen during their studies and later in their professional careers and personal lives. As a result, the experience ‘StartWeek’ establishes and nurtures strong ties between the students.
There are 42 German-speaking and 18 English-speaking groups with approximately 25 students each that are led and accompanied by two tutors – senior students – throughout the week.
In addition, apart from the case study, students become familiar with organisational matters regarding their courses and studies at the HSG, get to know the campus, buy their first-semester readers and are familiarised with their new role. In order to achieve this, induction sessions are on offer that cover the administrative side, such as IT infrastructure and the library, as well as the academic side that includes an overview of the course structure and requirements in the Assessment Year.
The overall goals of the StartWeek
The primary goal of the StartWeek is to prepare over 1500 first-year students for their new roles at the university in regard to the content and organisation of their studies, which includes the following:
- Administrative integration to the university (attending induction sessions).
- Social integration into the academic environment (socialising and
opportunities to network).
- An introduction to academic writing and group work (academic integration through the handling of a case study).
Within the scope of the introduction to academic processes at the HSG, the new students work on an interdisciplinary, challenging and complex case study. The chosen topic raises awareness among the students. While working on the case study, they are introduced to methods and tools from the economics subject area and will undertake a differentiated analysis that promotes reflection and discussion and responsible decision-making.