In July, 40 students from the University of St.Gallen and the National University of Singapore spent 10 days each in Switzerland and Singapore for a cultural exchange program. The exchange, which was organised by the Ressort International of the student union of the University St.Gallen and their partners at the National University of Singapore, took place from 13 till 22 July in Switzerland and from 23 till 31 July in Singapore.

During their visit to Singapore, the students were also invited by the St.Gallen Institute of Management in Asia for an evening at the East Coast Park in Singapore, where they mingled with alumni of the University of St.Gallen. On their last evening, the Swiss Ambassador to Singapore, Mr. Fabrice Filliez, welcomed the students at the Swiss Residence for an evening reception. While enjoying Swiss delicacies, the students also shared their lessons learned from their visits to Switzerland and Singapore, their new view of each other’s home country and reflected on how the respective guest group also changed their own perception of their home country.

Ressort International’s Asian Culture Transfer (ACT) initiative aims to cultivate mutual respect as well as fertile dialogue between Asian and Swiss students. Typically, twenty students of each of the two participating universities will spend ten days in each of the two respective countries exploring and discovering their economic, political, ecological and cultural peculiarities and differences.