This is to inform about the International Class PHSG

Below is some information about the University of Teacher Education St. Gallen and also, in more detail, the International Class taught in English, and about the situation with the Swiss-European Mobility Programme, the "replacement" for Erasmus+.

1.    Some facts about the institution:
The University of Teacher Education St. Gallen is in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. For Swiss standards, it is a middle-sized institution of its kind, with ca. 1100 students. Tuition is in German, and degree courses for pre-primary and primary education (B.A. 3 years) and lower secondary education  (consecutive B.A-M.A., 4.5 years) are offered. For non-German-speaking incoming students, an International Class taught in English in the Spring Semester (mid-February – end of May) is offered.

2.    Offers to Incoming Students of partners

Link to  the general Flyer
https://www.phsg.ch/sites/default/files/cms/Studium/International-Office/_PHSG_Flyer_International_Class.pdf

More specific information
https://www.phsg.ch/studium/international/international-class 

The International Class has now been running successfully since 2009. It is geared toward Primary Education Students, but flexible enough to also accommodate Secondary Education students. Usually, there are about 5-6 participants from mostly European Countries, and they are paired for a substantial part of the week with resident students who participate in the International Class for an international experience at home. This works very well, and local students also act as German tutors to teach some "survival" German. Students who are native speakers of English will attend e.g. lectures on culture and literature in English subject studies with the students of secondary education, or they might work as teaching assistants to one of our English as a Foreign Language Instructors, rather than a course to prepare them for the Advanced Certificate in English.

OMU students with enough German knowledge (preferably B2 according to the European Frame of Reference) could also take lectures in regular classes of our primary or secondary education programmes.

A special highlight of the international Class are the external days, each of which is devoted to a certain topic of Swiss Life and Culture and involves excursions. Also, there are two weeks at a Swiss school for an internship.

3.   The Swiss-European Mobility Programme (SEMP):

As Switzerland is no longer a programme country of Erasmus+ since the Swiss government set up SEMP in March 2014 by the Swiss Government which passed a resolution in April 2014 that it will guarantee to pay scholarships for students and staff to and from Switzerland as from the academic year 2014/15.

https://www.movetia.ch/en/programmes/swiss-programme-for-erasmus/

Grants are calculated per semester, irrespective of the duration of the semester. Our regular semesters and the International Class, in particular, have a duration of 3.5 months. Students receive between CHF 1800 and 2100 for the whole semester. The sum is equivalent to approx. € 1600-1800, depending on the exchange rate. The grant is paid in Swiss Francs.