Previous Announcements

Substantial fee reduction!  The strong Euro and a number of substantial budget cuts make it possible for the Lugano Summer School to reduce the tuition fees for LSS 2007 SP and LSS 2008 as follows:

• LSS 2007 SP: reduction from EUR 1,750 (or EUR 1,500 for participants from countries other than Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan) to EUR 950 for all participants
• LSS 2008: reduction from EUR 1,750 (or EUR 1,500 for participants from countries other than Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan) to EUR 1,250 for all participants

The reduced fees apply to new as well as to previous registration for LSS 2007 SP and LSS 2008.
[19 JAN 2007]

A note on the changed fee policy of the Lugano Summer School

The issue of tuition discounts for participants from economically weaker countries, vs. lower fees for everyone

For a while, participants from countries other than Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have been offered a reduced tuition fee. 
By offering such a differentiation of the tuition fees, the Summer School was hoping to make it easier for participants from economically weaker countries to participate. However, experience suggests that this aim was not reached; the financial hurdle remained too high for many participants. Furthermore, individual economic inequalities among participants from one and the same country may be as considerable as average inequalities among different regions of the world; differentiated fees therefore risk discriminating against some participants coming from economically privileged countries whose individual situation may not be particularly comfortable.

Consequently, the Lugano Summer School has now modified its fee policy, in an effort to offer substantially lower fees to all participants.
Effective from 2007, massively reduced tuition fees are offered. The reductions became possible thanks to major budget cuts as well as to the currently strong exchange rate of the Euro against the Swiss Franc. Consequently, no further reductions can be offered to participants coming from economically weaker countries (defined earlier as countries other than Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan). All participants will thus once again pay the same reduced tuition fee, which at any rate is now considerably lower than was the previous, reduced fee for participants coming from economically weaker countries. [19 JAN 2007]

Announcements 2006-07

The program of the Lugano Summer School for 2007-2008:

FAQs updated  Do you have any questions to which you don't find answers in the pages of this site? Try the page "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)"; it has now been updated to include all recent changes and give links back to relevant other sections of the site.
[25 MARCH 2006]

Preliminary Announcement:  LSS 2007 Special Program (LSS 2007 SP)  In cooperation with the Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University in Budapest, Hungary, and a distinguished international Faculty, the Lugano Summer School is planning for 2007 a special program dedicated to the ethical grounding of reflective practice. The event's topic will be:

"Business Ethics, Professional Ethics, and Ethics of Whole Systems:
Systems Design and Ethical Practice."

LSS 2007 SP will take place at the University of Lugano from June 18 to 29, 2007, and will adopt a conference format, although it will still be a Summer School for mature participants aiming to produce some publishable academic work and to acquire a certificate. Publication opportunities will include a Post-Summer School book, to be published in a distinguished new book series by a major academic publisher.

Currently, it has not been decided whether LSS 2007 SP will be offered in addition to, or rather in the place of, a normal Summer School. Details to be published soon!
[27 FEB 2006]

LSS 2006: Registration is now open

Following the successful new format of LSS 2005, the Summer School of 2006 will again be held as a Doctoral and Postdoctoral Summer School.  As in 2005, SSM and CSH will be introduced by their originators, Professors Peter B. Checkland (Lancaster, UK) and Werner Ulrich (Fribourg, Switzerland, and Open University, UK), and the format will be one for mature researchers and professionals. A new option is that participants can commit themselves to prepare and present a paper for subsequent publication, in which they explain the way they plan to integrate SSM and CSH into their current major project of research or professional practice. Publication will be facilitated in cooperation with the Journal of Research Practice or other journals. The minimum number of participants will be 15, the maximum 20. For details of the academic program, see the page "Academic Program" of this site. For application and registration deadlines, consult the page "Admission, Tuition & Fees."
[12 NOV 2005, updated 26 JAN 2006]

Announcements 2005

LSS 2005 Last-minute confirmation  The start of this year's Doctoral Summer School will take place as announced on Monday 30 May 2005 at 9:15 a.m. in Room 251 of the Main Building of the University of Italian Switzerland (USI) in Lugano. There are no changes of time or location. Please make sure you are there on time, so that we can open the session punctually.
See you soon in Lugano!  
[20 MAY 2005]

LSS 2005 Progress Report 2  [23 APR 2005]

Confirmation:  LSS 2005 will take place as planned.

Enrollment:  The enrollment currently is 16 participants (1 of which to be confirmed), all of which are very well qualified. All are either PhD students or else have already completed their PhD and are teaching or research staff, mainly in the fields of management and information systems design.

Origin of participants:  The participants are coming from Australia (3), Austria (3), Germany (2), England (1), New Zealand (1), Sweden (2), Switzerland (1), The Netherlands (1), and USA (2).

Start of the Summer School:  According to current planning, the Summer School will start on Monday morning, the 30th of May 2005, at 9:15 a.m. in Room No. 251. This room is in the main building of the University della Svizzera Italiana (USI) in Lugano. The following photograph shows you what kind of building to look for.

How to find USI Room No. 251:  Enter through the main entrance on Via G. Buffi. Below (on the right) you can find a picture that shows you how the main entrance looks (not possible if you have your email client's setting on "text only"). Turn left and you will find the room at the same level as the main entrance. Be sure to check the page "Current Announcements" of the School web site shortly before Monday 30 May, as this is the place where I will announce any short-term changes that might become necessary.

Have an enjoyable and safe trip to Switzerland. I look forward to meeting you at USI Lugano. - Prof. W. Ulrich, Director LSS
[23 APR 2005]

 LSS 2005 Progress Report 1  I am pleased to report that the minimum number of participants for running this year's new Doctoral Summer School has been reached already in February. Those who have applied and have been admitted can thus be certain that the event will take place as planned. Thanks to everyone who registered in due time and thus enabled me to make sure early-on that LSS 2005 can be realized. – As of 5 April 2005, a very few places are still available; if you are considering the option of attending LSS 2005 but haven't registered thus far, you need to act now. Thank you.
[19 FEB 2005/ updated 5 APR 2005]

LSS becomes sponsor of another initiative to serve young researchers  The Lugano Summer School has become one of the first sponsors of a promising new on-line journal, the Journal of Research Practice (JRP). The journal covers topics that should be of interest to participants of the Summer School; in particular, it aims to encourage inter- and transdisciplinary research that goes beyond conventional disciplinary boundaries and is committed to reflective practice. Moreover, JRP is committed to an open-access philosophy of electronic publishing, a channel for distributing and exchanging research strongly supported by the School. Everyone interested will be able to view and download all articles published in JRP for free (a circumstance that also makes the journal attractive to contributing authors). This is why the Journal depends on innovative ways of financing itself, such as sponsorships by supporting institutions. It goes without saying that no commercial interest is involved in the School's sponsorship. Interested? Have a look at JRP's web site (just click on JRP's logo below).
[19 FEB 2005]

Revised recommendations for academic credits  Due to a systematic calculation error, the number of credit points recommended for the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) as well as for the British and the North American credit points systems, had been too low. All recommendations should have been by a factor of 1.5 higher. The recommendations have now been corrected; see the page "Workload, Class Schedule, Grading, Certificate, Credits."
[10 JAN 2005]

Enrollment is now open for LSS 2005  The new Doctoral Summer School (LSS 2005) is now being publicized and the first registrations have come in. The first few participants have already been admitted. If you consider attending LSS 2005, take your time to consider this option carefully – there is no need to rush – but do not wait too long either, as the number of participants is limited to a maximum of 25.
[4 DEC 2004]

Comments received  We have received a number of very encouraging, even enthusiastic, comments on the new focus and format of LSS 2005. To cite just one of them, representative of many others: "I am sure the event will be oversubscribed, it is a fantastic opportunity for any PhD student." (D. Champion, The Systemist, UK). Whether oversubscribed or not, I do hope (and trust) we'll have a sufficient number of well-prepared and well-motivated participants, so that I can continue the new Lugano Summer School tradition initiated in 2001. I look forward to Lugano 2005! – Werner Ulrich, Director LSS.
[4 DEC 2004]

Updated School web site  The site has now been updated so as to reflect the new aim and format of the Summer School. Please consult it regularly to remain informed about possible changes, and recommend it to other people who may be interested in this educational offer. Thank you. 
[20 NOV 2004]

NEW: LSS 2005 will be a Doctoral Summer School!

Alea iacta est – the die is cast!  Of the two options for LSS 2005 previously considered, the Doctoral Summer School project has been chosen. The idea of developing LSS towards a Doctoral Summer School has met with favorable reactions on the part of all those consulted, including the Faculty of LSS. The length of the Doctoral Summer School will be reduced to two weeks (ten week days with a free weekend in between); the didactic format will be a combination of taught classes (introductory courses) and workshops (discussion sessions). Participants will be expected to contribute actively, as one of the learning goals will be that participants develop their individual framework for integrating SSM and CSH in their future research and professional practice.

Faculty for 2005:  Professors Peter Checkland, Lancaster, UK, and Werner Ulrich, Fribourg, Switzerland.

Target group:  The new Summer School format as it is now planned should be of interest to many mature students or research and teaching staff who would like to get a first-hand understanding of contemporary soft and critical systems approaches, as represented by SSM and CSH. For the first time in the history of systems education, SSM and CSH will be introduced and discussed together by their two originators, with a special view to integrating the two approaches. Doesn't this promise to become a very interesting and worthwhile Summer School indeed?

Dates:  LSS 2005 will take place from Monday 30 May to Friday 10 June 2005. As in previous years, the Summer School will be held at the University of Italian Switzerland in Lugano.

Tuition fee:  The tuition will be CHF 2500. At current exchange rates, this corresponds to about EUR 1650 or USD 2150 (indicative price only - the price in Swiss Francs is relevant).

Number of participants:  A minimum of 15 participants will be required to organize LSS 2005 in the new format. Early applications are essential. A number of 20 participants will be envisaged; no more than 25 participants will be admitted.

New Summer School flyer:  For a short summary of the Summer School project, please refer to the new Summer School Flyer. The flyer comes as a PDF file that is easy to print out (2 pages) as well as to forward by email. Please post it on appropriate message boards or forward it to colleagues or friends, collaborators or fellow students who might be interested. Thank you.

If you would like to consider participating in LSS 2005 and need to apply for funding from your University, you may wish to use the Flyer as a minimal documentation that you can enclose with your application.  
[18 NOV 2004]

Options for LSS 2005 – a call for feedback

THE NEXT SUMMER SCHOOL IS NOW IN PREPARATION  

For the coming year, I am considering to organize a "Doctoral Summer School" on contemporary systems thinking approaches, either in addition or (more likely) as an alternative to the "normal" Summer School of past years. The event would be shorter, between ten and fourteen days (current planning: ten weekdays and a free weekend in between), and the format would come closer than in the past to a workshop format. One specific idea is that Professor Peter Checkland and I would each offer an introductory course on "soft" and "critical" systems approaches, respectively, and we would then jointly with the participants try to work out similarities and differences of the two approaches as well as consider ways to integrate the two in our professional practice.

Dates currently envisaged are 9-20 May or 30 May-10 June 2005; other dates (e.g. in September) are conceivable.

It would help me in planning such an event if potential participants would let me know of their interest and offer their suggestions. I would also welcome to hear from academic partner institutions that might be interested in offering such a workshop to their research students or collaborators on a regular basis. 

I will be grateful for all expressions of interests, hints or suggestions. Please get in touch with me soon. If you do not have my email address, you find a contact link on the "Contact" page of the Summer School site. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you. – Werner Ulrich, Director LSS. 
[19 OCT 2004, updated 26 Oct 2004]

Announcements 2004

LSS 2004 cancelled

The application deadline has passed without a sufficient number of registrations being reached. For this reason, LSS 2004 has been cancelled. I regret any inconvenience this may cause to those participants who already registered. 

THE NEXT SUMMER SCHOOL WILL BE ORGANIZED IN 2005  If you intended to participate in this year's Summer School, please consider applying for 2005. Information about LSS 2005 will be posted here as soon as possible. Thank you.  
[10 APRIL 2004] 

Obituary Notice: Professor C.W. Churchman, Pioneer of the "systems approach" at the University of California, Berkeley, died

We are mourning the death of one of the outstanding pioneers of systems thinking. C. West Churchman, the grand old man of the systems approach, died on 21 March 2004 in Bolinas, California. He was 90 years old. He was one of the founding fathers of the fields of operations research / management science and, at the same time, one of the most important philosophers of a systems approach to the management of human affairs. His work pointed far beyond the systems-theoretic and "hard" systems thinking paradigms of his epoch and paved the way for the development of "soft" and "critical" systems thinking. For more information, see here.  
[26 MARCH 2004]

The format of the Lugano Summer School is changing for 2004

Due to the decline of the US Dollar against the Swiss Franc and the Euro, it has become necessary to search for a new format of the Lugano Summer School. A number of options have been examined for reducing costs to overseas participants. As a result, the following changes will apply to LSS 2004. In order to reduce accommodation costs, the length of the Summer School will be reduced to two and a half weeks. In order to reduce expenditures for the School's international faculty, only three of the four core courses of the past three years will be offered in 2004 (48 taught classes, total workload of 72 hours).

These two measures allow a reduction of the tuition fee from previously CHF 2750 (or USD 2200 at current exchange rates) to CHF 2250 (USD 1800 at current exchange rates). Standard accommodation will now be available for CHF 625 (USD 500) rather than the previous CHF 1000 (USD 800 at current exchange rates). As before, a small number of individual and/or superior quality accommodation will be made available; for details see the page "Facilities and Accommodation" of this web site.

Other good news: the option of moving the School to another country will not be pursued any further for the time being, as the University of Lugano offers us excellent conditions and the beauty of the Lugano region is part of the attraction of the Summer School.

Finally, the didactic format of the Lugano Summer School will equally change. It will be oriented more to the needs of mature participants (research students at the Masters and doctoral levels and practicing professionals). Undergraduate students will need to demonstrate a higher level of preparation than previously required and will need to have completed at least three years of study with a good to very good average qualification. In order to encourage an active learning style, the maximum number of participants will be reduced to 35-40. Depending on the wishes of participants, it is planned to develop the format of the Summer School increasingly towards a workshop style in which participants are expected to participate actively, e.g., by presenting work of their own. 
[20 FEB 2004] 

Announcing LSS 2004

 [20 FEB 2004, updated 23 Feb 2004]

Announcements 2003

LSS 2003 is gone ... The Third Lugano Summer School took place from the 16^th of June to the 11^th of July 2003 in Lugano with a record number of 58 participants. All courses went well; the new format gave more time for exercises in class, although it meant the total time of presence in class was higher than in the previous years. This year's class was very homogenous; all participants passed without difficulty and could at the end receive their well-earned diploma. Lugano spoiled us with four weeks of the most beautiful summer weather that Europe has to offer; it was the sunniest and hottest summer on record since 250 years. I would like to thank all the LSS staff for once again contributing high-quality courses to the Summer School, and all the participants for investing four weeks of time and work in making the Summer School a successful learning experience. For those among you who like to keep their memories fresh, I have put together a small selection of pictures in the Participants' Album. Please keep sending those beautiful pictures of yours. – Werner Ulrich, LSS Director, 27 July 2003. 
[27 JULY 2003] 

Room change for opening session  The Summer School will start on Monday morning, 16th of June 2003, in room A32 rather than Aula 200. This room is located in the upper floor of the new lecture rooms building, a red building situated immediately behind the main building of the University. 
[3 JUNE 2003] 

Prospectus for participants out  The Summer School Prospectus 2003 has been sent out to all confirmed participants. It aims to offer some information that participants may find useful in preparing their trip to, and stay in, Lugano. Make sure to bring along both the electronic file and a hard copy for later reference once you are in Lugano. Should you not have received the Prospectus by now, please email to the School Director or, if you are a participant from the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM), to your internal program coordinator.
[1 JUNE 2003]  

 The Summer School is now definitely booked up for 2003.  No more places are available for the present year. The Summer School received a record number of around 60 applications, not all of which could be accepted. Please do no longer apply for LSS 2003 but instead consider attending LSS 2004. By applying early, you can make sure that a place will be available for you, provided of course that your qualifications and experience allow you to be admitted. As an added benefit of planning ahead in due time, early birds who register and pay before 1st of February will again be offered reduced tuition and accommodation fees (for details, see the pages "Admission, Tuition & Fees" and "Facilities, Accommodation").
[12 MAY 2003]

Summer School nearly booked up!  The registration deadline is past and the Summer School is virtually booked out for this year. Fifty participants have been registered thus far. This is the maximum number of participants that the School can admit this summer (a maximum of 40 was planned originally). A few places may still become free due to participants that have to withdraw for health or other reasons; inquire before applying. A big "thank you" to all those participants who put their trust in the Lugano Summer School and registered in due time.
[12 APR 2003]

Extended teaching program  For didactic reasons, as well as to make it easier for participants to receive academic credit for attending the Summer School, the schedule of classes has been extended. The standard format of taught sessions will be four rather than three hours (with two coffee breaks), so that more time is available for practical exercises and discussions in class. The total workload will increase from 80 to 98 hours, of which 66 hours will be taught classes (lectures, seminars, and computer lab sessions). As before, participants will be expected to do some 8 hours of homework for each course, in the form of assignments (reading and practical exercises or cases) that will be evaluated for those participants wishing to receive a diploma (total of 32 hours).
[25 FEB 2003]

Special seminar sessions for ITESM students  For participants from the Monterrey Institute of Technology (ITESM), additional afternoon and Friday morning sessions will be organized to allow these participants to meet their University's changed requirements for the accreditation of Summer Schools. ITESM students will thus have an occasion to do a research project in one of two seminar streams, either on systems methodology or on systems planning. This will allow them to receive full academic credit for two out of three required subjects of their study program: (a) in Systems Design and (b) in Systems Methodologies or Systems Planning, according to their preference.
[25 FEB 2003]

Funding Want to improve your prospects for funding? Presenting a paper at a conference may be a possibility for some participants to get funding from their universities. Here is a selection of conferences that take place in Europe between end of May and early August 2003 and which may be of interest to Summer School participants:

• 47th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) in Hersonissos, Crete, Greece, 6-11 July 2003.
  Conference topic: "Conscious Evolution of Humanity: Using Systems Thinking to Construct Agoras of the Global Village."
  Conference web site: http://www.isss-conference.org/
• Informing Science & IT Education Joint Conference (InSITE 2003) in Pori, Finland, 24-27 June 2003.
  Conference web site: http://is2003.org/
• Joint Conference of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), Working Groups WG8.2 and WG9.4, in Athens, Greece, 15-17 June 2003.
  Conference topic: "IS Perspectives and Challenges in the Context of Globalization."
  Conference web site: http://www.aueb.gr/ifip-isglob03/
• Second IFIP Summer School 2003 on "Risks and Challenges of the Network Society" in Karlstad, Sweden, 4-8 August 2003.
  School web site: http://www.cs.kau.se/IFIP-summerschool/
• 11th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2003) in Naples, Italy, 19-21 June 2003.
  Conference topic: "New Paradigms in Organization, Markets, and Society." 
  Conference web site: http://www.ecis2003.it/eng/home.htm
• 15th Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE'03) in Klagenfurt/Velden, Austria, 16-20 June 2003.
  Conference Topic: "Information Systems for a Connected Society."
  Conference web site:  http://www.ifi.uni-klu.ac.at/caise03/01_home/
• International Symposium on Environmental Software Systems & 8th IFIP WG5.11 Conference in Semmering, Austria, 27-30 May 2003.
  Conference topic: "Computers and Environment."
  Conference web site: http://isess.crle.uoguelph.ca/
  

[1 MAR 2003 / 24 FEB 2003]

Changed URL of the School web site  The web address of the Lugano Summer School has changed from http://www.lu.unisi.ch/lss/ to http://www.lss.lu.unisi.ch/ . Links to the old home page continue to work, they are being redirected automatically to the new address. However, to ensure that all your bookmarks for specific pages of the School web site continue to work properly, you should memorize these pages anew.
[04 FEB 2003]

Price reduction!  Tuition and fees are due in Swiss Francs (CHF). Since the time when the tuition and fees were originally calculated, the Swiss Francs has steadily gained in value as compared to all major currencies such as the US dollar (USD), the EURO, and others. Unfortunately, this circumstance has made the Summer School more expensive for most participants, particularly for those coming from countries with comparatively weak currencies. To take this situation into account, the Summer School has decided to reduce the tuition from originally CHF 3000 to CHF 2750 (approximately USD 2000). For those applicants who register and pay by 1 February 2003, the tuition has been further reduced from CHF 2700 to CHF 2500 (approx. USD 1850). The fees for the different types of accommodation have been similarly reduced, too (see the page "Facilities and Accommodation"). The new prices are valid immediately (as of 20 January 2003). All applicants who have already submitted their registration will equally benefit of the reduced prices, of course.
[22 JAN 2003]

Returning faculty member  Professor Hans Daellenbach of the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, will return to LSS 2003 and will contribute a new version of his much-appreciated introductory course of LSS 2001. Author of Systems and Decision Making (Wiley, Chichester and New York, 1994; revised partial edition REA Publications, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2001) and editor of The Informed Student Guide to Management Science (Thomson, London, 2002), Hans Daellenbach is one of the few outstanding academic teachers and practitioners who not only have a comprehensive grasp of both quantitative and qualitative techniques of problem structuring and solving but also systematically embed these tools in a framework of contemporary systems thinking. Nobody would be better prepared to introduce the Summer School participants to the basics of problem structuring and systems thinking. Welcome back, Hans!
[20 NOV 2002]

Summer School Prospectus 2003  A new edition of the Summer School Prospectus will be prepared in due time for LSS 2003. All participants whose admission has been confirmed will receive the new Summer School Prospectus. It will offer detailed information that may be useful to participants in preparing their stay in Lugano.
[22 JAN 2003]

Announcements 2002

Summer School Memories:  A Glance Back at LSS 2002 ... 

Photography: W Ulrich © 2002 LSS / W Ulrich

 Summer School memories …  According to all the feedback received, the Lugano Summer School 2002 was an enjoyable and successful event. The academic program was first class indeed and offered a perfect mixture between study and leisure. Despite the academic effort that certainly was required from everyone involved, the four weeks of the Summer School were characterized by a joyful and friendly mood among staff and participants. We all had lots of fun and many memorable moments, didn't we? So many wonderful memories and new friendships remain alive. My warmest thanks go to all staff and participants for making this a very worthwhile  event indeed. – Werner Ulrich, LSS Director [10 AUG 2002]

Grades 2002  In 2002, all participants achieved a passing grade and thus were able to receive their diploma. Congratulations to all! Details about your grading, with the specific grades assigned to you in each course, will be emailed to all participants shortly. [10 AUG 2002]

 Pictures of LSS 2002  A selection of pictures of this year's Summer School has been published in the section "Pictures from LSS 2002" of the School website. [10 AUG 2002]

 

Participants' photo album now online!  A page with pictures sent in by participants is now online on a separate server (Geocities) and will continue to grow in future; click here or in the left-hand menu. If you would like to contribute, please see the previous announcement of 1 August 2002 just below. [10 AUG 2002]

Send in your best pictures!  All participants and staff are cordially invited to send their favorite pictures. The best of these will be published in an additional picture section. Please email them in digital form (JPEG format, ideally 50-100 KB) to the School's email address (use the link on the "Contact" page, please). Short videos (MPEG format) are welcome too. Thank you for contributing to the School web site by sharing your pictures! [1 AUG 2002]

Give us feedback!  All staff and participants are cordially invited to give me their comments and suggestions for further improving the program of the Summer School. For example, what did you like most and what least in this year's event? All comments are welcome and will be treated confidentially. Please use the  "Feedback" section of this web site for this purpose. [1 AUG 2002]