Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How can I register?   Answer:  Please complete the Registration Form on the page "Admission, Tuition, Deadlines" of the School web site. Include your five most important qualifications and experiences in the appropriate field; or (if you prefer) email a short CV with your qualifications and experience separately (at the time of submitting the registration form) to Prof. W. Ulrich,* Director of the Lugano Summer School. Your application and the information you provide will be treated confidentially. In the registration form, please indicate whether you wish the School to arrange your accommodation, and if so, whether you prefer standard or individual accommodation. You will then be contacted by the School through email and your admission will be confirmed as soon as possible, along with the reservation of your accommodation.

* This email address is antispam coded – if for any reason computer should not support this link, please see the "Contact" page for instructions.

Has my university department accredited the Lugano Summer School, that is, will it give me academic credit for attending the Summer School?  Answer:  Talk to your supervisor or inquire with the head of your Department to make sure that your academic work in the Summer School will count towards your degree, and to find out how many credit units will be awarded to you.

For suggested credit points, see the section "Academic Credit" of the page "Workload, Class Schedule, Grading, Certificate, Credits" of the Summer School web site.

Does the Summer School offer any opportunities for publishing?  Answer:  Yes. See the entry "How can I increase my funding chances?" below.

How can I pay my tuition?  Answer:  You can pay your tuition either through international bank transfer (preferred option) or through on-line credit card payment by means of PayPal, an on-line payment service provided by eBay (safe and convenient, but involves a transaction fee covering credit card and other charges, see the page "Admission, Tuition, Deadlines"). Approximately within one week after registration (as explained above), you will be notified of your admission or non-admission. If you are admitted, you will at the same time receive bank details for arranging your bank transfer to the Lugano Summer School account. Please instruct your bank to make the payment in the requested currency (consult the page "Admission, Tuition, Deadlines") and to make sure that no third-party charges will be deduced from the amount actually transferred to the Summer School account.

Receipt of the tuition payment is necessary for definitive reservation of a study place. Participants who register late are strongly recommended to ask their bank for a SWIFT payment; a SWIFT address will be provided along with an IBAN (International Banking Number) and other account details. The School will confirm receipt of payment, and definitive admission, by email communication.

Can I get a tuition reduction or waiver?  Answer:  The Summer School frequently receives requests for tuition waivers or reductions, particularly from applicants coming from economically less wealthy countries. In order to help these participants, the School has in the past been offering a general tuition reduction of approximately 10-15 % to participants coming from outside Western Europe, North America, Australia/ New Zealand, and Japan. Unfortunately, however, reductions for applicants from these latter countries could not be considered under this policy, regardless of their individual economic situation; nor could the School offer more substantial reductions or full tuition waivers for applicants from economically less wealthy countries, for the following reasons.

(1) The Lugano Summer School, although it is hosted by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Italian Switzerland in Lugano, does not receive any subsidies but has to finance itself. To make sure Summer Schools can be run with a minimum number of participants, that is, to minimize the risk of having to cancel announced events due to insufficient enrollment, the School calculates the budgets of its events as tightly as feasible. Would its budgets include more substantial reductions or even complete tuition waivers for certain categories of students, the fees for the other participants would have to be correspondingly higher. Accordingly, the number of enrollments would tend to be smaller, which in turn would cause higher average costs per participant and thus higher fees – a  vicious circle.

(2) The limited administrative resources of the School do not permit it to examine individual cases for their merits regarding possible tuition reductions or waivers. For this reason, only the mentioned geographical criterion could be applied.

(3) Economic inequalities tend to be as considerable among individuals from one and the same country as (in the average) among different regions of the world. Since the School basically seeks to treat all participants the same, substantial differences of tuition fees based on a geographical criterion alone  risk discriminating against some participants coming from economically privileged countries whose individual situation may not be particularly comfortable.

In consideration of these circumstances, the Summer School has now changed its fee policy. Effective from January 2007, substantially lower tuition fees are being offered to all participants. Although this means that applicants from economically weaker countries no longer benefit of a priveleged status, it should be noted that thanks to major budget cuts, they – like all other participants – now benefit of considerably lower fees than before. Compare the note on the School's changed fee policy on the page "Current Announcements."

In order to have sufficient time to apply for funding from their home universities or other funding sources within their own country, applicants are advised to plan their participation in the Lugano Summer School in due time.

How can I increase my funding chances?  Answer:  To help participants increase their chances for getting funding from their universities or other funding sources, the Lugano Summer School now offers all participants an opportunity to produce and publish a quality academic paper with the support of the School Faculty. Papers will typically deal with knowledge and ideas acquired in the Summer School and with the ways in which participants intend to integrate these ideas into their current research and teaching or professional practice. Participants who elect this option will benefit from editorial assistance by Faculty members prior to submitting their article to a journal. To facilitate publication further and to increase publication chances, the School will cooperate with selected journals (currently with the Journal of Research Practice) and will on special occasions also publish its own post-meeting books. Talk to your supervisor or head of department to see whether election of this option may help you in receiving support from your University.

If you are an overseas student, chances to receive support for your trip to Europe may further improve if you combine your participation in the Summer School with a presentation of a paper to one of the many academic conferences that take place in Europe during the summer season; some of these conferences were in the past listed in this site. Due to the ever increasing number of such opportunities, this list is no longer updated; many of these events tend to take place annually and you should have no difficulties to find their current web sites.

Finally, you might consider lowering your costs by sharing your accommodation (whether hotel or self-catering accommodation) with another participant, as well as by enrolling early enough to benefit of reduced flight fares.

See the pages "Admission, Tuition, Deadlines" and "Facilities, Accommodation" for details.

Can I get a refund if for unforeseen reasons I should need to withdraw before the start of the Summer School?  Answer:  Yes. Tuition fees will be fully refunded to participants who withdraw before the deadline for the payment of tuition, with the exception of an administrative fee of EUR 50 for bank charges and other administrative costs. Thereafter, a cancellation charge of EUR 250 will apply until six weeks before the start of the Summer School; after that, the full tuition is due.

If you have registered and paid for an event that has to be cancelled due to an insufficient number of participants, no administrative charge will be deducted. The amount refunded will be identical with the amount previously credited on your behalf to the Lugano Summer School bank account in the required currency in which the payment was due (in case of international bank giro), or with the amount that PayPal credited to the School's PayPal account after deducting its transaction fee (in case of payment through PayPal; please note that the transaction fee cannot be refunded).

If the School exceptionally booked and paid for you an accommodation, your accommodation fee will be refunded to the extent that a cancellation is still possible at the time you withdraw; cancellation charges that the School needs to pay will be passed on to you. Hotels usually do not charge cancellation fees except for very late withdrawals. In the case of self-catering apartments, the situation is different. As a rule, the booking conditions impose the following cancellation fees (the example reflects the booking conditions of Interhome, a major holiday rental agency with which the School has worked in the past): until 43 days before the commencement of the rental contract, 10% of the accommodation price; 42-29 days before, 50%; and thereafter, 80% or more.

In the case of shared accommodation, you will need to pay the full accommodation fee unless your place can be given to another participant or else your assigned partner(s) in the accommodation in question withdraw along with you; for it would be unfair to pass on your share of the cost to the remaining roommate(s).

Please consider arranging a private cancellation cost insurance with your travel agent, to cover your traveling expenses as well as the aforementioned cancellation fees of the Summer School in cases of illness or other circumstances that might make it impossible for you to travel to Lugano. Participants are also advised to take out a cancellation cost insurance for the eventuality that Summer School events cannot take as planned due to insufficient enrollment, an eventuality that unfortunately is not under the control of the Summer School and thus, as a matter of principle, cannot be fully ruled out.

I consider a late application for admission to the Summer School. Can I still apply after the application deadline has extended?  Answer:  Yes. However, whether or not you can be admitted to the Summer School will in this case depend not only on your qualifications but also on the availability of study places, given that there is not only a minimum but equally a maximum number of participants. It has happened in the past that applicants had to be rejected because no more places were available. In addition, please consider that Lugano is a tourist city and hence, that finding good quality accommodation at attractive prices will be more difficult shortly before or during the Summer Season than if you plan well ahead.

How will I find an accommodation for my stay in Lugano?  Answer:  Please note that as a rule, participants are themselves responsible for finding and booking their accommodation. In the past, the School has organized the accommodation for the participants, but experience shows that individual requirements and budgets vary widely and that participants are better served if they themselves book an accommodation suitable to their needs. For basic advice, see the "Accommodation" section in the page "Facilities, Accommodation." In any case, participants are encouraged to consult a good travel agent.

Where will I find the University of Italian Switzerland (USI) in Lugano?  Answer:  The University is located at Via Giuseppe Buffi 13 in Lugano (see the interactive city maps on the page "Additional Information" of the School web site; enter "Buffi" to find Via G. Buffi). Note that on older city maps, the new university campus is not yet marked; in this case, look for "Centro Civico."

I plan to arrive at Milan-Malpensa or Zurich-Kloten airport on the weekend before the start of the Summer School. How do I get from there to Lugano?  Answer:  Lugano is linked to Milan-Malpensa by a direct Express shuttle bus service or by train via Milan, and to Zurich-Kloten airport by hourly train connections (departing from the airport's underground train station).  For help in planning your train connection from Zurich, Milan Center, or other European cities, please consult the interactive timetable of the Swiss Federal Railways. An entry mask for finding your best train connections, as well as additional travel information, is also available in the page "How and When to Travel to Lugano" of the present site.

I wonder whether I will have access to computers and Internet so that I can check my emails and communicate with family and friends back home on a regular basis?  Answer:  Yes, you will be able to use the computers in three computer labs in the basement of the USI main building. You will get your individual access code for using the Internet as well as the University Intranet, in which the Summer School and each participant will have their own space for storing course materials. Printer access will also be available. There will also be an electronic discussion facility, the Lugano Summer School WebBoard, which you will be able to use from any computer inside and outside the University. You will not get an individual POP3 email account, however, as participants are supposed to have either a webmail account or a remote access to their home POP3 account through the Internet. As a final hint on this topic, the entire University campus in Lugano is now a wireless "Hotspot" area, which will allow you to use your notebook (if adequately equipped) for accessing the Internet.

How should I prepare myself for the Summer School?  Answer:  Since you have been admitted to the Summer School based on your previous academic training and practical experience, no special preparation is required. In particular, you will receive all the readings and other materials required during the Summer School, in hard copy or electronic form. If you wish to prepare yourself anyway, have a look at some of the publications of those Faculty members who will be your instructors. If you do not have library access to some of these publications, a brief Internet research should enable you to find some materials that are available on-line. Keep your advance reading limited, though, as experience suggests that reading is more productive in connection with face-to-face instruction. During the Summer School, you will be expected to do a certain amount of reading as well as other assignments, so as to be able to follow the course modules and to derive maximum benefit from them.

Does the Summer School offer medical insurance?  Answer:  No. You should make sure that either the collective health insurance provided by your University or else your private health insurance is covering stays abroad. In case they don't, participants are recommended to take out some holiday health insurance for their stay abroad, as the Summer School cannot provide such insurance.