Lugano Summer School

OF SYSTEMS DESIGN

Continuing Education in Systems Thinking

Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland

This is a site with frames. Click here to open the menu frame in case you have not entered this site through the index page.

 

Admission, Tuition, Deadlines

Application  To apply, please complete the Registration Form.  Make sure you specify the event for which you apply (use the "Comments" field for this purpose) and list your most important qualifications & experiences (in the field "Other qualifications & experience," no more than five altogether). Alternatively, you may submit your qualifications & experience by emailing a short CV to the School Director, at the time of submitting the registration form. Your application and your personal data will be treated confidentially. If for any reason the registration form should not work properly, you may also apply by emailing the information requested in the registration form to the School Director. For inquiries prior to application, use the same email address.

[Note: Due to the closure of the Summer School per end of 2013, application is no longer possible. See the "Announcements" page of this site.]

Admission  Applicants from all applied disciplines and professional fields are welcome (see the page "Participants"). Applications for admission are decided on the basis of individual qualifications & experience as well as motivation (as expressed by a short statement of motivation or by current professional or educational commitments).

Requirements: You should be currently enrolled in a doctoral, postdoctoral or Master of science program, or employed as research or teaching staff. Adequately prepared practitioners of applied disciplines such as those mentioned in the "Participants" page will also be considered for admission. Some demonstrated familiarity with systems thinking, acquired through studies in a related field of study, is normally required; alternatively, a short statement of motivation may help in which you explain your current interest in soft and critical systems thinking. A good level of proficiency in English (both spoken and written) is indispensable.

Please submit your application through the registration form or through an email message in which you give the information requested in the page "Registration Form."  Your application will be confirmed by email. Once your application has been accepted, you will receive formal notification of your admission or non-admission, equally by email. Please provide all the information requested. It is at the discretion of the School to reject applications due to insufficient preparation or availability of study places. With your admission, you will be billed for the tuition fee and you will receive information about payment details. Definitive registration requires full payment of tuition.

Registration Deadlines 

Please try to respect these deadlines. They were set to allow for proper planning and organization of your Summer School event. They also assure you of your place in the event for which you have been admitted. Until you have paid your tuition fee, your place is not guaranteed. Should you experience any difficulties in respecting these deadlines, please contact the School Director in due time, thank you.

Attention latecomers: Applications will be considered as long as study places are available. About the availability of places, please consult the latest progress report in the page "Current Announcements" of this site. Definitive admission requires formal admission as well as full payment of tuition. Study places will be assigned in the order of tuition payments received; for this reason, early application and payment are recommended to secure your study place. Timely arrangement of your Summer School participation is equally advisable because the earlier you are, the easier it will be for you to find good yet affordable accommodation in Lugano, as well as low-cost flights to Europe (if needed). And of course, timely enrollment helps us in planning and preparing the Summer School events. So, please try to decide about your participation as early as possible and don't wait with your application until the last moment!

Tuition Fees

Due to the difficulty of predicting currency exchange rates for the Euro (EUR) and the US Dollar (USD), the Summer School budget and tuition fee has been calculated in Swiss Francs (CHF). In Swiss Francs, the fee for LSS 2012 is slightly lower than that for previous summer schools; however, due to varying exchange rates, the amount may be higher if translated into equivalent amounts in EUR or USD, depending on the exchange rates that will obtain at the time of payment (a factor beyond the control of the Summer School). The fee includes all charges. Payment is requested in Swiss Francs. Account details for bank transfers will be communicated to the participants with their notification of admission (cf. "Payment options" below).

 Tuition fee for LSS 2012: CHF 1,950 (includes registration fee and all other charges, except a transaction fee of CHF 60 applicable only in case of payment through PayPal, as mentioned under "Payment Options" below)

Reductions  Effective from January 2007, the Lugano Summer School lowered its tuition fees considerably. Consequently, the former discounts for participants coming from economically weaker countries (defined as countries other than Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan) can no longer be offered. In any case, they failed to do justice to the different individual situation of participants and for this reason could be experienced to be unfair or arbitrary by some participants. All participants now pay the same reduced tuition fee, which at any rate is lower than was the previous, reduced fee for participants coming from economically weaker countries. Compare the note on the changed fee policy in the "Current Announcements" page.

Likewise, the School cannot offer any further reductions or even complete tuition waivers, for reasons that are explained in the "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)" page of this site.

The tuition fee does not include meals and accommodation. Participants are requested to arrange their own accommodation. The School can provide a small number of "superior" level self-catering apartments or help with the hotel accommodation (see the page "Facilities and Accommodation").

Refunds  In cases of unforeseen circumstances that do not allow admitted participants to participate, such as medically attested illness or other severe circumstances, tuition fees will be refunded, except for an administrative charge. The extent to which fees are refundable will depend on the time of withdrawal; for details, see the section "Refunds" under FAQs. Of course tuition fees will be fully refunded, with no administrative charge being deducted, if the Summer School event in question should have to be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment or other reasons. In any case, participants are strongly advised to take out some cancellation cost insurance, to help them cover all costs that may not be refundable in a specific case, including flight tickets and accommodation costs.

Invoice   Once your application (see above) has been accepted, you will receive a formal notice of admission that also informs you about the amount to be paid as well as the details for making a bank transfer. If however you need a formal invoice, email the School Director before sending your payment. In any case, you will receive a confirmation of receipt of payment through email.

Payment options  Payment is possible through international bank transfer to the account of the Lugano Summer School (preferred mode of payment) or by on-line credit card payment:

On-line credit card payment   You can use the on-line payment service of PayPal to pay your tuition. This option is not recommended, as it tends to be more expensive to both the participant and the Summer School; however, there may be cases where it makes sense for reasons of ease and speed of payment.

 

Transaction fee:  PayPal will charge the Summer School a transaction fee of over CHF 60, which includes a percentage that the credit card company takes on the amount transferred (obviously, PayPal needs to deduct applicable credit card fees from the amount that it can transfer to the recipient). A bank transfer will thus usually be cheaper for you, and will also save handling costs to the Summer School. The Summer School therefore prefers payment by conventional bank transfer. However, the School does recognize that on-line credit card payment may be more convenient and may have additional advantages for you. If you prefer this option, please add CHF 60 to the Summer School fee, to help cover the School's additional costs and thus to make sure that all participants contribute equally to the budget of the Summer School. Note that this transaction fee is not refundable in cases of tuition refunds. Thank you.

 

To access PayPal:  Click on the "Pay Now" button below.

 

You can pay on-line with PayPal, if you wish! Click here or on the 'PAY NOW' logo  >> On-line payment by credit card »   

 

For PayPal payment, please note the following hints:

  • Verification:  If you are not already a registered PayPal user, you may need to sign up before using this service. PayPal uses a simple verification procedure that entitles you to transfer payments above a certain amount. Both the verification process and the amount beyond which it is required varies by country or region and thus cannot be described here in a general way. Although the verification process is simple, it may take some time; so be sure to sign up in good time ahead of the School's payment deadline.
  • Designation of recipient:  To designate the Lugano Summer School as recipient of your payment, simply type the School's email address into the "PAY TO" field:
    PAY TO: or shorter:  
    The School will then receive a credit advice from PayPal and will subsequently confirm receipt of payment to you through email.
    Thank you.

 

 

Home page

Copyright