Area-Fada:
@ 2s£xy


Helvetia/ (named after ancient tribe living in modern Switzerland) is a great country. Rich, clean, low unemployment/economy is good, low crime rate, high income/wages and high living standard. Health care is excellent.

ETH Zurich is always among top 25 world ranking of universities. Geneva and Basel are also excellent unis. IF you liked further maths like me, you might know Leonhard Euler the Swiss Mathematician/Physicist (in the class of Newton, Gauss, Cauchy, Lorentz, Descartes, Leibnitz, Fermat, etc) was a University of Basel alumnus.

Good to raise kids in.

They speak German (with heavy Swiss accent) in Zurich, Basel, Berne etc, French in Geneva etc, Italian in Lugano area. Romansh is a minority Language. In certain towns like Fribourg,you get the impression most can speak both French and German.

Young people and many others can speak English but it is not official or working language. In particular knowledge of German and or French are essential, depending on where you live.

Berne is capital city.

But it's expensive and laws are quite strict. You will people coming across the border to Lorrach, even Freiburg to do family shopping on Saturdays.

For me it's a bit boring and too dull. If you want a quiet life, it's the place to be.

I have never lived there but enjoyed visiting there a lot.

2s£xy:
Thanks for the info. I just suddenly developed interest after an in-law got a job from Germany. He is a german anyway.

It seem there is a high demand for skilled workers. I read somewhere that they don't have mineral resources and I am in field of oil and gas, currently doing my NYSC. Is there any opportunity to do a Master there or work there?

2s£xy:
Thanks for the info. I just suddenly developed interest after an in-law got a job from Germany. He is a german anyway.

It seem there is a high demand for skilled workers. I read somewhere that they don't have mineral resources and I am in field of oil and gas, currently doing my NYSC. Is there any opportunity to do a Master there or work there?

miss-sweety86:


It's true we don't have mineral resources. Actually we kinda have no natural resources, which is why we developed a very good education system.
You should check the EPFL and EPFZ, which are the two polytechnics of Switzerland. They probably have something related to your field.

Regarding getting a job, if you don't have a master's and work experience, it's very unlikely that you will get a job unless you are a genius or have very rare skills! Plus when there is an opening, they have to consider Swiss applicants first, then Europeans, and only after that they will consider extra-Europeans.

Good luck

redcliff:

[size=14pt]I beg to differ. the bolded is apparent but its not key. Once you have a master's degree and you can expressively speak the German language, you should be able to get a job. But be warned that the masters programme isnt child's play. You'l work ur ars.e out for it. [/size]

miss-sweety86:


It is the truth! They have to consider their own people first when it comes to employment! Of course the best candidate will be taken but if there is a Swiss candidate who fulfills the requirements of the position they will take him/her. I would be really upset if I applied for a job and someone from an extra-european country got the job and we have similar profile in terms of experience/education!

redcliff:

Thats if theres a swiss candidate. Most swiss people dont further up to masters level. Some dont even go to the university after high school. So as a foreigner, having a masters degree gives me more advantage than a swiss citizen who just has experience on the job.

miss-sweety86:


WTF?! Please, get some real information before you start criticizing Swiss like that and make us sound like dumb! How many Swiss people do you know?! Do you think we're all so stupid that we can't finish a master's degree?!!!! Our education is one of the best in the world, all the diplomas you can obtain in our education system are valued, not only university degrees, which is why our economy is in good shape and the unemployment level is low. But it is totally false to say that Swiss people don't study up to master's level. Have you had a look at the people in the universities?
Of course if having a master's degree is a job requirement you would have better chances than a Swiss candidate but I don't think people apply when they don't fulfill the requirements, at least the degree. But even though you might have a degree and the other person more experience, you might still not get the job because having a master's degree is not the only thing that matter! Because if you look at the job advertisement they require degree + work experience!
Gosh, I should have kept my promise and never come to Nairaland because people here just drive me crazy sometimes!!!!

redcliff:

Sorry, but you can like to park well where you were before. I gave you a fact.

miss-sweety86:


It's funny that someone from a country with very high illiteracy rate (do you want me to give you a number? because i can easily do as I'm working on the MDGs in Nigeria) is insinuating that people from a country with one of the best educational system are not capable to study up to a master's degree...... (by the way almost all my friends who went to university completed a master's and the only one who did not it was for financial reasons)

redcliff:

Lol. What makes u think im nigerian. Even if i was or am, i would boldly tell you that we have more graduates a year than your country produces in 7years and now lets leave the level of education out of this because we all know how the system is. I wonder why u r angry at what i am saying if you know its not a fact. Switzerland indigenes do not go to school and that is why there is a high demand of expartriates in the system and the foreginers come and take that spot. Atleast its evident with the lady whose relative from germany got a job there.Mind u before u misquote me, i did not say u guys are incapable, i said people do not go to school. The few that go dont further to masters level. Except a handful.

redcliff:
ome and take that spot. Atleast its evident with the lady whose relative from germany got a job there.

2s£xy:


Sorry, bro. I am a male and a Nigerian. It's my sister's husband who got the job there.

miss-sweety86:


please, can you provide proof for what you're saying? because i've been to university in Switzerland and the proportion of foreign students was very very low so I really don't understand where you "Swiss people don't go to school. The that go don't further to master's level. Except a few handful." (I put the right punctuation/spelling) comes from!

maybe Nigeria produces more university graduates than Switzerland, which is kinda obvious considering the size of the country, but how many years does it take for someone to complete his/her degree in Nigeria?!

An estimated 800,000 adults in Switzerland have problems with reading and writing, yet the taboo surrounding the issue means many suffer in silence.
The recent admission by the new Mr Switzerland, André Reithebuch, that he is one of that number has drawn attention to the hidden problem of illiteracy in Switzerland. It has also earned him both praise and criticism.
The Swiss Reading and Writing Federation is responsible for raising awareness of illiteracy in Switzerland. Partly funded by the Federal Culture Office, it is attempting to address the problem on a nationwide level. But it is still the case that the country's 26 cantons respond to literacy needs in different ways.

A study presented in April 2007 found that illiteracy not only carries a social stigma but also a high economic price. The greater incidence of unemployment among those affected costs the Swiss economy SFr1.1 billion ($1.02 billion) a year.

Reithebuch, a 22-year-old from the eastern canton of Glarus, is hardly a prime candidate for joining the ranks of the jobless. With his title come modeling contracts that should net him around SFr500,000 during his year in office. And even when his youthful good looks have faded he can always fall back on his original training as a carpenter.
Open book

While some newspaper commentators have called the male model "brainless" and mocked him for openly admitting to having read just one book in his life, support has come from a surprising source. Communications Minister Moritz Leuenberger, considered the most eloquent member of the cabinet, has expressed solidarity.

Although his fame and success make him atypical, Reithebuch nevertheless highlights an important fact: that it is not just immigrants who have problems expressing themselves or understanding one of Switzerland's national languages – in this case German. He also shows that it is possible to complete a school education and professional training without adequate competency in reading and writing.

Brigitte Aschwanden, head of the Reading and Writing Federation of German-speaking Switzerland, says around 435,000 of those with low literacy skills are from immigrant families. The other 365,000 are Swiss.

"Among those from an immigrant background there are some who are completely illiterate, who have never learned to read and write because they didn't go to school. But the Swiss have all gone to school and none of them are completely illiterate," she told swissinfo.ch.

Of the latter group many will never have learned to read and write properly, whereas others will have lost the ability through lack of practice. In adulthood this can make it harder to integrate into social or professional life.
Strategies

"Children develop strategies to hide their weakness, and it is not possible to spot all the ones with difficulties when they are at school," Aschwanden explained.

Ursula Bänninger, an illiteracy course leader at Adult Education Zurich, echoes this. "It does not mean they are unintelligent," she told swissinfo.ch. Problems in childhood or at school can explain some children's failure to attain a good level of literacy, she says.

"For some people I teach it is psychological: they are blocked by experiences they have had and difficulties with teachers. Another group have, for example, dyslexia or other learning problems which still affect them in adulthood."

Bänninger's students were all educated in Switzerland or in German-speaking countries. Immigrants are often faced with additional problems, as Noémi Maibach, a teacher of literacy at the Volkshochschule in Solothurn attests.
Challenges

"They are all foreigners and very often did not go to school at all, or just for one or two years. Sometimes they have knowledge in writing their own language but struggle with our writing," said Maibach.

"One of my students signed a contract for an apartment not knowing what was written, and suddenly they have to pay more than they were told. Another participant does not know how to use the washing machine because he cannot read the instructions."

Just getting to their language course for the first time can be a major challenge in itself, Maibach explains, if the participant cannot read the address. Most literate people are unaware of these problems and are sometimes unsympathetic or unhelpful.

For the Reading and Writing Federation, it is clear that much work needs to be done to educate the population about illiteracy and its effects.

"We have to keep repeating that it's not about people who have never gone to school or who cannot read and write at all but about people who have problems reading and writing, and that these problems need to be addressed," said Aschwanden.

She hopes that Reithebuch, with his high profile and public support, could become an ambassador for her literacy organisation.

"That's quite possible and we hope he will. At the moment there are discussions about that taking place," she said.

Morven McLean, swissinfo.ch
Literacy - Switzerland

800,000 Swiss adults (aged 16-65) cannot read well enough to understand a simple text.

Around 400,000 adults cannot express themselves in the language of the area they live in. (Federal Statistics Office, 2006)

The Reading and Writing Federation operates a hotline for enquiries within Switzerland: 0840 47 47 47.

It runs literacy courses at 20 localities in German-speaking Switzerland, at 32 localities in French-speaking Switzerland and at three in Italian-speaking Switzerland.

Additionally, the Federation backs a new course for literacy teachers – the only one in Switzerland – at Adult Education Zurich.
Literacy - worldwide (Unesco)

One in five adults is not literate. Two-thirds of those unable to read and write are women.

The United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) runs from 2003-2012 under the slogan of "Literacy as Freedom".

Coordinated by Unesco, the aim is to increase literacy levels and to empower all people everywhere.

The overall target of the UNLD is to increase literacy rates by 50% by 2015.

UN literacy day is marked on September 8 each year.

redcliff:




http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Home/Archive/Mr_Switzerland_turns_spotlight_on_illiteracy.html?cid=7464572

And this is Mr Switzerland himself. 800,000 out of a 7million population is what? you should do the maths.

miss-sweety86:


Wait that I receive the official MDGs report for Nigeria and I would show you that Switzerland is doing way better!!! By the way, this does not prove anything regarding Swiss citizens but all the people who live in Switzerland. And we have a lot of foreigners in our country (and not only high educated ones, e.g Nigerian drug dealers are plenty in main railway stations)

miss-sweety86:


Wait that I receive the official MDGs report for Nigeria and I would show you that Switzerland is doing way better!!! By the way, this does not prove anything regarding Swiss citizens but all the people who live in Switzerland. And we have a lot of foreigners in our country (and not only high educated ones, e.g Nigerian drug dealers are plenty in main railway stations )

miss-sweety86:


Wait that I receive the official MDGs report for Nigeria and I would show you that Switzerland is doing way better!!! By the way, this does not prove anything regarding Swiss citizens but all the people who live in Switzerland. And we have a lot of foreigners in our country (and not only high educated ones, e.g Nigerian drug dealers are plenty in main railway stations)

justwise: [/b]

Can you argue without insulting Nigerians? I edited your previous post containing similar comment, don't email me asking for some posts to be hidden because you don't like the content.

redcliff:

Well, to you it does not prove anything and it's because you are basking in your little world thinking that since you and your friends went to school that every other person did. Please don't try to correct my English because yours is by far poorer. The numbers and facts are online. I selected that because its more symbolic to relate with. I do not wish to go back and forth with you any more as i have seen that the bolded has placed you in the very bad category you put some other people here.

by.e

miss-sweety86:


So ask the other guy to comment without insulting Swiss people! And by the way it's also just a fact and that's why we have a migration partnership with Nigeria!

jay3012: gooday everyone...pls i want to know if i can get menial jobs in switzerland without residence nd work permit....dats wit a visit visa..