Erasmus celebrates its 25th anniversary

"I wish I had stayed longer"

After finishing a four year apprenticeship, Gerold Büchel completed his degree at night school and combined work and study. A six month Erasmus exchange, followed by eight months on a Leonardo da Vinci industrial placement gave him the chance to focus exclusively on study. ‘I had planned for all my lectures to be in English but I finally ended up taking business classes in French, which forced me to learn this language. This was a good thing as, after graduation, I worked with the Research and Development centre located in the Frenchspeaking part of Switzerland.’ Despite his reluctance to learn languages ‘I found myself using English with the American business centre, German with the head office and French with the team in Switzerland.’

The experience enabled him to feel more at home when travelling abroad and helped him to develop the skills needed to work in cross-cultural teams. ‘While the content of the courses on my exchange programme were similar, the ways of working were different. We often worked in mixed teams using different languages and approaches to solving problems. Today I am responsible for an international team in one of the largest departments of a high-tech European company.’

While the exchange itself did not lead to a specific job, it encouraged him to look for something different and made him more ‘open minded’ to employment. He wishes he had stayed longer in France as the friendships and contacts he made 10 years ago have helped him in his current high-profile role as a Liechtenstein Parliamentarian, a position he considers a great honour.

 

Home institution:

University of Liechtenstein, Liechtenstein (Die Universität Liechtenstein, Liechtenstein)

Host institution:

Catholic University of Lyon, France (Université Catholique de Lyon, France)

Field of study:

Business Information Systems

Duration

6 months (2001)