Susann Bongers
Peter Stadler

Career Starter Week (CSW)

Cooperation with university staff

On our first day, Friday, we had a warm and energetic welcome by Nico Smit, the international relations officer of NUST. All staff and faculty we met during both weeks were accessible, friendly and supportive. We finalized the preparation and handled the organizational issues but also talked about the University’s and Namibia’s challenging economic situation.

The collaboration with and the huge support Nico provided during the two CSW was more than outstanding. He took care of everything: We always had the copies we needed, the snacks were ready on time, and he also supported our program by making sure several Namibian professionals provided their input on a number of subjects. Through their motivation and inspiration as well as their devotion to what they do they were a role model for our students.

Cooperation with students

The students were very kind and cooperative and eager to learn and develop. Some have made great efforts to make it possible to attend the CSW. Both groups we worked with had a different dynamics: Whereas the first group accepted quickly that they had to be on Swiss time and quickly met our demands and stepped out of their comfort zone, the second group took much more time to adapt and cooperate. Surprisingly they caught up clearly when they had to get ready for the interview sessions, and they performed well.

It is always a challenge to help overcome the shyness of many of them and to get into a collaborative attitude on eye level. On the other hand, they all appreciated very much the opportunity they got and were very grateful.

Impact and win-win

In the end, the impact of a CSW on students can only be measured by the professional success of the students. In both weeks we could see after a short while the huge progress many of them made with regard to self-confidence, presentation skills, business understanding, application of theory, business case analysis, effective preparation of a job interview etc. We have rarely seen people who learn so quickly and make such progress because they are so eager to learn.

Memorable event

One of our experts had been host of one of the students who had been to Zurich in 2019. He and his girlfriend took us to see important monuments of Windhoek, and we had profound discussions about the history of Namibia. Finally, we had a great local lunch in a restaurant in Katutura. This showed us how strong the personal relationships between Zurich and Windhoek have grown.  

Other unforgettable moments were numerous personal encounters with students, the confrontation with often very demanding (economic) living conditions, with representatives of the faculty and staff of the university who, despite demanding conditions, strive to do a good job, and the encounters with local professionals, their challenges in business and their impressive presentations and workshops.

Personal message

For both of us it was a challenging, often quite exhausting and very rewarding time. The preparations and challenges during the week were sometimes quite demanding. We hope we were able to support the young professionals in Namibia in gaining insights and further developing their potential so that they can seize their opportunities and make their lives successful and joyful, both professionally and privately.