Franklin College Switzerland
Encyclopedia
Franklin College Switzerland is a private
, independent
, liberal arts college
in Switzerland
with an enrollment of approximately 450 students. Located in the Italian speaking city of Lugano
, Franklin offers Bachelor of Arts
degrees that are accredited by both the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in the United States
and by the Swiss University Conference
in Switzerland.
Franklin identifies its mission as "to provide a multi-cultural and international academic environment within which students acquire the essential knowledge and critical, creative and analytical abilities necessary to attain success in their chosen careers and to live culturally enriched and rewarding lives."
, the United States
' first ambassador to Europe
. Since its incarnation, Franklin has stressed the importance of international studies as the basis for a strong, global education. In 2005, Franklin was granted Swiss university accreditation, in addition to its accreditation as a Delaware institution of higher learning.
, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino
, Switzerland
.
Franklin College has ten residence buildings, seven in Sorengo
and three in Lugano
The college also allows for a combined-major programme, in which a student chooses two of the above to earn one degree, as opposed to a double-major.
The most popular majors at Franklin are International Management, International Relations, Communications and Media Studies and International Economics, respectively.
The average class size at Franklin is 16, with no class exceeding 30 students.
All students, including semester and year-abroad students, are required to participate in the Academic Travel Program. Academic Travel is not only a graduation requirement but an integral component of each semester of study. The graduation requirement for Academic Travel is fulfilled by participating in six travel programs. Students usually fulfill the requirement by participating each semester of their first three years at Franklin. Students who enter with Sophomore standing must participate each semester in which they are enrolled except their senior year.
The travels are themed around academic studies relating both to the location visited and the professor guiding the travel. Economics, art history, literature, business and marketing, international relations, and history are among common themes investigated through travels.
In the spring of 2010 alone, students traveled to Namibia
; Ireland
; Liguria
and Southern France
; Venice
; Northern Greece and Turkey
; Southern Germany
; Istanbul
; London
; Slovenia
, Croatia
and Serbia
; Umbria
; Florence
, Lucca
and Siena
; the Po Valley
; Vienna
and Budapest
; Paris
; Kerala
(India
); and Thailand
.
and Greater Europe
, and of student associations, residential life, and interaction with Swiss-Italian culture in Lugano.
. Franklin College is currently the reserve team for the local club FC Paradiso, making it Franklin FC Paradiso II. In recent years the team has won three Fair Play Awards and has placed close to second on a couple of occasions. Lanier sponsored the team until Ricoh took over at the beginning of the 2009 season. The team trains twice a week and competes on the weekends in both the fall and spring semesters - home games are played on Friday nights.
The women's soccer team at Franklin started as a club in 2004-2005. It is still building up to become a truly competitive team. However, during the last few years, participation has grown as the club becomes a more competitive team.
The Franklin intramural basketball team is an organized group of basketball players who practice twice a week. The team, which consists of both male and female players, travels to northern Spain
every spring to participate in an international college basketball tournament.
In addition to soccer and basketball, Franklin has an athletic center that holds classes in Karate, Yoga, and Volleyball, as well.
The Baobab Initiative is an independent enterprise that benefits Makumba Village which is in Zambia near the border with Malawi. The town is affectionately called Baobab Village because of the immense Baobab tree that stands in front of it. The Baobab tree is best known for its ability to store over 120,000 liters of water in its trunk in order to survive the harsh conditions of drought. This Initiative began as a result of an Academic Travel conducted by Professor Anne Flutti in October, 2003, to Malawi and Zambia to learn about an organic farming method known as “permaculture,” a contraction of the words permanent and agriculture.
The Baobab Initiative was begun in October, 2004, by Laura Marsala, Justin Niles, and Danielle Benent and now boasts over 30 full-time members and countless supporters. In the years of commitment to the cause, the students have devised a plan to raise funds and to help the villagers help themselves. A much-needed infrastructure has been set up, and resources to start the people of the village on their journey towards prosperity have been offered and are now showing progress.
The efforts are ongoing. The next big educational project is to provide a scholarship fund for the older students who have an interest in furthering their education. The Initiative has begun to expand to surrounding communities as a result of increased dedication from neighbors in the local area. The Initiative also hopes to assist Mphata Primary School, which is attended by several of the village children, in its efforts to build a new classroom.
Mosler Economic Policy Center (MECPOC)
The Mosler Economic Policy Center (Mecpoc) promotes and encourages education and research in new concepts and methods of economic policy analysis. Activities include an annual symposium, a summer scholarship, a website, and other opportunities for undergraduate students to explore alternative views in economic policy making.
Mecpoc was founded thanks to the generous support of Warren Mosler
. Mr. Mosler is the president of Valance Co, Inc. and Founder and Principal of AVM, a broker/dealer that provides advanced financial services to large institutional accounts. Beside his many business activities, Mr. Mosler is a Co-Founder and Distinguished Research Associate of The Center for Full Employment and Price Stability and founder of EPIC – the Coalition of Economic Policy Institutions – a non-partisan forum dedicated to promoting research and public discussion of issues related to macroeconomics and monetary policy.
Caribbean Unbound Conference
The Caribbean Unbound Conference is hosted by Franklin College. Each year a theme is chosen; for the Fourth Conference in the Spring of 2009, the theme was "Reconceiving Hispaniola". Past Keynote speakers include Jean-Claude Fignolé, and Maryse Condé
.
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
, independent
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
, liberal arts college
Liberal arts colleges in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States are certain undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers a definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
with an enrollment of approximately 450 students. Located in the Italian speaking city of Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, Franklin offers Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degrees that are accredited by both the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and by the Swiss University Conference
Swiss University Conference
The Swiss University Conference is the joint organization of the cantons and the Swiss Confederation for university politics. The legal basis for the organization was laid down, on the one hand, in the Law on Promotion of the Universities of 8 October 1999 and, on the other, in the Intercantonal...
in Switzerland.
Franklin identifies its mission as "to provide a multi-cultural and international academic environment within which students acquire the essential knowledge and critical, creative and analytical abilities necessary to attain success in their chosen careers and to live culturally enriched and rewarding lives."
History
Born out of the former Fleming College, Franklin College was chartered in 1969, founded as a non-profit, independent, post-secondary institution. Franklin College is named for Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
' first ambassador to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Since its incarnation, Franklin has stressed the importance of international studies as the basis for a strong, global education. In 2005, Franklin was granted Swiss university accreditation, in addition to its accreditation as a Delaware institution of higher learning.
Campus
The main campus (formally Kaletch Campus), acquired in 1985, is composed of a private villa with attached library, auditorium, and classroom wing, surrounded by a wooded park. In 2005 the college acquired an additional campus nearby, adding administrative, educational, athletic, social and residential capacity. The current campus spans 5 acres (20,234.3 m²). The Franklin campus is residential, and is located on a hillside overlooking the town of LuganoLugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Franklin College has ten residence buildings, seven in Sorengo
Sorengo
Sorengo is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Sorengo is first mentioned in 1189 as Sourengo when the S. Lorenzo Cathedral in Lugano acquired the right to collect tithes....
and three in Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
- Airone, located in an old hotel directly between main campus and North Campus with singles and doubles, all of which have their own bathrooms and some of which have kitchenettes. The ground floor houses the office of Student Life, and one of the student lounges, the "Falcon's Nest".
- Alba, located in Lugano 5-10 minutes from North Campus on the way downtown.
- Ciliegi, located directly across via Ponte Tresa from Airone. This is the smallest residence on campus, in apartment-style doubles.
- Florida, also located in Lugano but in the direction of Paradiso. Consists of hotel-style doubles and singles, some of which have lake views.
- Leonardo Da Vinci (LDV), located on the grounds of North Campus, this is the only all-freshman student dormitory.
- Giardino, nestled below the Sorengo monastery, this residence is mainly multiples (4-6 bedrooms and a shared kitchen) with some triples for freshmen.
- Girasole, located across the street from Florida in Lugano, has one female-only wing.
- Panera, located on the main campus grounds next to the Grotto (one of two dinning halls) with apartment-style triples. Each apartment consists of four rooms: a bedroom, bathroom (with bathtub), separate kitchen, and a large common room with three desks and a couch. The Panera Lawn is a common meeting place and hang out for many students, no matter what residence they live in.
- The final two buildings are the as-of-late unnamed New Buildings (A and B) located across via Ponte Tresa from Panera. New Building A has four bedroom apartment-style housing, while New Building B has two, three, four, five, and six bedroom apartments, some of which are two stories. All rooms in both New Buildings have arguably the biggest kitchens on campus with at least one bathroom (with a shower) per two students.
Programs of Study
Franklin College Switzerland offers a variety of major programs to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree.- Art History
- Communication and Media Studies
- Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies
- Creative Writing and Literature
- Environmental Studies
- European Studies
- French Studies
- History
- International Banking and Finance
- International Economics
- International Economics with an emphasis in Political Economy
- International Management
- International Management with an emphasis in Finance
- International Management with an emphasis in Marketing
- International Relations
- International Relations with an emphasis in Political Economy
- Italian Studies
- Literature
- Visual and Communication Arts
The college also allows for a combined-major programme, in which a student chooses two of the above to earn one degree, as opposed to a double-major.
Academics
The majority of courses are taught in English, with the exception of language courses, including an upper-level language courses on film, culture and literature. Students must also achieve proficiency in either Spanish, Italian, French or German, through fulfilling a 3-year language course sequence. In addition to the language requirement at Franklin, a core curriculum consisting of Intercultural Competencies (humanities and arts), International Engagement (political science, history and economics) and Social Responsibility (sciences and cultural studies) is at the forefront to the curriculum. A full year's worth of study in these three categories is a requirement. Courses in mathematics and writing are required as well.The most popular majors at Franklin are International Management, International Relations, Communications and Media Studies and International Economics, respectively.
The average class size at Franklin is 16, with no class exceeding 30 students.
Academic Travel Program
The Academic Travel Program is an integrated part of the Franklin College curriculum. Academic Travel is a credit bearing degree requirement, and two weeks of travel each semester represent an extension of the students’ class work. Travel is led by faculty members and relates to the academic expertise of the individual professor and to his or her knowledge of a given country or area.All students, including semester and year-abroad students, are required to participate in the Academic Travel Program. Academic Travel is not only a graduation requirement but an integral component of each semester of study. The graduation requirement for Academic Travel is fulfilled by participating in six travel programs. Students usually fulfill the requirement by participating each semester of their first three years at Franklin. Students who enter with Sophomore standing must participate each semester in which they are enrolled except their senior year.
The travels are themed around academic studies relating both to the location visited and the professor guiding the travel. Economics, art history, literature, business and marketing, international relations, and history are among common themes investigated through travels.
In the spring of 2010 alone, students traveled to Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
; Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
; Liguria
Liguria
Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...
and Southern France
Southern France
Southern France , colloquially known as le Midi is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy...
; Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
; Northern Greece and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
; Southern Germany
Southern Germany
The term Southern Germany is used to describe a region in the south of Germany. There is no specific boundary to the region, but it usually includes all of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, and the southern part of Hesse...
; Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
; London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
; Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
; Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
; Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
and Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
; the Po Valley
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...
; Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
; Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
(India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
); and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
.
Student life
Student life at Franklin consists of an emphasis on independent travel within SwitzerlandSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and Greater Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and of student associations, residential life, and interaction with Swiss-Italian culture in Lugano.
Athletics
Since 2000-2001, with an exception of a bye year in 2001-2002, Franklin’s men’s soccer team has competed in the National Swiss Division. The team competes with other clubs in the league from the Canton of TicinoTicino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
. Franklin College is currently the reserve team for the local club FC Paradiso, making it Franklin FC Paradiso II. In recent years the team has won three Fair Play Awards and has placed close to second on a couple of occasions. Lanier sponsored the team until Ricoh took over at the beginning of the 2009 season. The team trains twice a week and competes on the weekends in both the fall and spring semesters - home games are played on Friday nights.
The women's soccer team at Franklin started as a club in 2004-2005. It is still building up to become a truly competitive team. However, during the last few years, participation has grown as the club becomes a more competitive team.
The Franklin intramural basketball team is an organized group of basketball players who practice twice a week. The team, which consists of both male and female players, travels to northern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
every spring to participate in an international college basketball tournament.
In addition to soccer and basketball, Franklin has an athletic center that holds classes in Karate, Yoga, and Volleyball, as well.
Franklin College as a Host
Baobab InitiativeThe Baobab Initiative is an independent enterprise that benefits Makumba Village which is in Zambia near the border with Malawi. The town is affectionately called Baobab Village because of the immense Baobab tree that stands in front of it. The Baobab tree is best known for its ability to store over 120,000 liters of water in its trunk in order to survive the harsh conditions of drought. This Initiative began as a result of an Academic Travel conducted by Professor Anne Flutti in October, 2003, to Malawi and Zambia to learn about an organic farming method known as “permaculture,” a contraction of the words permanent and agriculture.
The Baobab Initiative was begun in October, 2004, by Laura Marsala, Justin Niles, and Danielle Benent and now boasts over 30 full-time members and countless supporters. In the years of commitment to the cause, the students have devised a plan to raise funds and to help the villagers help themselves. A much-needed infrastructure has been set up, and resources to start the people of the village on their journey towards prosperity have been offered and are now showing progress.
The efforts are ongoing. The next big educational project is to provide a scholarship fund for the older students who have an interest in furthering their education. The Initiative has begun to expand to surrounding communities as a result of increased dedication from neighbors in the local area. The Initiative also hopes to assist Mphata Primary School, which is attended by several of the village children, in its efforts to build a new classroom.
Mosler Economic Policy Center (MECPOC)
The Mosler Economic Policy Center (Mecpoc) promotes and encourages education and research in new concepts and methods of economic policy analysis. Activities include an annual symposium, a summer scholarship, a website, and other opportunities for undergraduate students to explore alternative views in economic policy making.
Mecpoc was founded thanks to the generous support of Warren Mosler
Warren Mosler
Warren Mosler is an American economist, president and founder of Mosler Automotive, and co-founder of the Center for Full Employment And Price Stability at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He briefly ran for President of the United States as a member of the Democratic Party in the 2012...
. Mr. Mosler is the president of Valance Co, Inc. and Founder and Principal of AVM, a broker/dealer that provides advanced financial services to large institutional accounts. Beside his many business activities, Mr. Mosler is a Co-Founder and Distinguished Research Associate of The Center for Full Employment and Price Stability and founder of EPIC – the Coalition of Economic Policy Institutions – a non-partisan forum dedicated to promoting research and public discussion of issues related to macroeconomics and monetary policy.
Caribbean Unbound Conference
The Caribbean Unbound Conference is hosted by Franklin College. Each year a theme is chosen; for the Fourth Conference in the Spring of 2009, the theme was "Reconceiving Hispaniola". Past Keynote speakers include Jean-Claude Fignolé, and Maryse Condé
Maryse Condé
Maryse Condé is a Guadeloupean, French language author of historical fiction, best known for her novel Segu . Maryse Condé was born as Maryse Boucolon at Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, the youngest of eight children. In 1953, her parents sent her to study at Lycée Fénelon and Sorbonne in Paris,...
.