As one of the biggest ICT employers in Central Switzerland, promoting young talent is important to us. That's why we're supporting the ICT Scouts/Campus promotional association in its efforts to get young adults interested in IT and other technical occupations.
The idea of ICT Scouts/Campus – the brainchild of a non-profit promotional association that receives both public and private backing – is as simple as it is compelling: given the acute shortage in Switzerland of professionals in the MINT subjects (maths, IT, natural sciences and technology), young ICT talents will be sought out from Year Seven in schools and given individual support on an ongoing basis. Following on from Basel, Bern, Zurich, St. Gallen and Lenzburg, Lucerne is the sixth campus seeking to identify talented young adults and motivate them to pursue a career in ICT or the MINT subjects.
The CSS ICT Campus Central Switzerland opened its doors in June 2021. School students from Central Switzerland are invited to come along regularly every second Saturday until they complete their compulsory education and enhance their talent for free. We provide rooms at our head office in Lucerne free of charge and also make a financial contribution to the project.
The young talents begin by completing a basic programme that serves as a kind of admission procedure. After that, they are free to choose projects from across practically the entire ICT spectrum (e.g. web, game or graphic design, programming, robotics or microcomputing). They can also tackle their own projects, usually at a more advanced stage. Finally, the young people are actively put in touch with interesting host companies and institutions of higher education.
The Campus has proved so popular with school students that participant numbers have quadrupled since it first opened its doors. “We started off in 2021 with 23 youngsters. Now, about 100 come to the Campus,” says Pascal Erni, Head of Software Development at CSS and a co-founder of the CSS ICT Campus. On average, 50 to 60 school students attend the Campus each Saturday – completely voluntarily, in addition to their regular schooling.
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