Diploma ceremony on the "Rösti Bridge
The members of the examination board, representatives of the schools and graduates of the professional examination from German- and French-speaking Switzerland built a bridge across the Röstigraben and celebrated the newly graduated communication planners.
Last Friday at the Théâtre Equilibre, Urs Schneider, president of the examination commission set up by SW Schweizer Werbung and PS Publicité Suisse, and the two examiners Roland Ehrler and Michel Repond handed over the diplomas in the presence of around a hundred people. Equilibre - the name of the theater not only reflects its extraordinary architecture; it is also indicative of the course and outcome of this year's exams, which have shown both pendulum movements and constants.
Exceptional results
In recent years, the French-speaking Swiss had always distinguished themselves with excellent results. This time, however, this was not the case. Fortunately, the German-speaking Swiss counterbalanced this with their exceptional performance, so that in the end 77 percent of all candidates successfully passed the exam. Five graduates even finished with an overall grade of more than 5.0: Stefanie Huber (with a record-breaking average of 5.5), Mirjam Küchler (5.3), Deborah Marzo (5.2), Cynthia Domfe (5.1) and Adrian Widmer (5.1). The sponsors M+K (bouquets of flowers), Faber Castell (writing instruments with engraving), La Liberté (tourist stays) and Publisuisse (iPad) have made the professional certificate of these graduates even more valuable.
Women high on the agenda
For many years, advertisers were mainly men. Today, however, more and more women are asserting themselves in this profession, accounting for 79 percent of the examinees. Fortunately, the proportion of candidates from the French-speaking part of Switzerland has also increased significantly; in 2014, it was only 17 percent, but this year it was already 26 percent. After the official part, those present were able to exchange ideas and network over an aperitif, which was gratefully donated by the other sponsors Bildungszentrum BVS St. Gallen, mediaschneider, SAWI, SWA and touring. They started their journey home richly laden with Fribourgian - meringues from the Gruyère region donated by the TV station M6 - and Lucernean - chocolate souvenirs presented by the KV Lucerne Vocational Academy.
