Switzerland (in German, die Schweiz ; in French, La Suisse ; in Italian, Svizzera ; in Romansh, Svizra), officially known as the Swiss Confederation (Confœderatio Helvetica in Latin, hence its ISO codes are CH and CHE), is a landlocked country located in central Europe with a population of 7,725,200 residents (2009). [1] Switzerland is a federal republic of 26 states, called cantons. Bern is the seat of federal authorities, while the country’s financial centers are in the cities of Zurich, Baseland Geneva. Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world according to its GDP per capita, which amounts to US $ 67,384. [2] For their part, Zurich and Geneva are in the second place of the cities with the best quality of life in the world. [3]
Switzerland borders Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. The country is characterized by its neutral foreign relations policy, without having actively participated in any international conflict since 1815, and is the headquarters of several international organizations, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organization and one of the two offices of the UN in Europe. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union but since 2005 it is part of the Schengen area ; It is a multilingual nation and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. The date of creation of Switzerland as a nation was set on 1 of August of 1291 in accordance with tradition, hence each year the national holiday is celebrated on the same day.
As a country located in Europe according to ENINGBO, Switzerland is currently perceived as one of the most developed countries in the world. Due to its policy of neutrality, the country is home to a large number of immigrants from nations on several continents, which is why it is considered one of the European countries with the greatest cultural diversity. Finally, it is internationally recognized for its mountains, watches, chocolates, banks, trains and cheeses. [4]
Education, science and technology
Education in Switzerland is very diverse because the country’s constitution delegates the authority of the school system to each canton. [39] There are public and private schools, including many internationally renowned colleges. In all cantons, the minimum age for entering primary school is six years. [39] The primary school consists of four or six grades, depending on each school. Traditionally, the first foreign language taught in primary schools was one of the other national languages, although in 2000 English classes began to be taught in some cantons. [39] At the end of primary school (or at the beginning of secondary school), students are separated into several groups (often three) according to their intellectual abilities. Those who learn faster are enrolled in advanced classes to be prepared for the matura or baccalaureate exam and for more specific studies, [39] while the schoolchildren who assimilate the knowledge a little more slowly receive an education more appropriate to their needs.
There are 12 universities in Switzerland, ten of them are managed at the cantonal level and usually offer non-technical degrees. The country’s first university was founded in 1460 in Basel (with a faculty of Medicine), and is reputed to be one of the best chemical and medical research centers in Switzerland. The largest university in the country is the University of Zurich with about 25,000 students. The two institutes run by the federal government, the ETH in Zurich (founded in 1855) and the EPFL in Lausanne (founded in 1969, formerly associated with the University of Lausanne), enjoy an excellent international reputation. In 2008, ETH Zurich was ranked among the top fifteen institutes in the field of Natural Sciences and Mathematicsaccording to a list published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, [40] while EPFL was ranked 18th in the Engineering / Technology category. and computer science. In addition, there are several universities of applied sciences. Switzerland has the second highest rate of foreign students in tertiary education, behind only Australia.
There are several Swiss scientists who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, for example the famous German-born physicist Albert Einstein, who developed the theory of relativity while working in Bern. More recently Vladimir Prelog, Heinrich Rohrer, Richard Ernst, Edmond Fischer, Rolf Zinkernagel and Kurt Wüthrich received the Nobel Prize for various sciences. In total, there are 113 Nobel Prize winners who have some connection to Switzerland, and the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded nine times to organizations based in the country. [41]
In Geneva there is the largest laboratory in the world, CERN, dedicated to the research of particle physics. Another important research center is the Paul Scherrer Institute. Well-known inventions include LSD, the tunneling microscope (Nobel laureate), and the popular Velcro. Some technologies helped the exploration of new worlds such as the pressurized balloon of Auguste Piccard and bathyscaphe of Jacques Piccard, which allowed him to reach the deepest point of the ocean.
The Swiss Space Agency, called the Swiss Space Office, participated in the development of various space programs and technologies. In 1975 he was also one of the ten founders of the European Space Agency and is the seventh largest contributor to ESA. In the private sector, several companies are involved in the space industry, such as Oerlikon Space and Maxon Motors.
