Online Masters in Artificial Intelligence - Switzerland

And I apologize for all Native English Speakers everywhere, back to the time of King Alfred the Great.

Yes - expressions that are OK in one language often sound ludicrous in another -and yes, again- they should have run everything by native speakers. I'm just curious. Does FernUni Schweiz sound OK to you? It does to me, but I learned German in school - 60+ years ago, here in Canada.

 

Normally, I'm suspicious of ANY awkward, non-standard or incorrect English on a University site - anywhere in the world. I check the accreditation minutely. Usually, in India, it turns out to be OK. The standard accepted English there is often odd, to our ears. Other countries --- it's usually a VERY bad sign.

This school had me, though. I think it's the first time in these pages I've seen a Swiss Distance School that wasn't a Cantonal nightmare, with dubious partnerships and double-triple degrees of low-or-no standing etc. It could actually use the word "University" legally - in Switzerland. I wanted to break out the schnapps and fondue! (But I had none.) And when I saw the Akkreditierungsrat Certificate -- man, I was in the ZONE! I'd have forgiven them anything....

But yeah - they should change the English name.

 

Well, one more distinction for this school, then. Sometime, we can add it to the "Worst University Names" thread - among many good schools with bad names.

 

I fully agree, distanceuniversity.ch even sounds bad if you're a native German speaker (like myself) with a certain level of English.

By the way, there is, of course, also the German term "akademischer Grad" which literally means "academic degree". Usually, that term is used in its long-form, but it is possible to shorten it to just "Grad". Most Germans first think of a temperature or an angle if they hear the word "Grad", but it is possible to use "Grad" in exactly the same way as the English word "degree".

The problem is this: If you translate an English text into German, and you translate "degree" as "Grad", then you probably will end up with a result that's technically correct, but it sounds odd to a native German speaker. That may even be the case if you use "akademischer Grad" instead of "Grad". All that is somewhat comparable to your 'big city today!' example, but it is, of course, not as extreme.

My point is, it's all about nuances.

I get why you think that, but FernUni Schweiz is not a branch-operated Institute of Fernfachhochschule Schweiz. Both schools are public, both schools are headquartered in Brig, and both schools share office space within the same building that happens to be owned by the Swiss canton of Valais, but we are speaking about two schools that are independent of another.

FernUni Schweiz is operated by a foundation (that's owned by various cantons) with the name "Stiftung Fernstudien Schweiz". You will find them under that name on Anabin, and they are, of course, listed as H+.

In quite a few European countries, there is a type of degree-granting schools with a name that - literally translated - means "high school". Examples include "Hochschule" in German-speaking countries, "hogeschool" in the Netherlands and the Flemish Region, "haute école" in the French-speaking parts of Belgium and Switzerland (but not in France), "visoka škola" in Croatia, "Høgskule" in Norway, and "Högskola" in Sweden.

Yes, it does sound OK to me. It's not a great name, but it is OK.

 

Thanks. Great info. I learned about Hochschule a few years ago and recently TeacherBelgium told us about Hogeschool. Actually, I included the "Hochschule" info just in case Dr. Levicoff was still reading this - as he probably isn't. My point (strictly for him) was, again, that reliance on literal translations is often not a good idea. But he doesn't care - "his prerogative." I really appreciate your multilingual approach. Helps me (and others) learn!

 

Somebody smarter than I am (that's a lot of people) posted in the sister forum that even though it's a distance program, you have to show up on campus in Switzerland for exams and events - i.e. about once a month on average. COVID-19 aside, that makes it impossible for us North American types - and difficult enough for our German members. I checked the site - yep, we missed it. Too bad - good school, good price - just not do-able. Auf Wiedersehen, meine liebe Schweiz.

 

I should have known that!
I know Fernuni Schweiz for some time, and all their programs were always set up that way. I don't know why I assumed that would be different if the language of instruction is English instead of French or German.

It seems this degree is targeted at English-speaking Swiss residents. In that case, even the domain name distanceuniversity.ch makes some sense. There is only one "Fernuni" or "Distanceuniversity" in Switzerland.

 

That's OK, mintaru. I forgive you! (I should have read it!)