Education
For Migros' founder Gottlieb Duttweiler, "education for all" was an important principle in giving something back to society. Education remains a cornerstone of Migros' philosophy and is firmly rooted in Migros Culture Percentage.
With 8'849'345 participant hours, Migros Club School is the biggest educational institution in Switzerland. In 2016, it introduced some contemporary new courses and seminars, as well as the Online Academy, which gives the opportunity to learn languages anywhere and at any time.
Migros Club School has the right course for all walks of life and develops skills in the areas of work and leisure. In the reporting year, more than 371'000 people benefited from 600 courses and seminars in six areas, making Migros Club School the biggest educational institution in Switzerland. This is confirmed by the figures for 2016:
- 8'849'345 participant hours
- 371'384 course and seminar participants
- 53'791 courses and seminars held
- 7'500 course teachers
- 1'600 employees
- 600 different courses and seminars
- 50 locations
Digital and innovative
Digital transformation constantly calls for new skills. At the same time, more and more professionals are keen to take advantage of the possibilities offered by technology. Migros Club School has therefore launched the new Digital Business range and further enhanced its practice-oriented training courses for digital domains, such as content marketing and cloud computing.
Migros strengthened its position in the area of health in 2016 through the launch of the health platform. At the same time, Migros Club School developed new courses such as "Freude am Geschmack" (Enjoy the taste) and "Mit Genuss zum Wohlfühlgewicht" (Reach your ideal weight with enjoyment).
Online Academy
With its Online Academy, Migros Club School is responding to new customer requirements brought about by digital transformation. The platform was launched successfully in 2016. After starting with e-learning and blended learning English courses, the offer now includes German and French as well. Italian and Spanish will be added this year.
Language learning services
Three years ago, Migros Club School became the first provider of language courses to introduce computer-adaptive placement exams. This free and entertaining method for finding an appropriate course is very popular among customers: In 2016, 188'761 tests were performed – 13% more than in the previous year.
In 2016, Migros Club School launched the Online Academy: Learn. Anywhere. At any time.
To help students build on their acquired language skills, the Club School provides free podcasts at podclub.ch. In 2016, 374'941 language podcasts were listened to on the website and downloaded 16'280 times via the PodClub app.
Welle 7: Switzerland's most modern Club School
In 2016, the urban concept centre "Welle 7" was opened inside Bern railway station. As a result, the city now has a new hub that houses a contemporary workspace, Switzerland's most modern Club School and a wide selection of food and drink establishments. The new Club School pursues an innovative concept that includes course rooms in an inspirational environment.
Systematic implementation of the "Eurocentres 2020" strategy, Eurocentres – despite a challenging market environment – has succeeded in creating the necessary basis for the sustainable implementation of the foundation's mission.
Difficult conditions in Brazil, Columbia and Korea, which are important countries for both the language travel sector and Eurocentres, led to a decline in participants in 2016.
With Eurocentres Malta and Eurocentres Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada, and partner schools in Galway, Ireland, and Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, California, the network of schools was expanded with further attractive destinations.
An innovative management structure was introduced in the foundation's schools in the UK, which had been hit particularly hard by a decline. It aims to make use of all employees to further improve customer satisfaction and thus reduce the administrative burden. This will include greater use of the Eurocentres online campus my.Eurocentres by course participants and employees.
In 2016, the digital range was supplemented with the my.language coach.
In 2016, a French version of my.Eurocentres was launched and successfully introduced at the foundation's schools in France. The digital range was also expanded with the my.language coach, which offers former Eurocentres students the opportunity to develop their language skills online after they have completed their course.
In order to develop the range of courses more satisfactorily and increase customer satisfaction, the latter is now assessed digitally by Trustpilot, a Google-certified partner. Eurocentres has been awarded 4.4 stars, which confirms its position as one of the leading institutions for foreign language learning.
In 2016, the GDI was able to continue its success from the previous year. The Future of Work Summit, which took place in the run-up to the referendum on unconditional basic income, received international recognition. The event was attended by some high calibre speakers, including former US employment secretary Robert B. Reich, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, and MIT professor Erik Brynjolfsson.
Along with the annual GDI flagship events – the European Trend Day, the International Retail Summit and the European Foodservice Summit – the presentation of the "Public 4.0" study conducted on behalf of SRG was very well received.
The GDI held a total of twelve events for 2'700 participants, half of which in collaboration with partners and clients. In addition, 200 events were held by customers and attracted a further 14'000 participants to Rüschlikon.
Along with the annual GDI flagship events, the "Public 4.0" study was very well received in 2016.
In 2016, the GDI Think Tank again published commissioned studies, conducted specific research and held workshops on behalf of customers. The studies were downloaded 10'000 times from the GDI website. Furthermore, researchers in nine countries gave more than 230 speeches to about 30'000 listeners.
In addition to the English, Spanish, German and Chinese-language internet, the fifth Global Thought Leader Index also included Arabic this year. The response was overwhelming. The Index was discussed on 500 websites (including Al Jazeera) and by opinion leaders with millions of social media followers.
The Gottlieb Duttweiler Chair at the Institute of Retail Management improves retail-oriented teaching at the University of St. Gallen. The team of researchers is committed to the provision of practice-based research, the results of which are presented to the public in the form of workshops and conferences.
In 2016, the range of courses attracted a great deal of interest from students and was expanded again in response to the strong demand. With a total of six teaching staff and two dozen guest speakers, the Chair supervised:
- 3 lectures at Bachelor's level
- 5 lectures at Master's level
- 1 course at PhD level
- 41 Bachelor's theses
- 49 Master's theses
- 3 completed and 6 ongoing dissertations
- 5 assistant professors
In 2016, the 7th St. Galler Handelstag, on the subject of "Retail 3.0", addressed the role of employees during disruptive changes to the retail landscape. More than 150 people discussed the topic at the sold-out HSG training centre.
A total of 12 scientific and practice-related publications, as well as various conference contributions and studies, meet the requirement for results-oriented retail research at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Chair, University of St. Gallen.