iconomix

Swiss National Bank

iconomix newsletter spring 2009

From gold awards to financial market crises

Editorial

Dear reader

The first iconomix event was held in Berne on 2 May 2009. From almost 100 submissions, 32 projects were selected and invited to the iconomix event, the final hurdle to winning an award. “Evolution des rapports entre l’Etat et le marché”, “Crisi dei Subprime”, “Managing China’s Balance of Payments”, “Investieren Frauen erfolgreicher als Männer?” – these were four of the submissions nominated for participation in the event. The selection illustrates clearly just how varied and creative the topics chosen by the students were. Preparation for next year’s iconomix award has already gotten underway; submissions can be sent in any time between now and the closing date on 1 March 2010.

Manuel Wälti (iconomix management) and Jean-Marc Huguenin (iconomix in French)

Winners of the 2009 iconomix awards

The Chairman of the Swiss National Bank, Jean-Pierre Roth, spoke at the event – which was attended by around 100 guests (fellow students, parents, teachers) – and congratulated the authors of the 32 nominated individual and group projects on their achievement. Overall, 21 students received a certificate for the bronze award, 15 students were presented with a silver award plus CHF 200 in prize money, and 6 students received a gold award plus CHF 500 from the jury for outstanding work.

Best iconomix schools 2009

Students were not the only winners at the iconomix event – six schools were awarded a special prize, the ‘Best iconomix school’ award. These were the schools with the highest number of valid submissions, with one award allocated to each of the six categories of upper secondary school. The winning schools will be allowed to hold onto the title for a year. Among the winning schools and representing one of the six categories is Scuola d’arti e mestieri Lugano-Trevano. Ursula Holliger, a teacher at the school, explains in a short interview why she encouraged her students to participate and recounts how she found the event.

  • Interview with Ursula Holliger, Scuola d’arti e mestieri Lugano-Trevanohttp://www.iconomix.ch/
  • Interview with Daniel Bucher, Berufs- und Weiterbildungszentrum Uzwilhttp://www.iconomix.ch/
  • List of Best iconomix schools 2009www.iconomix-award.ch/...

Symposium on financial market crisis

The Swiss National Bank and the PHBern teacher training college have joined forces and will hold a training event on Saturday, 5 September 2009, which will look at the causes, effects and consequences of financial market crises. The keynote speakers – both professors – are Thomas Jordan (SNB) and Ernst Baltensperger (Study Center Gerzensee). In between their two addresses, workshops will be held to show how this particular topic can be integrated into a lesson, using material from iconomix. The workshops will be given by an iconomix coach and an economist. Registration is possible from the end of May at oekonomie-iwb.phbern.ch.

More iconomix workshops

You’d like to integrate iconomix into lessons at your school? No problem! Why not sign up for one of our upcoming workshops or contact us about organising one for your school alone? The next workshops are scheduled for:

  • 6 June 2009: iconomix im ABU-Unterricht, Berne (in German only)
  • 19 June 2009: iconomix im Unterricht, Chur (in German only)
  • 30 June 2009: Découvrir et enseigner l’économie avec iconomix, Lausanne (in French only)
  • 19 August 2009: Ökonomische Grundprinzipen mit iconomix.ch, Aarau (in German only)

Subscribe to iconomix newsletter

The iconomix newsletter is published four times a year in German, French, Italian and English. It provides the latest news on the iconomix teaching programme, on workshops offered by the Swiss National Bank and on the iconomix award for students.