Diploma award ceremony for 23 communications professionals: MScom is celebrating its 10th anniversary and conferring the Burson-Marsteller and SPRI Awards on its best new graduates

Tomorrow, in the auditorium of the Lugano Campus, 23 communications professionals will be receiving the Executive Master of Science in Communications Management (MScom) diploma awarded by the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). The Executive MScom Program, now celebrating its 10th anniversary, comprises eight week-long sessions held in Lugano and a two-week advanced strategic management session at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, one of the leading business schools in the US, with which the University has had a long-standing co-operation.

The participants, of 11 different nationalities, have acquired the technical and theoretical tools needed to handle communications for their respective organizations in terms of identity, image and overall strategic planning, and working in close cooperation with their managements. For their final projects, an essential part of the diploma program, the participants must provide real consultancy project to companies and institutions. This year the beneficiaries were LOEWE (www.loewe.de), Swisscom (www.swisscom.ch), Rhätische Bahn (www.rhb.ch) and Médecins Sans Frontières (www.msf.org).

After the diplomas have been awarded by USI President Piero Martinoli and the Academic Director of MScom Francesco Lurati, the best graduates will receive two important distinctions: the Burson-and the SPRI Award.

The Burson-Marsteller Award for Academic Excellence, for the best consultancy project, will be presented during the Saturday Gala evening by Roman Geiser, Chief Operating Officer EMEA, Burson-Marsteller. Worth 10,000 Swiss francs, this year's award goes to the project performed on behalf of LOEWE, a German company active in the global market for high-quality home entertainment systems. Its authors are Athos Del Ponte (Zurich, Switzerland), Sukanti Ghosh (Mumbai, India), Ernst Larsen (Oslo, Norway), Lisa Schilling (Lucerne, Switzerland) and Ancilla Schmidhauser (Zurich, Switzerland). The project was chosen for having provided the client with concrete recommendations based on a thorough situational analysis: a solid contribution that will help LOEWE to strengthen its brand internationally, giving the company a strategic edge in the specific characteristics of its own product, its network of branches and retailers and its relations with end users.

The SPRI Award, being conferred for the first time, is for the best grade average: Marion Starck, President of the SPRI (Swiss Public Relations Institute) will present the award to Amanda Marlin, a consultant of Australian origin.

Contacts:
Nina Volles, Managing Director Executive MScom Program
Università della Svizzera italiana
Via Giuseppe Buffi 13, CH - 6900 Lugano
Tel +41 58 666 46 02 (diretto: 42 08)
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.mscom.usi.ch

The USI’s Executive MScom Program in brief
The Executive Master of Science in Communications Management (MScom, www.mscom.usi.ch) is a part-time postgraduate program for experienced communications. Classes are held every other month for seven consecutive days. An international teaching faculty of more than 30 professors from renowned institutions around the world ensures the program's academic excellence and its global orientation.
In its first ten years, the Executive MScom Program has trained more than 200 communications professionals from around the world. The detailed program of celebrations for MScom’s