HSDC Welcomes Swiss Students for Multi-Week Skills Exchange

HSDC has once again demonstrated its commitment to enrichment, diversity, aspiration and technical excellence as it welcomed a cohort of visiting engineering students from Switzerland for a multi-week skills exchange programme. 

This visit brought together young engineers from different cultures to collaborate, innovate and apply advanced technical principles - reflecting HSDC’s core mission to raise ambitions, unlock potential and provide practical, industry-aligned learning experiences for all students. 

The exchange began with an introduction and campus tour led by Garry Adams, Head of Faculty at HSDC South Downs, culminating in a meeting with the campus’ second-year T Level Engineering students. Working in mixed international teams, these students quickly formed bonds as they undertook their first engineering challenge of the exchange - to design and construct a 30cm free-standing bridge.

This task demanded teamwork, creativity, problem solving and applied a technical understanding that spanned across a continent. Two teams successfully engineered models capable of holding an impressive 23kg, whilst another reached 11kg before their structure collapsed. The activity offered a powerful demonstration of resilience, confidence-building and applied learning - clear hallmarks of HSDC’s commitment to transforming technical learning into workplace capability and aspiration.

The Swiss students were then introduced to the European International Submarine Race, held locally at QineitiQ in Gosport - a globally recognised university-level competition in which teams design and test human-powered submarines. HSDC’s strong relationships with local businesses like QinetiQ reaffirms the College’s employer engagement plan which seeks to provide learners with genuine workplace experiences alongside their lessons. 

Such a project is typically completed over the span of a full academic year at university level, but HSDC set the international teams an ambitious challenge: to research, design, build and test a propulsion system for a one-person submarine in just two and a half weeks! Despite the accelerated timeframe, both the Swiss and HSDC students rose to the challenge with professionalism and enthusiasm.

Hearing these mixed groups calmly debate propulsion types, gearing ratios and mechanical configurations was a standout moment for the staff involved, demonstrating not only the high level of technical ability fostered by HSDC, but also the power of intercultural collaboration without prejudice or barriers. 

During the build phase in the workshops, both Swiss and English students demonstrated high levels of skill, focus and professionalism. These processes mirrored the very same expertise found in the workplace, echoing HSDC’s reputation for employer-standard environments and teaching staff with genuine industry expertise. 

Martin Whitear is a lecturer of Electrical Engineering at South Downs Campus, and spoke with pride about how the Swiss students collaborated with HSDC’s learners: 

“Massive credit to all the students involved, they got stuck into this project from day one! It was great to listen to their group discussions, they sounded more like experienced engineers than students! It was such a wonderful thing to witness how students from different cultures and backgrounds can come together to solve an issue with no prejudice against each other.”

Each team successfully produced a functioning and safely tested prototype, and finalised comprehensive reports that documented their design rationale, build process and test results - a crucial part of developing their engineering-based communication and professional reporting skills. 

As the exchange drew to a close, students and staff marked the occasion with awards recognising outstanding teamwork and innovation, followed by an afternoon of tag archery in the sports hall and a celebratory pizza lunch.

This international exchange has not only strengthened students’ technical understanding, but enhanced their confidence, adaptability and global awareness. For many, it has opened new pathways and broadened their perspectives, embodying the core of HSDC’s mission to provide education with direction and ambition.

This exchange stands as a testament to what’s possible when students are challenged, inspired and supported to reach beyond what they thought achievable.