"Sawi is the village square of the communications industry".
Hans-Peter Rohner, Member of the Management Board of PubliGroupe, is the new Chairman of Sawi
Hans-Peter Rohner, member of the PubliGroupe management, is the new president of SawiThe new president of Sawi, Hans-Peter Rohner, predicts an exciting future for the national training and further education institute in Biel. New forms of teaching are to be used to adapt the communications professions to the rapidly changing market conditions. Sawi also wants to become internationally active.What appeals to you about the presidency?
Rohner: In 1974, I attended the advertising assistant course at Sawi as a media planner. At the same time, I was already a lecturer at Sawi. What made a lasting impression on me was the exchange of ideas and experiences. The special atmosphere at Sawi played a major role in my decision, at the age of 21, to start my professional career in communications. Over the years, I then became involved in various Sawi committees, including as an audit expert.
Do you also have emotional ties to Sawi?
Rohner: I simply loved Sawi as an institution. That's probably why I couldn't say no when my predecessor René Hürlimann approached me a year ago with the request to take over the presidency.
As a member of the PubliGroupe Management Board and responsible for the European, Latin American and Asian markets, you are professionally challenged. Why did you nevertheless take on this office?
Rohner: The topic of training and, in particular, the training and continuing education of communications professionals in the future and the promotion of talent are of burning interest to me. As a training company with annual sales of ten million francs and a wide range of courses, Sawi has an important role to play here. The Sawi institution is also facing an exciting shift towards new forms of teaching, such as interactive learning. Sawi also has the intention of becoming internationally oriented, and here I can make a contribution with my contacts abroad. In the area of human resources, it will become increasingly difficult for companies that want to hire advertising and communications professionals in the coming years to find qualified and talented people. For young professionals, on the other hand, lifelong learning will take on a completely different meaning than it has had up to now.
What do you want to achieve as Sawi president?
Rohner: I have great respect for this institution and would like to push ahead with the efforts to internationalize Sawi. Sawi should position itself even more as a training center with a high-quality offering. At the moment, Sawi is a leader in training in all established professions in communications. This should also be the case in the future and for the new professions.
Is the necessary spirit there?
Rohner: I am confident, because there is currently an innovative spirit at Sawi on the operational side. This can be seen not least in what Sawi has set up in western Switzerland. Unique in Switzerland, Polycom in Lausanne is the first institution to offer a service that is not focused on a single discipline, but rather links the communication disciplines with each other.
Is the Sawi offer expandable without loss of quality?
Rohner: Today, Sawi is a national education and training company with course locations throughout Switzerland. Sawi emulates the model of the universities, which offer practical training in addition to the scientific underpinnings by working closely with the business community. In this way, Sawi also aims to prevent course participants from receiving only theoretical training, the quality of which also depends heavily on the lecturer in charge. The times when a lecturer stands in front of the class and makes the course participants believe that he is telling the only true thing will soon be a thing of the past.
What should these new forms of instruction entail?
Rohner: I am convinced that exciting times are ahead of us in terms of new forms of teaching. I am thinking, among other things, of solving case studies in direct contact with the relevant company. International contacts also seem to me to be indispensable for guaranteeing the quality of teaching. There are very clear signals that the business world wants people who know and can operate in the international market environment.
The fact is that more and more private institutes are offering courses similar to Sawi. Does this competition worry you?
Rohner: The competition doesn't worry me at all. In fact, I think it's necessary, because it's always an incentive to stay on the ball. It's relatively difficult for people interested in training to get an idea of the training on offer. In addition to Sawi's serious competitors, there are also some not particularly good providers who lack seriousness.
You have qualified the Sawi as unique in its kind. What is its uniqueness?
Rohner: As a national institution, Sawi has a relatively small organization with only 30 full-time employees and more than 400 lecturers, who come from a wide variety of groups, not only in terms of age but also in terms of their professional orientation, and enable a maximum exchange of opinions and ideas. The Sawi has become the real village square of the communications industry.
In German-speaking circles in Switzerland, the French-speaking part of the country is often referred to as a third-world country in terms of the level of training of communications professionals and the quality of advertising practiced there. How do you rate Sawi's efforts to counteract this reputation?
Rohner: The fact is that in the advertising market there is an above-average concentration in and around Zurich, and in terms of population, French-speaking Switzerland is about four times smaller than the rest of Switzerland. It is therefore more difficult to find a large number of interested parties and course participants in French-speaking Switzerland. This is why the smallness of the market forces us to come up with new and innovative solutions again and again. This pressure has led, for example, to the launch of Polycom.
Will Sawi also offer training for aspiring journalists in the near future?
Rohner: Sawi has clear statutes and guidelines. These definitely rule out journalism training.
How long do you want to be president of Sawi?
Rohner: According to the new rules in the Articles of Association, the president can be elected for two further terms of office, and one term lasts three years. So Sawi will be rid of me after nine years at the latest. Interview: Anita Vaucher
Rohner: In 1974, I attended the advertising assistant course at Sawi as a media planner. At the same time, I was already a lecturer at Sawi. What made a lasting impression on me was the exchange of ideas and experiences. The special atmosphere at Sawi played a major role in my decision, at the age of 21, to start my professional career in communications. Over the years, I then became involved in various Sawi committees, including as an audit expert.
Do you also have emotional ties to Sawi?
Rohner: I simply loved Sawi as an institution. That's probably why I couldn't say no when my predecessor René Hürlimann approached me a year ago with the request to take over the presidency.
As a member of the PubliGroupe Management Board and responsible for the European, Latin American and Asian markets, you are professionally challenged. Why did you nevertheless take on this office?
Rohner: The topic of training and, in particular, the training and continuing education of communications professionals in the future and the promotion of talent are of burning interest to me. As a training company with annual sales of ten million francs and a wide range of courses, Sawi has an important role to play here. The Sawi institution is also facing an exciting shift towards new forms of teaching, such as interactive learning. Sawi also has the intention of becoming internationally oriented, and here I can make a contribution with my contacts abroad. In the area of human resources, it will become increasingly difficult for companies that want to hire advertising and communications professionals in the coming years to find qualified and talented people. For young professionals, on the other hand, lifelong learning will take on a completely different meaning than it has had up to now.
What do you want to achieve as Sawi president?
Rohner: I have great respect for this institution and would like to push ahead with the efforts to internationalize Sawi. Sawi should position itself even more as a training center with a high-quality offering. At the moment, Sawi is a leader in training in all established professions in communications. This should also be the case in the future and for the new professions.
Is the necessary spirit there?
Rohner: I am confident, because there is currently an innovative spirit at Sawi on the operational side. This can be seen not least in what Sawi has set up in western Switzerland. Unique in Switzerland, Polycom in Lausanne is the first institution to offer a service that is not focused on a single discipline, but rather links the communication disciplines with each other.
Is the Sawi offer expandable without loss of quality?
Rohner: Today, Sawi is a national education and training company with course locations throughout Switzerland. Sawi emulates the model of the universities, which offer practical training in addition to the scientific underpinnings by working closely with the business community. In this way, Sawi also aims to prevent course participants from receiving only theoretical training, the quality of which also depends heavily on the lecturer in charge. The times when a lecturer stands in front of the class and makes the course participants believe that he is telling the only true thing will soon be a thing of the past.
What should these new forms of instruction entail?
Rohner: I am convinced that exciting times are ahead of us in terms of new forms of teaching. I am thinking, among other things, of solving case studies in direct contact with the relevant company. International contacts also seem to me to be indispensable for guaranteeing the quality of teaching. There are very clear signals that the business world wants people who know and can operate in the international market environment.
The fact is that more and more private institutes are offering courses similar to Sawi. Does this competition worry you?
Rohner: The competition doesn't worry me at all. In fact, I think it's necessary, because it's always an incentive to stay on the ball. It's relatively difficult for people interested in training to get an idea of the training on offer. In addition to Sawi's serious competitors, there are also some not particularly good providers who lack seriousness.
You have qualified the Sawi as unique in its kind. What is its uniqueness?
Rohner: As a national institution, Sawi has a relatively small organization with only 30 full-time employees and more than 400 lecturers, who come from a wide variety of groups, not only in terms of age but also in terms of their professional orientation, and enable a maximum exchange of opinions and ideas. The Sawi has become the real village square of the communications industry.
In German-speaking circles in Switzerland, the French-speaking part of the country is often referred to as a third-world country in terms of the level of training of communications professionals and the quality of advertising practiced there. How do you rate Sawi's efforts to counteract this reputation?
Rohner: The fact is that in the advertising market there is an above-average concentration in and around Zurich, and in terms of population, French-speaking Switzerland is about four times smaller than the rest of Switzerland. It is therefore more difficult to find a large number of interested parties and course participants in French-speaking Switzerland. This is why the smallness of the market forces us to come up with new and innovative solutions again and again. This pressure has led, for example, to the launch of Polycom.
Will Sawi also offer training for aspiring journalists in the near future?
Rohner: Sawi has clear statutes and guidelines. These definitely rule out journalism training.
How long do you want to be president of Sawi?
Rohner: According to the new rules in the Articles of Association, the president can be elected for two further terms of office, and one term lasts three years. So Sawi will be rid of me after nine years at the latest. Interview: Anita Vaucher
