Background - 06.03.2025 - 09:00
Federal Councillors, presidents, activists, Nobel Prize winners, managers and entrepreneurs – the St. Gallen Symposium has been bringing renowned guests to St.Gallen for over 50 years, addressing global challenges and seeking dialogue between the generations. Many leading personalities have been guests at HSG to discuss with students from all parts of the world. Simon Morgenthaler, staff member at the University Archives of St.Gallen, has now catalogued the diverse historical records of these intergenerational meetings. They are also accessible online via the digital reading room.
The discussion platform received royal support when it was first organised: as part of the opening speech at the 1st International Management Discussion in 1970, Wolfgang Schürer read out a telegram from Crown Prince Harald of Norway. He welcomed the initiative of the St.Gallen students to enter into an international dialogue on "development trends in management in Europe". The conference attracted international attention in 1972 with the presentation of the Club of Rome's "Limits to Growth" study. Speakers Carl Johan Friedrich, Dr Aurelio Peccei and Hugo E. Thiemann outlined the effects of exponential growth on planet Earth
Since its inception, the conference has been organised by a student association, the International Student's Committee (ISC), which is supported by the St.Gallen Foundation for International Studies. The extensive archives of the association and the foundation were donated to the University Archives of St.Gallen in 2022. They mainly comprise written material and photographs as well as audiovisual documents from the period between 1970 and 2010.
The audio and video recordings of the lectures and panels, which are almost completely preserved, show how contemporary and controversial topics were discussed at the St. Gallen Symposium. For example, it is possible to follow the first presentation of the study "Limits to Growth" by the Club of Rome (1972) in the German-speaking world. Or listen to one of Hanns Martin Schleyer's last public debates (1977) before his assassination by the Red Army Faction (RAF). And listen to philosopher Jeanne Hersch discuss the youth riots of the 1980s with an HSG graduate (1981/1982). An (economic) history podcast that couldn't be richer.
The photo collection, which can also be accessed via Wikimedia Commons, documents the appearances of countless, sometimes illustrious personalities: Kofi Annan, Muhammad Yunus and Mario Vargas Llosa stand on the podium, politicians such as Helmut Schmidt, Christine Lagarde, Romano Prodi, Mary Robinson and Lubna Khalid al-Qasimi give talks and hold discussions. However, images documenting other facets of the symposium, such as the activities of the student organisation team or aspects of the history of technology, have also been archived. Files and printed material complete the archive.
The archive's traces lead right up to the present day. The visit of Russian human rights activist Julija Nawalnaja to St.Gallen in 2024 caused a sensation. She encouraged young people to get involved in politics. Under the slogan "Shifting Global Power", a wide range of topics will be discussed on 7 and 8 May 2025, following on from past symposia. Federalist ideas will be discussed this year as part of the "Thriving Lake Constance" insight session. Back in 2002, the ISC was able to demonstrate its expertise on behalf of the Swiss Confederation by organising the 1st International Conference on Federalism in St.Gallen. In 2025, Jakov Milatović, the President of Montenegro, is also expected to attend, whose visit can be categorised as part of a series of well-known politicians from the Balkans. In 2002, the then President of Macedonia Boris Trajkovski attended the symposium, followed by former Serbian President Boris Tadić in 2009
As part of the internationalisation of the event, the organisers increasingly turned to the Asian region at the end of the 1980s. In 1994, the symposium focused on China for the first time and can now draw on a broad network that has brought and continues to bring numerous personalities and students from Asia to St.Gallen. For example, the current Deputy Minister of Singapore Teo Chee Hean, attended the symposium in 2000. Since 2012, the ISC in Singapore has also been operating an office specifically for the Asian market.
The archive of the St. Gallen Symposium provides access to a fund of sources that is not only important for the history of the university but is also closely linked to Switzerland as a business location and the St.Gallen region.
Further information
Archive St. Gallen Symposium in the digital reading room
St. Gallen Symposium 2025
Image gallery St. Gallen Symposium, Wikimedia Commons
Images: University Archives of St.Gallen / St. Gallen Symposium
