http://www.islux.lu/index.php/about/news/ en grajaraman@islux.lu Copyright 2012 2012-02-03T12:19:14+00:00 http://www.islux.lu/about/news-detail/luxembourg-stock-exchange-visit/ http://www.islux.lu/about/news-detail/luxembourg-stock-exchange-visit/ On Wednesday, 25 January 2012, the IB Business and Management students and some ISL Business Club members had the opportunity to set foot for the first time in their lives, at the Luxemburg Stock Exchange (LuxSE); part of the financial heart of Luxembourg. This was organised by Dr James Mulli, ISL teacher in Economics, Business and Management and also ISL Business Club supervisor, who wanted to offer his students the possibility to see how the concepts and theories they learnt in class, or which they discussed in their business club, apply in the real world of business. The Luxembourg Stock Exchange, created in 1927, is a major listing centre of international bonds, equities and investment funds.  It is managed by a Board of directors appointed by the general meeting of the company’s shareholders and composed by three governing bodies.  In 2009, the Luxembourg Stock exchange migrated its securities to the NYSE Euronext UTP platform.  Antoine Wagner, Vice President and Head of Marketing and Communication was waiting to welcome the students. He introduced his colleague, Pierre Malanda who is responsible for student visits.  After getting their picture taken in the second largest room of LuxSE , the students were guided into the Autostrada room where they would be introduced into the world of listing and trading securities, stock markets etc. Mr Malanda was curious to know how much the students knew about Luxembourg and the Stock Exchange.  One of the students noted how the location of the LuxSE was hidden; when he expected it to be more visible. To which, Mr Malanda explained that since the trading room was automated as of 2006, they didn’t have traders in the room anymore. Hence, the LuxSE didn’t need a big area to function.  Now they just have some employees supervising the system. Students were able to see the LuxSE operate at real time. Mr Wagner and Mr Malanda were impressed by the students and their knowledge creating a mutual respect between both. The whole visit lasted for two hours Public Home Page, Public News 2012-02-03T12:19:14+00:00 http://www.islux.lu/about/news-detail/building-futures/ http://www.islux.lu/about/news-detail/building-futures/ First Stone Ceremony of the new ISL Lower School Building Following the groundbreaking in April 2011, the International School Luxembourg (ISL) held its first stone ceremony of the new Lower School Building, an 18 831 m² structure, on the Geesseknaeppchen Campus on Tuesday 17 January 2012. With a current student population of 1078 students from over 45 countries, and faculty of more than 20 nationalities, ISL is the largest school in Luxembourg offering an education in English and offers the widest choice of subjects for the International Baccalaureate. Throughout the last 5 years, the school has experienced a surge in enrolment growing from 724 students to 1078 in this short period of time. ISL plans to continue accommodating the demand the international business community has for an English language education in Luxembourg. Tuesday’s largely symbolic event began with the ISL Director Chris Bowman and guest of honour, Finance Minister Luc Frieden addressing the audience. This was followed by the first brick laying with the assistance of two representatives of the Lower School Student Council. Of the 48,5 million euros total cost, the Luxembourg government is contributing 80% to this expansion project. Minister Frieden spoke of Luxembourg’s strong commitment to education saying that it is one of the most important investments a country can make in developing its own future. He also recognised the key role international schools play in helping to attract and retain foreign investors. He stated that this is necessary to the prosperity of the Luxembourg economy. About the new Lower School Building This is the second major endeavour in ISL’s ambitious campus expansion project. This newest project is dedicated to children ages 3-11 and located on the southwest corner of the Geesseknaeppchen Campus. The new Lower School complex will offer 37 new classrooms organised in small clusters as well as rooms specifically designed for arts, sciences, ICT and music. Larger spaces such as a library, cafeteria, a gymnasium and an auditorium with a capacity to accommodate up to 400 people are also part of the plan. ‘’It is a true state of the art learning facility of the 21st century following the outcome of the international tender’’, says Patricia Angoy, Lower School Principal. She emphasises that it has been a consultative process since then between ISL and the project manager Paul Wurth. ‘’All details are related to optimising the students’ learning as well as satisfying the demand of the expatriate and local community who seek English language education. As Minister Frieden said, it is a prerequisite to positioning Luxembourg in the different economic sectors.’’ Once the Lower School students have moved, the main building will be refitted so Upper School students will be able to exclusively use this building for their secondary school programme. This initiative is also included in the total cost of the expansion project. The new Lower School building will open in August 2013 enabling ISL to welcome some further 300 to 400 new students in addition to the number already enrolled. This will allow ISL to educate a total of approximately 1400 students in the near future. Public Home Page, Public News 2012-01-19T10:00:27+00:00 http://www.islux.lu/about/news-detail/isl-gives-back1/ http://www.islux.lu/about/news-detail/isl-gives-back1/ Thanks to the generosity of the ISL school community, over €4000 was donated last month to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). A percentage of these funds will go specifically to assist MSF with their efforts in dealing with the humanitarian crisis in Somalia, while the remaining funds will support MSF’s long-term efforts in other areas of the world. ISL’s Common Fund Supports Charitable Work A fact not well known, ISL regularly supports international charitable work through its Common Charity Fund, including educationally focused charity work in Moshi, Tanzania, which also includes annual student travel and hands on work in this area; grassroots educational efforts in Ethiopia via the NGO A-CET; as well as projects in Zimbabwe, Burundi, and Thailand. In addition to these regularly supported projects, a certain portion of funds each year are sent to internationally active organizations which operate during emergency times to aid in rescue and relief. In past years, ISL has sent money to the International Red Cross to assist their efforts in Haiti (2010) and earlier this year, to Japan, to support their emergency efforts immediately after the earthquake and tsunami. Public Home Page, Public News 2011-10-12T07:27:00+00:00