In the framework of this forum people from all groups of Swiss population, including education, work together to help people understand the Federal Strategy on Information Society and to elaborate an easy reading guide on the subject.

The Swiss information service Swissinfo put together a dossier in English on parliamentary elections in Switzerland in 2007 - complete with background information, statistics, video interviews and election news.

Heidi Wunderli-Allenspach, the first woman rector in the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich explains her plans to reduce the first-year drop-out rate without lowering the quality bar and to encourage more women to take up sciences.

According to Microsoft, computer sciences teaching in Switzerland must be enhanced to produce enough high-quality graduates to meet increasing staffing demands. The ETH Zurich should team up with colleges to promote IT and attract more students.

The Federal Statistical Office states that between 1998 and 2004, rural communes lost around 27 per cent of new university graduates, whereas towns and cities gained between 19 per cent and 31 per cent more highly qualified young employees.

swissworld.org changes to a new format with a more user-friendly presentation and content. Its offer will be enhanced by alternative access and the Swiss Blog. The Swiss information portal for people abroad is run by Presence Switzerland.

The new OFCOM study "Costs of broadband services: comparison and evolution" states that over the five last years, the price of broadband internet connection in Switzerland has reduced by 39% and speed has increased by a factor of six.

Switzerland will soon have passed the one million domain name mark. SWITCH is letting the internet community participate in this event and is launching a competition with a total of 1 million centimes (CHF 10,000) in prize money to be won.

As missing children and child murders are rare in Switzerland, the disappearance of a five-year-old girl more than two weeks ago has led to much soul-searching over child protection in traditionally "safe" Switzerland.

Volunteers at the English Wikipedia and SOS Children have launched The Wikipedia Selection for Schools. It includes the best of Wikipedia as well as many thousands of pages of extra material specifically selected to be of interest to children.

Swissworld.org has edited an article on the current challenges the Swiss education system is facing. Switzerland is adapting its education system to keep pace with globalisation and growing partnership with other countries.

The Swiss government plans to support a childcare voucher scheme to help parents reconcile work and family life, according to the interior minister. At an estimate some 50,000 additional nursery places are still needed to meet the demand.

European Schoolnet, with the support of 28 European Ministries of Education, is organising the prestigious eLearning Awards. The theme this year is ‘Future School Now'. Invited are entries from primary and secondary schools in Europe.

Although church attendance in Switzerland is falling, religion has become an important factor with an increasingly large and more visible Muslim population. swissinfo's dossier takes a closer look at Switzerland's changing religious landscape.

Five years after joining the United Nations, Switzerland remains an active member and supports the pragmatic approach of the new UN secretary-general. But it is also aware of the UN's lack of clout when faced with its more powerful members.

The Swiss Olympiad in Informatics is a programming competition for young people under 20 years of age. Since 1996, the competition has been offering computer enthusiasts a platform to match their skills in programming - starting October 1st.

The proportion of Swiss graduates has more than doubled since 2000, but the figure remains well below the international average. Switzerland also came 31st out of 32 countries regarding the number of women on science and maths-based courses.

A new website gives Switzerland's foreign residents the chance to vote - albeit unofficially - in next month's parliamentary elections. The aim of the site is to show that foreigners are responsible citizens and should be granted voting rights.

The European Day of Languages, originally a joint European Commission/Council of Europe initiative following the European Year of Languages in 2001, is held annually on 26 September to celebrate linguistic and cultural diversity.

The two chambers of the federal parliament are at odds over whether English should be made the first foreign language taught at schools. Some of the cantons have used their autonomy over education to choose English over one of the national languages.