Dear University Colleagues, 

Give your master’s and PhD students a seat at the table with decision-makers

We are delighted to invite the graduate (master's) and postgraduate (PhD) students of your university to take part in the Global Ideas Competition 2027, hosted by the St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland.

It is a rare chance for students to put their ideas in front of decision makers and to join a global community of young talent and established leaders.

What is in it for your students?

The competition is much more than an academic contest. The top 100 participants are invited to spend a week at the St. Gallen Symposium as Leaders of Tomorrow, where they will:

1. Engage directly with global leaders on the most pressing challenges of our time.
2. Be recognised as Leaders of Tomorrow, with a platform to voice their ideas and contribute meaningfully.
3. Experience an immersive week in Switzerland with all expenses covered.
4. Compete for a prize pool of USD 25'000, awarded to the top three participants.

What makes the St. Gallen Symposium unique?

For more than 50 years, the St. Gallen Symposium has been a leading platform for intergenerational dialogue. Its format is deliberately different: students do not just listen, they lead the conversation. Young talent and established decision makers from business, politics, science and society meet as equals, and big ideas are born, challenged and celebrated.

This is not just another conference. It is an opportunity to stand out, to gain recognition and to leave a mark on the world stage.

The competition in brief

Participants respond to this year's theme, Conditional Partnerships, by proposing a concrete idea for how partnerships can work when trust, interests and conditions are not aligned.

Eligibility: Master’s and PhD students born in 1997 or later, from any university or discipline.

Submission: A Solution Brief of up to 1,000 words and a Video Explainer of up to 3 minutes

Selection: All submissions are reviewed by an Academic Jury

Reward: The top 100 participants are invited to the Symposium as Leaders of Tomorrow

Deadline: 1 February 2027

THE SECOND WAY IN

Global Leadership Challenge (GLC) 2026

Applications are open now. The GLC is a joint initiative of the University of Oxford and the St. Gallen Symposium. It brings together 100 young leaders from 80+ countries for five days of character driven leadership development and real world problem solving. In small teams, participants tackle one of three challenges set by our partners SwissRe and Schwarzman Scholars, guided by senior advisors.

When: 10 to 14 December 2026

Where: virtual, open to participants worldwide

Who can apply: current master's or PhD students, or young professionals aged 21 to 30

Deadline: 5 November 2026 (the application includes a short video of max. 40 seconds, so we recommend not waiting until the last minute)

Winning teams are invited to the 56th St. Gallen Symposium in April 2027 as Leaders of Tomorrow, with travel and accommodation fully covered.

How your university can help

We would be very grateful if your institution could promote the Global Ideas Competition, and the Global Leadership Challenge alongside it, to its master's and PhD students, for example through:

• your student newsletter
• emails to relevant programmes, faculties and doctoral schools
• messages in graduate and postgraduate group chats and student communities

To make this easy, we have prepared a ready to use promotion package with flyers, posters, videos and suggested texts for both programmes. Everything is available in the folder below.

Opens a shared Dropbox folder. No account needed.

Thank you for partnering with us in inspiring the next generation of leaders. We look forward to welcoming your students to Switzerland! 

Warmest regards from St. Gallen,

Your Leaders of Tomorrow Team

ST. GALLEN SYMPOSIUM

Postfach 1045

9000 St. Gallen, Schweiz

T +41 71 227 20 20

#Conditional Partnerships

www.symposium.org

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