University leaders with HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich travelled from Switzerland to sign an education partnership with the Darden School of Business on May 27. HWZ Dean Jacques Bischoff and Urs Marti, vice chairman of the HWZ board, attended the signing ceremony. Bischoff said Darden was chosen "for its reputation for excellence." Jay Bourgeois, Darden's associate dean for international affairs, noted that Darden has had 14 partnerships with other international b-schools, but has been increasingly re-evaluating its strategic focus to partner with young, privately-endowed schools that follow a similar pedagogy as Darden, which utilizes the case method of instruction for MBA education. The newly-signed pact represents the first Darden connection to Switzerland, and will renew annually. Each year up to 60 HWZ students can visit Virginia and take advantage of Darden's world-class Executive Education offerings.