The conference's origins suggest that St Gallen students were as earnest 30 years ago as they are today.

ECONOMIST: Study leave

This year's symposium, opening on May 25th, will be the 30th, which makes St Gallen as venerable as that more famous Swiss jamboree, the annual World Economic Forum at Davos.

ECONOMIST: Study leave

But a student is what he is, at St Gallen university, and one of the team handling the logistics of what claims to be the world's longest-running student-run management conference.

ECONOMIST: Study leave