In 387 B.C. Plato founded the Academia in Athens, Greece. It was one of the first universities in the world, encouraging its students to think particularly in the world of philosophy. In the modern world now, universities make it their primary aim to encourage their students to think. Education is in one way seen as a transfer of ideas from one generation from another, how a society’s culture is passed down. Yet this misunderstands human beings. Humans naturally think for themselves. No matter how hard certain concepts are drilled into people, they can still interpret them in different ways. One of the most incredible things about people is that they can understand each other despite this.
However this requires an understanding of the framework within which people are working. This is why we at Cambridge University Education Without Borders (CUEWB) feel that our work is needed.
CUEWB is a non-profit student association. It aims to share educational resources worldwide and break the barrier between educational institutions and industrial organisations. One of its major tasks is to organise forums and talks, which are given by prominent speakers of an international standing, for students not only in Cambridge, but also for those around the world. CUEWB is a young society but has already gained broad support from both inside and outside Cambridge University since its formation; now it strives to take this support and carry its message to the wider world.
The world is nowadays seen as global – mass-media spreads a universal commercial message. Yet this is a shallow way of looking at the world. McDonalds is seen as one of the world’s most global companies. However, when it began to emerge in the Asian market, it became a perfect case in point that the world will never be universal. The interpretation of McDonalds in China is different from that in America – McDonalds is seen as a local company as it sources a large proportion of its operation in Asia to local industry. The partners of each restaurant own half of the business. 95% of the food is produced locally. In Beijing, Aunt McDonald’s were introduced to place further emphasis on children, an area that has seen the company thrive. From its inception it was seen as a cleaner place to eat. McDonald’s arrived in China with a different ethos to that of its American chains, where the speed of the food is paramount. In China, McDonald’s is a more laid back place to go for students. McDonalds has had unbounded success – well over half of its profit now comes from outside of America. It has only been possible to do this by appreciating the differences in different cultures. Businesses must adapt to succeed.
Understanding this, it is clear that Western industries have learnt to understand differences in culture by breaking down the barriers between countries. However, now work needs to be down at a more fundamental. At CUEWB’s International Forum, a number of very distinguished figures from industry, including Mr Koichi Ikegami, Ms Myla Villanueva, Prof. Alan Barrell, Mr Rob Valli, Mr Yousuf Al-Mulla, and academia eg. Prof. Qixiang Sun will aim to break down the barriers the industrial and the academic worlds, to share their understanding of the new and interacting world with a new generation currently at university. Each of these speakers will bring to the Forum their own skills: Mr Ikegami is Managing Director of Nomura Group Headquarters Corporate Communications Department and Publicity Department, the largest investment bank and securities firm in Japan; Ms Villanueva was named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in the Entrepreneur of the Year program; Prof Barrell’s work has led him to becoming one of the first recipients of The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion and most recently, he has been appointed as International Advisor to Youth Business China; Mr Valli has served on many university boards and committees, including the Alumni Board of Directors for The Stanford Graduate School of Business, and he holds a Board seat at AIESEC-US, the largest non-profit international student-run organisation in the world; Mr Al-Mulla is an Associate at the Executive Council of the Dubai Government; Prof. Sun is the Associate Dean of Peking University School of Economics, Director of China Insurance and Society Security Research Centre. She is the first Chinese C.V. Starr Chair Professor (US) and holds the title of Aviva Chair (UK). She has been considered one of the most popular speakers among Chinese students.
In the long term, CUEWB is committed to organising activities that encourage innovation among young people. These will include student exchange programs, distance mentoring, and local workshops. However, this is not an easy task. The task starts here with the International Forum on 8 December 2007.
The world is not able to exist in small isolated clusters any longer; however it is also not suffering from American ‘consumer imperialism’. Industry has learnt this; now is the time to share it to students, to grant them vision and provide them with the means of action to guide the future.
