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The Globalisation
of Learning
The Role of Computing & Technology Students in the New Economies of the Future

There are few issues that have gripped the international youth population as passionately as that of globalisation. From writers such as Naomi Kline, whose anti-global thesis ‘No Logo’ has topped the bestseller lists across Europe and beyond, to the streets of Seattle four years ago where young protestors confronted the corporate face globalisation, it is clear that feelings are running high.
Against this backdrop there has been another movement quietly taking place and gathering momentum within UK universities – that of the globalisation of learning. Far from the sinister overtones that seem to cloak the popular concept of globalisation – which links the exploitation of low-paid labour and multinational greed – the globalisation of learning is beneficial to those who participate. It increases the potential of the individual to improve their quality of life, and that of their home communities, through the improved knowledge and income that is derived from the ability to harness computing and technology and integrate within other cultures.

The remit of universities is about learning as a whole, not just that which is confined to the lecture theatre or the computing and technology lab. UK universities are looking for new markets, and international students do contribute to their income, but universities are first and foremost looking for students who add value to their academic communities and grow through the experience of studying overseas. Computing and technology faculties embrace the personal and philosophical journey a student makes through living and studying in a different country, as well as the technological and academic journey.

Those who teach computing and technology are in the business of globalising intellectual
capital. The vision they have is of a global community of academically proficient individuals with technological expertise, able to work in any number of cultures and add value to the diverse communities and organisations that they work within. Paradoxically, with the growth of computing and the harnessing of diverse technologies, the world appears to get smaller, but those who have the most seem to get more and those with the least get even less. Universities such as De Montfort in the UK want to arrest this process by offering possibilities beyond what individuals might ordinarily expect within their own localities.
There is no reason why intellectual and technological ability should be confined to specific economic and geographical areas; indeed, technology must be harnessed to transcend these barriers.
The academic community want people to invest their intellectual capital back into areas where it is most needed. It is international students that are at the vanguard of a formidable force – a combination of both technological knowledge and cultural understanding. It is this that they ultimately ‘learn ’ from studying in a different country.

Universities such as De Montfort University are in the business of helping individuals push boundaries. Like the global companies the Seattle protestors confronted, universities are in the ‘growth business ’, but their business is intellectual growth, not corporate greed. Universities sow the seeds of international understanding and development through cultural exchange rather than cultural imperialism through the corporatisation
of cultural meaning.
Global problems need global solutions. Who would be better placed in the future to solve
these problems than those who have lived, studied and worked in cultures other than their
own? Where cultures collide with little understanding, there are often terrible consequences
for all of us. The intelligentsia of the future will need to tackle this issue head on if we are to
progress to a more stable global political and economic environment. This is the challenge
that we lay at the feet of students who choose to study computing and technology internationally. They carry our greatest global aspirations – not only for today, but in the uncertain future of tomorrow.

From an even more pragmatic stance still, it is ultimately global trade that dictates prosperity. The debates that have raged in Cancun recently show how vitally important trade is to the global economy, and how very divided humanity actually is about generating and sharing prosperity. Universities embrace the idea that the understanding and communication required between cultures to share prosperity can only come through the globalisation of learning. With the apparent failure of global political and economic systems to find a way forward, it perhaps falls to universities and international students to lead this philosophical, technological and political shift in consciousess.

While universities could take the short-term view and see international students as simply
generators of revenue ¨C this would be shorter mism at its worst ¨C their real purpose lies in the need to harness technology to change the world order. They are the technological revolutionaries that make a stand against barriers; the people who push the boundaries beyond even what they think is possible. If just one succeeds, the universities of the world will have completed their real task.