The Great Globalisation

Lo siento, yo no hablo español.

Term 2 is complete - fin!  Finance projected, ethics pondered, people management mastered (to no degree whatsoever), and the macro economy hypothesised.  Macroeconomics was my favourite part of the course so far - a massive highlight.  I would have called myself an “economics enthusiast” prior, but now have a much fuller understanding - my news reading will be all the richer for it.  Cue a shameless plug for Cranfield’s recent rating among global MBA’s for economics - 2nd in the world, ahead of big like guns Harvard, Yale, Oxford and LBS.  But the purpose of this blog is not to talk about Keynesianism, Monetarism or the circular economy, so I’ll drop those terms and leave them there.

Now it just so happens that I’m en route from Seville (Spain) to Lisbon (Portugal).   An international trip is a pretty big deal for most Australians, probably more so than your average nationality.  And despite a preference for presenting a nonchalant, self-possessed aura of cool, under the surface I’m no exception.  International travel is amazing!  So what better time to focus on the internationality of the Cranfield MBA.

How international are we?  Well the cohort is an obvious place to start.  We are comprised of something like the following.

12 Indians

8 Russians

1 Portuguese

2 Lebanese

2 Turks

1 Cypriot

5 Chileans

4 Nigerians

1 Zimbabwean

1 Egyptian

1 Pakistani

1 Chinese (sadly under-represented)

1 American (gladly under-represented)

1 Japanese

1 Australian

1 New Zealander

1 Thai

1 South Korean

1 Colombian

1 Venezuelan

1 Uruguayan

2 Indonesians

8 Brits (who relentlessly fight for a more specific designation, usually one that explicitly excludes Wales)

Of course, I don’t really have anything against Americans.  It’s just fun to have a go at our one, Ben:

Then besides the cohort, there’s the teaching.  An Englishman, an Irishman, an Italian, an American, an Indian, a Nigerian and a German all walked into a lecture room…  That might sound like the start of a long winded joke, but in our case that’s the start of Strategy, Macroeconomics, Finance, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Accounting and Human Resources, respectively.  

And now the real sales pitch: the travel opportunities….  Living in the UK is something of a right of passage for Australians, and it’s well documented that it gives unprecedented access to amazing travel opportunities.  I won’t labour the point too much, but Chloe and I have spent weekends in St Albans, London, Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare), Bletchley Park (Alan Turing and the enigma code cracking), Oxford and Cambridge.  Head outside the UK and things just get better!  We’re in Portugal now and were in Spain yesterday.  Over Christmas we got to Prague and Vienna.  We head to Paris in May for a sort of MBA olympics.  In June I head to Zambia as part of the MBA, while others head to Sri Lanka, China or Japan.  Then in September it’s back to Australia (briefly).

And I’m still not quite done.  We also have optional Spanish and French classes for people keen on learning a second, third, or nth language.  I now regret giving up Spanish classes in Term 1 due to workload.  Still, with a bit of practice I can rally enough amateur Spanish to get myself into trouble.  “¡Buenos dias, señor!  Un jamòn y niño emparedados, con una botella de vino Rio Tinto, por favor.”

Adios, mujers y hombres.

~ Craig