Last week, I attended The New Work Era Summit hosted by The Atlantic. Although international education was not the main focus of the event, there was a short conversation about the need for employees to have a global mindset and cultural skills in addition to the more technical skills needed in today’s workforce.
During the summit, panelist Frits van Paasschen, CEO and president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., said that one of the biggest disadvantages of being a U.S. company is the lack of Americans who understand how to communicate in other languages or function in other cultures. Earlier this summer, the company relocated their headquarters to China for a few weeks – in no small part, he said, to improve the company’s global mindset.
Jeff Joerres, chairman, CEO, and president of Manpower Inc., another panelist at the summit, said that companies, “are all stewards of global capital,” and that this lack of globally-minded employees is a social-skill issue that needs to be addressed. Earlier this month, another executive from Manpower Inc. was quoted in a New York Times article as saying that although their clients can find workers with technical skills, those candidates “don’t have a global mindset or can’t work with people in different cultures.”
There is a national conversation taking place right now about the need to better prepare Americans for today’s global workforce, and how we can educate our way to a better economy, as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan put it at the summit last week. There is much-needed attention on promoting college access, increasing college completion rates, improving job training, and inspiring innovation. These are all very important things, but I would argue that there’s something missing in the conversation. For as often as I hear the word “global” as a descriptor for the economy or workforce (which is almost always today), I rarely hear that word carry over to conversations about educating students in preparation for that economy or workforce. At most, global education issues get a shout-out, such as the quotes from the business executives highlighted above that were part of a five-minute conversation within the five-hour event. If we are going to be successful in educating our way to a better economy, as Secretary Duncan and others are striving for, we also need to focus on how to provide students with greater access to an education that specifically nurtures critical global skills such as facility in a foreign language, an understanding of other countries and cultures, and the ability to function effectively in differing cultural contexts.
Add your view: Is your office part of a conversation on your campus about the need to better prepare students for success in today’s global workforce? Are you seeing a trend of increased interest among employers coming to your campus in hiring globally-minded graduates, as Fritz van Paasschen and Jeff Joerres are suggesting? If so, are you also seeing that translate to higher student interest in study abroad opportunities?
[...] the fact that the American workforce lacks a global mindset. Janice Mulholland argues in her piece, “Is Having a Global Mindset As Important As Technical Skills in Today’s Economy?” that the type of education needed to promote a healthier economy includes ”greater access to [...]
This is not an either or proposition. Never has been- and all the more so in today’s global economy. Multinational companies & multilateral institutions, international NGOs – all are looking for candidates who bring technical skills and competencies required for them to succeed in workplaces which transcend national borders and where managing interactions with individuals from different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds is the norm. K-12 students who may never be working abroad or with global organizations, need to be prepared for working and living at home in civil societies which are highly diverse and require tolerant and civil behavior when interacting in their local communities as well as at work. And needless to say, we somehow need to provide far larger numbers of college students –from more diverse backgrounds –with challenging opportunities for study, work and service abroad.
This article mentioned promoting access to education, striving to improve college completion rates, and providing more job skills and training for students. Yet, funding is being cut and international monies have also been slashed. Where can preparation for global workforce fit in if we don’t have enough financial support to prepare students for a community-based workforce?
Starr
While I get that it may be inevitable that educational programs see some cuts in light of the state of the economy, what I don’t get is why Congress doesn’t understand what they are doing to our citizens and the future of the United States. Budget problems are not just the problem of the United States. But somehow, the European Commission just increased their budget for educational programs by 73%! How is it that they get this and we don’t?!? Mind-boggling!
“Improving education and training and helping people acquire the right skills is crucial for meeting future job needs and fighting poverty”
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/857&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr
Great post, Janice. And great point, Sjokokos. It baffles me how parochial politicians can be. It’s like they’re obsessed with trying to use Band-Aids to heal a wound that need stitches.
I agree with you meritocracy man. Something needs to change for the future of this country.
Nice article and great replies! It completely baffles me that the powers-that-be can demand increased access, success and accountability from higher education institutions while cutting funding. On another note, with the Homeland Security Act, we have made it exceedingly difficult to increase the US population of international students, who at the very least, provide US students with some concept of how to work with people from varying cultures.
I think, unless you are studying International Business, there is almost no focus in US higher education in “critical global skills.” It may be wise, in our future, to integrate more aspects into our existing educational requirements.
Very interesting post. Speaking from the employer perspective, often times it is up to us to educate employees, formally and informally, to better understand and communicate with individuals from other cultures. I work in a hospital that serves a large diverse community of patients and employees. The biggest challenges we face are communication barriers, and understanding culturally sensitive views and beliefs when it comes to administering care.
I had not considered the benefits of a graduate with some of this knowledge and skills already in place when hired.
I work as a nurse and also as a university instructor, and I always include cultural diversity in the courses I teach. I believe that if we are really going to compete in the business models in America, it will benefit my students to have that knowledge of how cultural diversity permeates all of nursing. I think the issue I struggle with, is that other than this 1 class in my doctorate program, I have never been challenged this way before. Challenged to look beyong our society and see education as a global issue. It has been a wonderfullly rewarding journey, one that I plan to keep pursuing. Jen
[...] Is having a global mindset important? [...]
I think that helping students to function within different cultural contexts is critical but there is not much written on how to accomplish this critical step.
In this increasingly globalized economy it is very important that Americans understand and appreciate the differences in other cultures. It would seem that Americans generally expect for the “other” people to learn our langauge and and accomodate us…why aren’t we expected to reciprocate? That’s why I feel it’s so important to send our students overseas to begin learning how to interact properly within foreign environments.
This article discusses the importance of competitiveness in a global economy. As we engage in the development of creating opportunities for students to study abroad, I think the country is realizing the importance of international education as a means to making our citizens more successful when compared to other nations such as China. Studying abroad will help us curtail this issue.
For additional resources and ideas on this issue, see my Global career Compass blog at http://globalcareercompass.wordpress.com .
Marty Tillman, President
Global Career Compass
[...] need for a global education has become a national conversation, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has stressed the importance of preparing Americans for a global workplace. An Education Week blog [...]