At any age, your education is incomplete without global awareness
Aaron Gordon has been getting the education of a lifetime over the last seven months, but his “classroom” is more than 1,200 miles from Clemson University’s campus.
A junior majoring in civil engineering, Aaron has been overseeing efforts to provide clean water and sanitation to communities in Haiti’s Central Plateau as part of Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries.
The experience has given him a chance to put his book knowledge into practice. Just as important, it has allowed him to work in a developing nation and see how his technical expertise can benefit global society.
Aaron’s work in Haiti captures a key component of our plan to redefine engineering education at Clemson. We call the component “global dimension,” and it will ultimately ensure that the pipeline from Clemson to the workforce remains chock full of high-quality talent.
But students in any discipline – and at any age – ought to have some global awareness in their education.
The world is becoming more interconnected. People, information and currency move over borders with unprecedented ease and speed. As a result, changes for better or worse are no longer felt in isolation.
There are a lot of good reasons to become globally aware, but one is downright practical. It gives students, especially engineers, an advantage when it comes time to find a job.
Learning about the world and all its interconnections helps students come to appreciate the global context of local, state and national issues. In few places is that more important than in South Carolina.
A growing number of multinational corporations are making cars, tires, airplanes and other products in the state. What happens in Germany, France or Sweden, for example, could affect how professionals do their jobs in South Carolina.
And here’s another good reason to think globally: Some of the fastest-growing markets are outside the United States. Multinational corporations will need to dispatch engineers and other professionals to rising nations, such as China and India, to help build everything from roads to power plants.
So who will they send?
It can be tough to uproot a mid-career professional with a spouse, a house and a couple of kids in school. It can be even more difficult when the destination is a developing country with customs and language unfamiliar to most Americans.
But recent college graduates, who often have few attachments and a healthy sense of adventure, are often the perfect fit. That’s especially true when they already have some experience in the nation where they will be working.
Probably the most obvious way to learn about the globe is to travel the globe, but that isn’t practical for everyone. The good news is that social networks and videoconferencing can bring the world to the classroom and allow students to experience foreign cultures with ease.
The work that Clemson students do in Haiti again serves as a fine example. Students don’t have to live in Haiti or even travel to Haiti engage on projects for Haiti. As many as 90 students each semester work on projects from Clemson, and connect regularly with Clemson students in Haiti through Skype.
Whether it’s studied abroad or in a classroom close to home, global dimension provides context to education. The engineering students who are working in Haiti are learning not only how to become engineers, but why they should become engineers.
As part of their work, Clemson Engineers for Developing Countries installed the Central Plateau’s first chlorinated municipal water system in Cange, finishing in 2012. They have also installed a “biodigester” that processes potentially dangerous human waste, turning it into fertilizer for banana trees and methane gas that fuels stoves in a communal kitchen.
Those are powerful achievements for recent graduates to carry into their new careers. They are not only resume-builders, but also motivators.
More than about finding a job, global dimension instills a sense of global citizenship in students. Along with that comes a greater appreciation for diversity, human rights and the need to make sustainable decisions on a planet with finite natural resources.
And that makes a better world for all.
