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Since working in a Business School at a British University, one of the aspects of university life that has interested me is the development of relationships between the institution and the outside community. The relationships formed during joint projects typically act to develop and broaden the perspectives of all participants, especially those of the students involved.
One example of the above has taken place during the English 102 course entitled "Cross Cultural Analysis," which has been run within the Faculty of Academic English, BUSEL. One aspect of this course requires the students to identify a topic based on a number of cultural models, then to select an embassy in Ankara as a location for interviewing staff in order to research the topic and the national culture.
The central objective of the course is to develop the academic English skills of the students. This particular course encourages this by requiring students to discuss then construct research questions using complex concepts, engage in discussions with senior embassy staff with confidence, and later use their language skills to analyse the data collected at the embassy, deliver a presentation on the visit and write an individual research essay.
Over the past two semesters, small groups of students have undertaken cultural research at a number of embassies including those of Ireland, Nigeria, Sweden, Korea, the UK, Mexico, Italy, Israel, Malaysia, the USA and France, amongst others. In addition, embassy staff, including an ambassador, has visited us at the university to talk about the key aspects of their culture.
During such encounters, students have not only gained an insight into the complexities of culture, but have been able to both test and challenge arguments in their key texts, which are also brought to life during these encounters with embassy staff. The benefits of developing such relationships was best summarised by our much respected guest, the Ambassador of the Republic of Ireland, Tony Mannix, when he wrote the following words to the students after his visit to three combined classes at Bilkent University.
I have to say that I really enjoyed meeting you and the teachers and students.
It is an excellent project which gets right to the heart of international understanding. If similar projects were replicated in thousands of Universities, we would live in a better world.
I thought the students were very well prepared and asked many very pertinent questions which showed that they had gained considerable insight from their reading. Their enthusiasm for their subject was striking.
Wishing you the best of success in your continued work,
Yours sincerely,
Tony Mannix
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