"As someone who has studied and done research in Germany, France, the UK and now Luxembourg, what has always struck me is that you don't need to go to Asia to see different ways of working. It's quite interesting how a decision is prepared,” Jens Kreisel, rector of the University of Luxembourg, said in an interview. “Even just France and Germany have nothing in common. It's quite a constraint to bring together people from very different backgrounds. It's much more difficult than in a French or German university where everyone thinks the same way, but it's infinitely richer.”
Kreisel, needed just five minutes to give an example of cultural differences and their impact not only on learning but also on business. And on the importance of thinking bigger, much bigger, than just small Luxembourg.
Thierry Labro: Unlike its larger neighbours, Luxembourg is able to place students directly in an international environment, which has many advantages.
: We offer our students this international context, which is quite exceptional and challenging too. Everyone in Germany is panicking because they've run out of students. They say that the solution will come from international students, but that it's extremely difficult to get them on the course and that they don't know how to manage them. We know how to manage them. It's just a reality. We also have a diversity of generations. It's very funny. Today, five generations work together, or are professors, PhD students and students... It's important to take advantage of this as a source of inspiration because it will be the social reality of tomorrow. We're totally in tune with the country's image and I'd like to see this become an even bigger part of the university's reputation. Reputation is complicated for a university that is 20 years old, and we are working on it. But this diversity is key and it brings something else, another desire. People from Central Europe are more entrepreneurial than we are, but people from outside Europe are much more entrepreneurial. The desire to understand technologies, to take risks... We can learn a lot from them. I'm always sad to hear our young people say that they're going to the United States for El Dorado. I want universities to be more entrepreneurial, but that gives the impression of being many things at once. Yet everything is very closely linked. Being an entrepreneur, being interdisciplinary and being diverse are all things that come together at some point. Once again, this will lead to more women entrepreneurs.
Everyone agrees on the philosophy of diversity, but from an operational, pragmatic point of view, what does it mean?
It's not at all philosophical! On the contrary, it's about getting to grips with the day-to-day reality. Some cultures come to a discussion very well prepared, quite positive, but it’s very negative for decision making with other cultures, who come there to exchange before finalising a decision. Whereas the former are no longer mobile at all. They have a plan and they follow it. And they don't want to change it. Whereas the others are always ready to revise their plans in the light of new information. It's very positive to come into contact with these dynamics on a daily basis. When someone says 'I'm not sure I want to do that', it means 'it can't be done'. You have to be able to interpret it like that when you don't come from the same culture.
What are students like today? Are they more interested in work-life balance? In other ways than their parents or grandparents? Do they have the shortcomings that 'old people' attribute to them?
Young people are often disrespected. It's unacceptable! There are certain terms... Yes, it's different! They're accused of a lack of concentration? Yes, but when you see the extent to which they can multitask on the internet on different subjects, people of our generation could learn a lot. They have a lot of energy. If they pay a bit more attention to the balance between their personal and professional lives, it's because they're very intelligent. I wish I'd been capable of that myself when I was their age.
At the beginning of this interview, . Demographics that are very favourable to continents other than ours...
Demographics are very different from one part of the world to another. There will be a lot of people who are very, very keen to succeed. What is clear is that the average quality of universities in Asia and Africa is rising quite significantly. It's not difficult to make this idea objective.
European universities are falling in the rankings as the Asians rise, which is not the case for us. Not only will there be more students from both continents, but they will be better educated. There is a cream of the crop that we will have to manage to capture. They are difficult to spot because the universities still have heterogeneous levels. More trained people, with punch... We need to be able to identify them, attract them and be ready to integrate them. If you listen carefully to [the jobs agency] Adem, the majority of employers want employees who speak French. There aren't many Indians who speak French... We have a trump card to play. For me as rector, identifying and attracting them is a real issue. The number of applications to the university is rising steadily and I know that there is real talent out there. If we could do that and keep them, we would have done Luxembourg a service by filtering them. There is no shortage of talent worldwide. Not even well-educated talent. Nor talent that has energy and wants it.
Do we want to attract them and can we attract them?
We need an explicit national strategy, bearing in mind that these universities also need international recognition and therefore to forge partnerships to send students and give them a perspective. We're not going to target India. But why not Indian technological institutes? And not by saying that we're open, that we're collaborating... Luxembourg has always been pragmatic. It's impossible not to work together with our neighbours, friends and partners. There's no point in pitting communities, disciplines or technologies against each other.
Read the original French-language version of this interview