The inaugural Global Leader Experience program had given more than 100 students from the Western Sydney University unprecedented insights and leadership development.
According to a recent report, the program provided the students an opportunity to put their creative ideas into practice by tackling the challenge of making smart cities inclusive.
Leadership program
The Global Leader Experience is part of the University’s ground-breaking work to transform its curriculum through the 21C Curriculum Project, which reimagines the approach to teaching to meet the opportunities and challenges of the current century.
Today’s students need multifaceted skills to succeed in the workforce, and education pathways are changing as a result of the intersection of social and economic movements around work.
The Global Leader Experience is one of the new 21C Curiosity Pods that allow students to quickly upskill in emerging areas of learning and leadership.
It is an example of a cross-sector partnership as it demonstrates the meeting of minds from public, private and not-for-profit industries and aims to help advance the community of Western Sydney.
With the University as an anchor institution, the Global Leader Experience, through a mentored, immersive experience, offers students an innovative and inspiring way to engage with authentic problems to design ideas and strategies that may have real social impact.
Benefits for students
Designed and delivered through a partnership with global leadership organisation, this is the first time the innovative leadership program has come to Western Sydney, being held at the University’s Liverpool campus.
The four-day program brought together leading experts, organisations and businesses from across the Western Sydney region.
According to Western Sydney University’s Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Global Leader Experience allows students to develop their cultural intelligence while creating innovative ways to deal with the smart cities challenge from a Western Sydney context.
The students are connected with their local communities and businesses and are powerful agents for change.
Innovative experiences like these transform the principles that the students learn in the classroom into the building blocks of the future cities.
As future leaders of their communities, the first group of participants have shown great curiosity and strong understanding of both local and global smart city issues.
Apt location
Liverpool Mayor Wendy Waller said she was proud to be involved in the project, which offers participants insights from leading experts, organisations and businesses from across Western Sydney.
She added, “Students from Harvard and Oxford have undertaken this program. It’s great to see Western Sydney University bring this opportunity to South West Sydney.”
Liverpool is the perfect city to explore ideas around cultural intelligence since the residents come from 150 different backgrounds and speak 140 different languages.
The unique opportunities presented by diversity and inclusivity are crucial to the University’s commitment and partnership with community, government and industry.
