How Can CEU Become a More United Campus While Enriching The Experience of Its Students?

CEU has done an excellent job of educating local and international students both undergrad and graduate, but it is up to the students and student lead governing bodies to make sure that while in pursuit of individual goals, there are a multitude of other connection opportunities between students. 

Student interaction was never meant to be confined to peer to peer, it was always to include cross fertilization between schools intellectually, socially, and culturally.  The school has now evolved to a point to where it is creating the necessary infrastructure to support these type of initiatives in a way that will improve the quality of student connection, but more importantly, will bridge the gap that exists between the CEU main campus student body and that of the Business School.  Unbeknownst to most students the Business School is hosting its 24 cohort of full time MBA students which has 47 students representing 24 different countries.  It simultaneously has an Executive MBA program that has another 50 students which also represent the global community.  With almost 100 business students with impressive professional experience and professional influence its imperative that the Business Schools talents and resources are used to benefit the general CEU community and vice versa.  This will not only make for a better experience for students at both campuses, it will help to bind these long standing independent communities.

Another area of focus would be to integrate the alumni registry.  Although I think it very important to have alumnus targeted for B-school purposes, I also think that the ability to have access to possible leads and connections be afforded to all students regardless of the course of study.  Again, our school strengthens with shared communication avenues and opportunities.  With proper participation and organization an alumnus database that is driven by the user allows students to take responsibility for their future.....one contact at a time. 

Lastly, a premium needs to be put on interaction between not only campus, which was discussed earlier, but also between programs and courses.  This is no easy task as cross curricular integration and sequencing is very difficult, but it will be the academic centres that part-take in this dense realignment of courses and programs now that will be the schools of choice in the near future.  Unlike in recent history where courses and professions had the appearance of being very independent of one another, today's workforce has evolved and surfaced commonalities across professional strands. Although highly technical fields still require very specific and targeted knowledge and skill acquisition, their still exist elemental, conceptual, and technical similarities that permeates areas of    learning and/or professions.   

If these kinds of discussions with actionable items are prioritized in our present, CEU will be promised regional prominence with global recognition and its past and present students will become  its pipeline into the future.

Aswad Harris

MBA Student

2012-2013 Class Representative