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Students study leadership in Singapore
Students participating in the SLIDE Program gather for a photo before leaving Singapore.
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“This program lets the students experience the world in a way that will provide them with meaningful exposure to learning and leadership in a global context.”
Seven UB undergraduates interested in learning more about student leadership in other cultures return to Western New York tomorrow after studying in the Far East as part of UB’s SLIDE (Student Leadership International Dialogue and Exchange) Program.
An initiative of the Division of Student Affairs, the aim of the program is to give students an opportunity to interact firsthand with counterparts in Singapore and learn about models of student leadership in other cultures. Student Affairs expects to offer such opportunities on a regular basis, with another program planned for July in Beijing.
UB worked with two international partners—the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU)—to organize program activities.
SIM, which hosted the program, partners on four UB undergraduate programs and one UB graduate program conducted entirely at the SIM campus. These programs currently enroll more than 1,000 students from Singapore and the surrounding region. Some of these students spend a semester or more at UB. For the past four summers, SIM also has hosted a six-week study abroad program on Asian business for UB undergraduates.
UB students attending SIM also participated in the SLIDE Program.
“The current challenge that faces UB is the need to educate its domestic students to help them both engage and, ultimately, thrive in the global community,” said Paul Yong, program development officer in the Office of the Vice Provost for International Education. “This program lets the students experience the world in a way that will provide them with meaningful exposure to learning and leadership in a global context. SLIDE offers students that opportunity to put their leadership skills into practice and to learn about leadership from another culture’s perspective.”
While in Singapore, the UB students gave a presentation on American leadership models to their counterparts at SIM and NTU. Other events included lectures on Asian management and leadership styles, cultural intelligence theory and a visit to the NTU Entrepreneurship Center and Heritage Center.
“The participants in this program are second- and third-year UB students who are recognized leaders in student government, student activities and campus clubs and organizations,” said Yong, who accompanied the students to Singapore along with Amy Wilson, associate director of UB’s Center for Student Leadership. “They are working with and learning from their international student leader counterparts to experience both the similarities and differences of the leadership challenges facing them and how they respond to those challenges. These students will learn about leadership paradigms within the context of different social, political, cultural and economic systems in Singapore."
The students from UB and Singapore also participated in a variety of field assignments and exercises designed to explore cultural differences and similarities, as well as team-building exercises.
“The program has been extremely beneficial in transforming the ways in which students think about Asian culture overall, and inspiring in terms of looking at a country that has undergone a transformation based on visionary leadership,” Wilson told the UB Reporter via an email. “The program has and will continue to open students’ eyes to thinking creatively and differently about ways in which people lead, as well as the process of leadership.
“Singapore is a shining example of how a shared vision, creativity and inspirational leadership can transform a nation,” Wilson added. “The students in the program, both from the U.S. and Singapore, have been actively engaging in dialogue about social, political and economic issues that will inform both their academic and professional aspirations.”
Stephen Dunnett, vice provost for international education, also supports the new program.
“Our office is delighted to partner with Student Affairs, the Singapore Institute of Management and Nanyang Technological University in conducting UB’s inaugural student leadership program in Singapore,” he says. “Student leaders will greatly benefit from an intensive engagement with leadership models and practices in Singapore, and from working with their Singaporean counterparts.”
UB students earn two credits for participating in the program, which also includes a project and presentation to be completed during the spring semester.
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