Well done this year and Happy Christmas

A big thank you to all who have helped to turn 'Let’s Build Bridges' from a nice idea into a serious project! We all agree that young people should be given the best possible opportunities to build careers – this after all is the purpose of every university, college or academy ever founded.

But student-Alumni networking is an important part of this process that is still unfulfilled. Everything I have been told by people so far, has confirmed that there are still gaps to be bridged. Students of every profession at every university should be connected directly online with the professionals (Alumni) of that industry, and Birmingham University is the ideal place to get started.

For this reason, I have started Let’s Build Bridges as a project to bring together the people who can get the ball rolling. While it may seem like a long time has passed, members of both this group and many others have come forward with some remarkable insights, into the challenges facing student-Alumni networking. They have also brought me some intriguing strategies and methods to overcome these challenges, which I intend to put into action from 2014.

We are now at the research stage, finding out what the students want, what form online connections must take; and most importantly, how to bring them about. There will be many changes, as the project evolves to deliver the desired outcome. I agree with the majority of views so far, that we should concentrate our efforts on one campus, start small and then build on thus achievement. We will find ways to improve student-Alumni connections, build new ones, and use this as experience to make even more.

20 or 30 years ago, this level of online interaction between students and Alumni would have been impossible. Students’ exam commitments, Alumni work commitments, and people’s family commitments have always made it hard to arrange face to face meetings, or even telephone conversations at a time convenient to both students and Alumni. Therefore, from what all volunteers to this project have confirmed so far, social media is still the most flexible means to allow both students and Alumni to interact effectively. People have often told me that to provide student-Alumni networks for all would be a 'massive undertaking' which indeed it is. But I've known too many young people who were denied their shot at something better; and too many adults who look back and regret what might have been. Now is the time to act, and do something about it.

In the face of difficulty, it is easy to do nothing. But had the founders of The Sanctuary Group (my employer) thought this when they wanted to start 'The World of Property Housing Trust,' in 1969, several thousand homes, and professions today would not exist. And I will use The Sanctuary Group as an example. A critic could say that you can’t possibly house all of the homeless, or that you can’t possibly help all of the vulnerable: there are endless numbers in needs of help, and providing care and homes for all would not be achievable: so why even bother? I am sure that my colleagues have heard this many times: for every person we help, there always seem to be more who need it. There are indeed many serious challenges to helping the vulnerable and homeless: the financial and legal obligations alone would seem staggering to the average member of the public. 

But this has not stopped us from trying. Every day, the people I work with face astronomical challenges to keep the process going. My colleagues are among the most tenacious people I have yet known. They work flat out, to solve overwhelming problems, and often put in extra time to make sure they are deal with. Yes, at this time, we may not be able to house physically all of the homeless, or provide care for all of the vulnerable. But 95,000 isn’t a bad start, and we expand every day to keep doing more.

By the same logic, I say that the challenges facing young people’s opportunities can be overcome. Although this project is my own personal initiative, it is certainly inspired by the work of others.With the academics and business people involved in the project's networks alone, we can build the first few bridges, and start the process going. Once people realise that there is a way to connect students and Alumni effectively, they will follow our example, and the process will go viral, eventually spreading to every place of higher education, and for every profession.

In the meantime, well done for all your work this year, and have a well earned break. We'll resume in earnest come January.

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Best Wishes,

James M

Founder and Project Coordinator

       

Dewey Decimal System

When the time comes we will need to decide how subjects and topics are to be divided. For example, would we class Japanese and Chinese studies under one 'Language' network, or allocate a separate one for each?

Also, many skills cross over into different subjects. Topics such as Gaming Design may involve both computer programming and designing skills.

For these reasons, a basic layout of subject areas needs to be in place, to group the different schools by network and a good starting point would be the Dewey Decimal System.

This time honoured library classification system will be the ideal basis for deciding which subjects will go into which networks, and I would like to propose it as the long term guide, when the classification of networks needs to be decided.

Opportunity: The Need for Networks

As part of a larger article to follow, I would like to sum up why it is so important for us to support and develop opportunities for young people.

Right now, our economy in the UK is not doing well. Although we have recovered some losses from the recession, and the Coalition government have tried, we are still facing a lot of setbacks. Cuts are being made to local council services. Energy bills are rising. Wages are falling. The most talented members of our workforce are migrating or emigrating to find work abroad, and many nationals from Romania and Bulgaria among others, will soon compete for jobs on the UK market. Times are tough and the pressure is on.

As I look around, I see people getting on with their lives, and trying to enjoy what they have. Festivities are all around for Christmas, and for a while at least, people may forget their troubles. But the question still hangs in the air: what about the future?

We are all worried what is to come. With fewer jobs, lower wages, higher bills, and an endless rise in global competition, rebuilding our economy seems a hopeless situation. Where do we even start? People may ask. We don't have the funding, our expertise is challenged from abroad, our industries outsourced or downsized to cope.

And it is young people who will be hit the hardest. The next generation will be denied the opportunities for good careers, and will either move abroad, or give up altogether. We can't let this happen.

However, we are obviously not going to kick-start the economy with money alone. Funding is tight in even the best of projects, and cuts will have a knock on effect. Growing competition from Brazil, Russia, China and India, makes the building of more factories and infrastructure harder to do.

So where do we start? First things first: we need to network. Get the smartest, most successful members of each industry around the same table to discuss things, and they will set the process in motion. Guilds and Think Tanks have been used in the past, and for the 21st Century, we should take this to a digital level

If the students and Alumni of each profession were put into the same online networks, and the networks organised in the right way, this would ensure knowledge transfer in every part of the business and academic sectors. It would lead to new developments and ideas, as the students of a profession, the professionals in the field, and the retired veterans of that profession would share their knowledge. Developments would come form all points of view.  This in turn, would lead to new enterprise, and ultimately, to jobs.

Though student-Alumni networks may not seem the most effective way to face the Recession, let's remember, that it was the right combination of academic insight and business acumen during the 18th and 19th Centuries, which led to the Industrial Revolution, here in Britain. We did it once, we can do it again. Networking is the way forward. If it's who you know, not what you know, then we should build more, and effective, networks to make it happen.

For the sake of a whole generation of young people, let's do this.