Culture and Education
The Benelux leaflet «active and timely», published in September 2009, resumes all the actions and meetings realised by the different Benelux organizations these last years.
The educational field, on which I will mainly focus, seems to be concentrated on the amelioration of the transnational ways of doing business.
Culture is both connected and close to the business field; I think it is an important aspect.
Improving the different management styles through the Benelux countries and its main partners, France and Germany, has to be an objective for all the five countries.
Knowing and understanding the different management styles (which includes a better knowledge of the cultural and ethical aspects of each country) can be done through an exchange of graduated students in the management- and business fields.
The education section in the Benelux leaflet explains how universities in different parts of the Benelux have been working together, exchanging ideas and thoughts through the ION! International ONdernemen, a transnational entrepreneurial education programme on the bachelor (polytechnical) level. The programme is based on a productive cooperation between Antwerp and Breda, mainly working on the differences between the Dutch and Flemish ways of doing business.
To apply this kind of exchange to the level of Europe with a four-day exchange of students from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg is an ambitious first step towards a better understanding of the different ways of managing business in Europe. Once again, the Benelux could stand up as a pioneer, especially in the field of multicultural management.
Such an exchange has to be as complete as it can be, meaning:
• round table conferences with graduated students and professionals from all the five countries to :
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- set up a programme of amelioration of the management field
- find answers to current obstacles in this field
- understand, through the explanation of each student from each country, the ethical and cultural aspects of work in each country
- visits of different pioneering firms in the field of management
- conferences of psychologists, managers and culture professionals based on the idea of improvement of multicultural management
The main idea is that, at the end of the exchange, all graduated students from each country write their points of view and its evolution, thanks to the exchange programme, showing that they understand better the implication and respect of each other’s culture, in order to work all together for more satisfying working conditions in the management area.
Author: Julie Gamberoni
