Last week, the 2012 Global Employability Survey, exclusively in the hands of the International Herald Tribune, released its annual study of the world’s most employable graduates based on skills, personality, and the university he or she attended.This year, the survey ranked Georgetown 68th out of 150 universities internationally. Harvard and Yale University ranked first and second internationally, followed by University of Cambridge and University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Out of the top 20 universities ranked in this year’s survey, seven were American and five from the U.K. Peking University in China came in 11th place, and Tokyo Institute of Technology placed 14th. Other universities in the top 20 were located in France and Switzerland. The folks over at George Washington University didn’t make the cut this year or last.
Last year, Georgetown placed 54th. That survey, however, only included “hundreds” of “business executives,” whereas this year’s survey involved input from thousands of employers from a range of companies. While Georgetown dropped 14 spots in the past year, Boston University jumped 34 spots from 51st to 17th. The only Asian university that placed in the top 20 in 2011 was Japan’s University of Tokyo. In 2011, Peking University came in 129th, marking a rise of a full 118 spots in one year. The Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore jumped from 134 to 35th place in the past year, as well.
The survey is compiled by a French consulting firm, Emerging, and a German research institute specializing in recruitment, Trendence. Their methodology is to consult employers about which universities they tend to rely on for recruiting and hiring, as well as the qualities they find most desirable in young graduates, with 2,500 recruiters and 2,200 international chief executives and business managers asked to select their top universities.
Until this summer, Georgetown student David Schaffer (COL ’14) never thought he’d need to know how to say “flask” in Chinese. And no, this is was not his way to get to know Shanghai’s nightlife.
Schaffer spent the summer in China at Shanghai’s State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering in Fudan University, scrambling to learn scientific words in the Chinese language, to contribute to a research project on vaccine development for foot-and-mouth disease.
“It was probably the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.
He found the laboratory through Georgetown professor Steven Singer, who had contacts in China working on the infectious and often fatal foot-and-mouth disease.
He felt motivated to join the project based on his studies at Georgetown in the Biology department. “The Biology and Global Health major allows you to do both communicable and non-communicable diseases,” Schaffer explained. “I think the communicable part is interesting, like infectious diseases and viruses.”
As part of the Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies’ annual ANZAC event, New Zealand’s Ambassador to the United States, Mike Moore, addressed his nation’s role in international economics and politics, despite its small size and geographical isolation.
“We are not isolationist, nor are we neutral to the great events changing the world,” Moore, a former director-general of the World Trade Organization, said.
Like other nations, we will base our decisions on our engagements, values, interests, and limitations. Having said that, we do not live in a vacuum. Nations are not NGOs; you cannot project and protect your values and interests without the cooperation and understanding of others. This has always been so.
Small nations need rules-based systems more than great powers, and the law is the great equalizer. We know there are great costs to the dangerous paths of soft, populist isolationism, and the dangers inherent in both an economic and political sense. The two are intertwined: economic isolationism makes us all poorer. Globalization is not new: its not a policy dreamed up by Wall Street or our debtors. Globalization should not be demonized or idealized.
Moore cited two primary examples for New Zealand’s international engagement: its worldwide military history and its relationship with China.
For its military history, Moore catalogued all the wars New Zealand has been involved in in its history (i.e. almost all of the United Kingdom’s wars, plus a few extra). In World War I, Moore said, 47 percent of Kiwi men fought, with a casualty rate of 58 percent. In World War II, New Zealand helped the British in the Battle of Britain. This July, New Zealand is inviting back US Marines who were stationed on the islands 70 years ago during World War II, as the nation’s guests of honor.
“This is my first scandal…as they say, if you’re going to go, go big.”
Yesterday evening, American monologist and author Mike Daisey spoke at Georgetown’s Lohrfink Auditorium in defense of his allegedly fabricated stories featured in an episode of National Public Radio show This American Life. The episode in question was devoted entirely to Daisey’s stories from a monologue called The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,about the exploitation of workers in a factory in China that makes Apple products.
Since the episode’s retraction on Friday, this is the first time Daisey addressed a public audience to defend and apologize for his alleged misinformation. After opening remarks by the Kalmanovitz Initiative’s Executive Director and Georgetown history professor Joseph McCartin (who quipped that recent events in Daisey’s work have “brought a whole new meaning to the term March Madness”) and Research Director Jennifer Luff, Daisey set out to explain his rationale to an audence of almost 400 people- confused and frustrated Daisey enthusiasts, labor activists, and people who, as Daisey put it, “had no idea what the hell was going on.”
The TAL episode, titled “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory” elicited widespread response— people protested outside Apple stores,and the questionable working conditions began to receive more attention—as Luff put it, “the power of Daisey’s story struck a nerve.” The night before the KI event, Daisey performed the last showing of his production in New York and received a standing ovation.
Yesterday, while Daisey apologized sincerely, he stood firmly by his work:
I cannot tell you how many tech journalists I talked to about this, I told them go, it’s your story. I was naïve, and I learned a lot about how media works. I wanted the story to live. I wanted it to reach people, I wanted it to touch them, and I wanted it to shake them awake. I didn’t do the right thing, but I think having that story in the air in front of millions of people was right.
For the last three years, Georgetown professor Phillip Karber, with his undergraduate students, assembled a lengthy study concerning China’s stockpile of nuclear weapons.
After a Washington Poststory published two weeks ago suggested that Karber and his team would conclude that China may have as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads, fierce criticism of the study emerged from the nuclear arms-control community.
Although the study reveals much information about China’s secretive development of what it calls their “Underground Great Wall” to protect its nuclear arsenal, Karber’s claim that China may have 3,000 nuclear warheads has been the statement that has brought widespread national and international attention to the study.
In a presentation at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs Wednesday, Karber defended the study from its detractors. Karber asserted that when the study is released, it will be clear that they make no claim about the size of China’s actual nuclear stockpile. “People are going to be terribly disappointed because it does not reference how many nuclear weapons China has. I found no conclusion on that,” Karber said at GW.
However, Karber did admit that he was the source for the high number: “Lately, me shooting off my mouth and saying ‘Well, they could have 3,000’ has created a lot of controversy. My purpose on this report had nothing to do with estimating the Chinese nuclear stockpile.”
During the lecture, he emphasized that the undergraduates’ research was “good, old-fashioned, empirical academic work.” However, one of the principle frustrations of several nuclear arms experts is how Karber and the Georgetown students used primary sources. At the GW presentation, Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury College, criticized a slide, pictured here, that depicts the increase in the number of Chinese nuclear warheads over the past forty years as well as a prediction of its current stockpiles.
Last night, the Lecture Fund and the International Relations Club hosted a spirited discussion entitled “Striking the Balance: How Should American Universities Engage the Chinese Government?” Provoked by a recent Voice feature (Full Disclosure: Perry is the author of this feature) that detailed the University’s growing relationships with Chinese government institutions, the event became an evaluation of the history of modern Chinese human rights and a debate over the ethics of the University’s efforts in China.
In a discussion moderated by Father Stephen Fields of the Theology Department, the panelists were Wei Jingsheng, a prominent Chinese dissident who was exiled for his pro-democracy activism, Ciping Huang, the Secretary General of the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition who also served as Jingsheng’s translator, T. Kumar, the Director of International advocacy for Amnesty International USA, and Professor Thomas Banchoff, the Director of the Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs.
The most contentious part of the dialogue concerned Georgetown’s response to China’s denial in 2008 and 2009 of University professor James Millward‘s visa requests. Kumar and Wei disagreed with Banchoff over the University’s position on academic freedom and China.
Kumar criticized Georgetown for strengthening ties with China after Millward was denied a visa, advocating a “red lines” ethical stance.
“Georgetown maintaining it’s relationship with China after they deny the visa of a professor here,” Kumar said, “It’s an insult to Georgetown itself.”
Featuring representatives from 24 prominent Chinese universities, the CSC hopes to encourage more students to study abroad in China by providing information on programs for bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, Ph.D.s, and senior scholars, as well as scholarships and language programs.
The China Scholarship Council is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education with the mission of “strengthen[ing] the friendship and understanding between Chinese people and the people of all other countries” by developing educational, scientific, technological, and cultural exchanges.
This is one of two China-related events going on this week on campus. The other one, a panel discussion tonight in McShane entitled “Striking the Balance: Georgetown’s Engagement with China,” focuses on the morality behind Georgetown’s relationship with the country.
Yesterday evening, President Jack DeGioia and Vice President of Student Affairs Todd Olson sat down with campus media to answer any questions they have at the start of the 2011-2012 academic year. We would like to thank all of our commenters who responded to our call for suggestions. Be forewarned, they had a lot to say:
DeGioia: Let me say some key things that shape the way I think about things at the start of this year. First it’s [been] an extraordinary opening to this year. Just a week ago the walls were shaking here in Healy Hall, which was a first experience [for me]. My immediate reaction was, “Who was rehearsing upstairs in Gaston?” We recognize that we experienced something unprecedented. Then we anticipated the arrival of Hurricane Irene, and I felt so pleased with the way in which our whole university responded—from our emergency response team to the residence hall staff to the families who were all affected in one way or another. As you know we had to move our convocation from Sunday to Tuesday and make other adjustments along the way. But it was inspiring to watch the way in which everybody responded.
I have the chance to teach an Ignatius seminar in the College this fall, and had a chance to start this morning. I think we’re fully launched for the start of the year.
I’m welcoming a bunch of new leaders to the university at this time. I had a chance yesterday at the Mass of the Holy Spirit to welcome four of them. There’s Fr. Kevin O’Brien, who has served at the university for the last three years. He took over as Vice President for Mission and Ministry and I’m really pleased about that. Kevin’s an alum of ours. He came here during his undergraduate days so I feel we’re in very good hands in Campus Ministry with Kevin’s leadership. Fr. Joe Lingan joined us as the new head of the Georgetown Jesuit Community, and he came to us this past year from a high school from right across town where he was the principal. Fr. Lingan is a wonderful addition to our Georgetown community. Rachel Gartner joins us as our new rabbi, and she just came to campus in the last two weeks. And then there’s somebody who has been with us for a while but took on a new role as head of our Protestant ministry and that’s Rev. Bryant Oskvig.
Since news of the Hoyas’ brawl in an exhibition against the Bayi Rockets broke early Thursday morning, the story has spread to all corners of the media, from the New York Times to Deadspin to World News with Diane Sawyer. This afternoon, however, the throwdown in Beijing has finally hit the big time, with Taiwan-based Next Media Animation producing one if its famous cartoon news reports on the incident:
Update 5: John Thompson III, Jason Clark, and Hollis Thompson met with the Bayi Rockets coach and two players on Friday. According to a press release, it was an “amicable gathering.” Also, Vox received confirmation from Georgetown Sports Information Director Mex Carey that the Hoyas will not be playing the Rockets again on Sunday. That game was changed even before the two teams met on Thursday, although the schedule was not updated until afterwards. Sunday’s opponent will be the Liaoning Dinosaurs.
Update 3: Eric Cheng (COL ’13) was at the game and sent Vox an account of what he saw.
Update 2: Sportsgrid has obtained video of the brawl, which is posted after the jump.
Update: The Washington Post‘s Gene Wang, who is in Beijing with the team, has a complete story on what went down.
After touching down in China on Saturday, the Georgetown men’s basketball team’s two week tour of the country got off to an auspicious start with a number of cultural excursions and an exhibition victory over the Shanxi Dragons, complete with visit from Joe Biden. However, things took a turn for the worse in their game Thursday against the Bayi Rockets.
The game, which began at 5:30 p.m. local time in Beijing (5:30 a.m. ET) ended abruptly in the fourth quarter after a fight broke out on the court and fans began throwing bottles at the team, according to the Washington Post’s Gene Wang.
Accounts of the game have been appearing online from Georgetown supporters who were there in Beijing, including a lengthy account originally posted on Hoyatalk. Chinese language site SINA also has a recap of the game, along with a gallery of pictures (including the one of Jason Clark in this post) that make it clear this was no small altercation.
“Tonight, two great teams played a very competitive game that unfortunately ended after heated exchanges with both teams. We sincerely regret that this situation occurred,” head coach John Thompson III said in a statement released after the game. “We remain grateful for the opportunity our student-athletes are having to engage in a sport they love here in China, while strengthening their understanding of a nation we respect and admire at Georgetown University.”
The competitive nature of the game has been called into question by the fan accounts of the game posted online. On Hoyatalk one poster described the officiating as “comical,” with increasingly questionable foul calls, to the point that the Rockets were shooting free throws nearly every time down the court heading into the four quarter. Based on updates from the official HoyasinChina Twitter feed, it appears that the Hoyas were leading or tied for most of the game despite the officiating.
The Bayi Rockets are a member of the Chinese Basketball Association, but they are affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army. All Rockets players serve in the PLA. The Hoyas are scheduled to play a rematch against the Rockets on Sunday in Shanghai. There’s no word yet on the status of that game.
Vox Populi is the staff blog of the Georgetown Voice, Georgetown University's weekly newsmagazine. Opinions expressed in posts are those of their author alone unless otherwise stated.
Last week, the 2012 Global Employability Survey, exclusively in the hands of the International Herald Tribune, released its annual study of the world’s most employable graduates based on skills, personality, and the university he or she attended. This year, the survey ranked Georgetown 68th out of 150 universities internationally. Harvard and Yale University ranked first and second internationally, followed by University of Cambridge and University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Entries (RSS)