A while back I attended yet another symposium on the ever-popular theme of internationalization in education and employment. It was a high-powered event, with corporate backers, a classy venue and guest speakers flown in from abroad. The place was packed.
One speaker was an executive from one of the top research universities in the United States (and the world). I am working from memory, but he said something like this: "Every month I get visited by a delegation from China. Each one asks the same question: 'We have $10 billion and want to replicate [name of institution] in China. What should we do?' I give them all the same response: 'It's actually quite easy but you probably can't do it. Because you have to be willing to invest a lot of money in really talented and creative people and not tell them what to do.' "
The speaker was followed by a Japanese bureaucrat who talked about higher education. Again, I am working from memory, but he prefaced his remarks with a disclaimer: "I have never taught at or held a position of responsibility at a university, but in the course of my career I was appointed as vice-principal of a junior high school for three years."