King’s, Turkish Students Dialog about Culture and Business
The King's College had the privilege of hosting students from Bilkent University, the leading private university in Ankara, Turkey, for a conference on cultural norms in business and marketing.
The Spring 2015 semester began with a cross-cultural feast. The King’s College had the privilege of hosting a cohort of fabulous students from Bilkent University, the leading private university in Ankara, Turkey.
The 16 Turks journeyed to King’s for the purpose of co-sponsoring, with King’s students, a five-day conference focused on cultural norms in business and marketing (very cool). Students from both colleges delivered scintillating presentations on topics such as: the global video game phenomenon’s effect on culture, cultural influences in Turkish marketing, and contrasts between American and Turkish culture.
One morning, teams of King’s and Bilkent students visited corporations to interview influential CEOs about how they lead their companies. In the evenings, King’s and Bilkent students shared meals together, toured the Financial District and the Met, and even went ice-skating.
This King’s-Bilkent interchange is the fruit of a five-year relationship. In 2011, pioneering King’s students started traveling to Bilkent to engage in economics roundtables with their Turkish peers. In 2012, Bilkent students began traveling to King’s for the same purpose. This back-and-forth reciprocity has been sharpening for students from both institutions. Annalise Bourgeois (Business ’16) shares, “Working with Turkish students showed me that, even though we are from different places, we wrestle with the same concepts—even things like how to find a job and do it well.”
King’s and Bilkent students have enjoyed forging friendships across cultures. Beliz Atalay, a Bilkent senior who has taken part in the past three conferences, notes, “We are always excited to come to NYC, but we have our best time when we are at King’s, learning together along with American students.” Carly Calhoun (Media, Culture and the Arts ’15) echoes that sentiment. For her, the best part of the exchange, “is seeing returning Bilkent students and King’s upperclassmen greet each other like old friends.”
This May, another team of King’s students will journey to Ankara to continue the Turkish-American dialog. This is more than cultural tourism. These experiences train students to be global citizens who care about the issues confronting our world.
King’s alumnus Sam Tran (Politics, Philosophy & Economics ‘14) participated twice in the King’s trip to Turkey and three times in the Bilkent-King’s conference in NYC. Sam views these experiences as a crucial part of his education. “What use were the ideas I learned in the classroom if I didn’t bring them into the marketplace and learn from those who disagree with me? To this day, these conversations bring life to the news I read and shape the ideas I discuss.”