Since foundation of GYLA, many of tutors from the universities have also participated in GYLA online and offline programs. They not only organize and manage their groups from their universities, but also attend all sessions and make contributions to GYLA growth in terms of sharing their thoughts and voices about the impact of GYLA on youth’s performance and organizational performance, and feedback for GYLA to be improved in the future. They also submit their articles to GYLA Daily and GYLA social media. This is one of the articles written by professor Qing Zhang, tutor from Sichuan International Studies University. He attended eGYLA 2020 Summer Program.
Professor Qing ZHANG, Tutor from Sichuan International Studies University, 29 August 2020.
GYLA, short for Global Youth Leadership Academy, is a program to inspire and empower youth as agents of change and future leaders for a better world. How to do that? I want to share with you my ideas via interpreting GYLA in other ways.
International organizations, in many peoples’ minds, are far and unreachable. That’s right! Such organizations as the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Trade Organization are dealing with affairs that have the global impact. But not all international organizations are dedicated to tackling international issues. Some are concerned with the well-being of every ordinary person, such as Oxfam (a global anti-poverty organization) and Nature Conservancy (a global conservation group aiming at safeguarding land from over-development). No matter we are drawn to either type of international organizations, macroscopic or specialized, we are supposed to be equipped with lofty aim: serve all the people in the world. As is meant by the global vision, anyone aiming at becoming a leader for the future world needs to devise a strategy that covers the entire globe. This strategy may involve marketing, provision of goods and services, creating awareness on an issue, or anything else that is deemed beneficial to self and the entire global village.
To be gifted with lofty aims is far from being enough to be a future leader. What we are in urgent need is action. Globalization, set in motion by digital revolution, redefines the world in which things that were once spatially isolated are no longer temporally distant. According to Benno Werlen, UNESCO Chair on Global Understanding for Sustainability, “Globalization is demonstrating that actions can precede spaces. In other words, spaces are constituted by actions, not the other way around.” In 2020, COVID-19 changed the landscape of many industries, including education. GYLA, accordingly, has to change the way it can be implemented. Instead of inviting students to Turin, Italy, it shared all studies into online courses, thus giving birth to a brand-new learning experience—eGYLA. The learning style has changed, but the objective remains consistent—to empower young people to be systems thinkers, change-makers, social innovators and future leaders. That’s true to anyone who wants to be self-made heroes.
