Global connections. Making digital dreams a reality.
The cross-cultural way Australian university students are experiencing the future of business...
Imagine experiencing cutting-edge technologies shaping the future of business and philanthropy whilst exploring all Mumbai has to offer. Here Bronte Gooley – a recent Tata Consultancy Services New Colombo Plan graduate and current commerce student at the University of NSW – shares her experiences and how those lessons have shaped her vision for the future.
Myself, along with thirty other Australian students were sent over to Mumbai with the New Colombo Plan to work with companies from digital start-ups to global IT and fin-tech companies. This experience coupled with meeting students from India’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), offered new perspectives, new friendships and re-evalution of the role we play we can all play within the digital space.
As a young Australian working in digital marketing and a student at one of the nation’s top universities, I thought I would be well equipped to open up digital dialogue with the students of NMIMS India. Yet to my surprise big data, analytics, blockchain technology, artificial intelligence and digital security were terms comfortably integrated into the vernacular of most young Indian students. And amongst that comfort came a pronounced commitment to investing in their country’s digital future.
We collaborated with the students at NMIMS as student consulting groups to solve a real life business challenge for a digital startup in India. Working with these hard-working and motivated Indian students, quickly revealed a few things.
- A holistic view on digital integration makes sense. India does not limit the upcoming digital opportunities to any particular sector. They see the same digital capabilities being extended to health and medicine, agriculture and retail, with an objective to boost the country’s overall economy. Similarly, the ideas proposed by the students for a marketing campaign, took into consideration how digital marketing could improve other business functions like recruitment.
- Australia’s digital landscape is our digital future. The students of NMIMS were all digitally aware and well-informed about current trends, challenges and opportunities in technology. Some of the first questions I was asked when I got to Mumbai were “How do you think India could tackle data flow and digital security?” and “What do you think is the best data protection regime?” What we as Australian students can learn from this, is to be more invested in our digital landscape, and be committed to discovering the consequences digital transformation may have on the future of the Australian workforce.
Learning about the digital environment from the students’ perspective was educational and stimulating, but it isn’t just an emphasis on digital that overwhelms you. It is the immense weight placed on the value of education.
I was honoured to be invited into an Indian home, where the grandfather shared a pearl of wisdom with our Australian group. “Education is the most important thing. It is the only thing that can never be taken from you.”
The students we met in Mumbai have the most brilliant minds, yet with zero conceit. They are appreciative of their education and knowledge, efficient beyond belief given the resources they are provided, and they are visionaries dedicated to improving themselves and their communities. These values humbled our Australian group, and reminded us that we have everything we need to make our digital dreams a reality.
These collaborations are extremely important for both of our nations, in connecting each other through innovative thought, as the globe evolves digitally. And more importantly, we were able to unite with Indian students to create global friendships.
To learn more about how TCS works with the New Colombo Plan initiative, head here or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for news and updates on the 2019 program applications.
I was honoured to be invited into an Indian home, where the grandfather shared a pearl of wisdom with our Australian group. “Education is the most important thing. It is the only thing that can never be taken from you.”
The students we met in Mumbai have the most brilliant minds, yet with zero conceit. They are appreciative of their education and knowledge, efficient beyond belief given the resources they are provided, and they are visionaries dedicated to improving themselves and their communities. These values humbled our Australian group, and reminded us that we have everything we need to make our digital dreams a reality.
These collaborations are extremely important for both of our nations, in connecting each other through innovative thought, as the globe evolves digitally. And more importantly, we were able to unite with Indian students to create global friendships.
To learn more about how TCS works with the New Colombo Plan initiative, head here or follow us on Twitter and Instagram for news and updates on the 2019 program applications.
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2/3 + 1/3 paragraph + image
Paragraph habitant morbi this is a hyperlink et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Vestibulum tortor quam, feugiat vitae, ultricies eget, tempor sit amet, ante. Donec eu libero sit amet quam egestas semper. Aenean ultricies mi vitae est. Mauris placerat eleifend leo.
