When I was first approached about getting involved in The Global Fellowship, I was intrigued. I’m the Director of the Brazil branch of Cambridge University Press, based in São Paulo. We’ve had some pretty interesting requests for work experience placements over the years, but none quite like this!
The Fellows take to the water
I looked into the programme, and soon realised that this was an amazing opportunity – not only for the Fellows who would be spending time in Brazil, but very much so for my team too, not to mention the various partners we work with: teachers, students, booksellers and distributors. The six weeks the Fellows were to spend over here looked incredibly rich, and by the time they would reach us for their two week placement, they’d have been immersed in the language and culture, taking an intensive language course, visiting sites of historic importance, living with local families – this wouldn’t be any normal work placement for us either.
I first met our group a few weeks before they travelled over, at the head office of Cambridge University Press in the UK. They were the brightest and the best: intelligent and ambitious, of course, but also brimming with enthusiasm and incredibly proud that they’d been selected from hundreds. They couldn’t wait to get started.
São Paulo is an amazing placement – a beautiful, vibrant, ambitious city, with a huge appetite for education: the perfect place for Cambridge University Press. The fact that we’re an educational publisher, that we have such close links with schools, meant that the work the Fellows were doing with us was not a million miles away from their own recent experience – they could relate very well to the classrooms we visited and the students they played football with in the streets. As for the students, they loved spending time with the Fellows, hearing about British life and culture from people not much older than them.
We didn’t leave it there, though – we took them through the whole operation, visiting the docks to see books arrive, the warehouse to see how orders and distribution are managed, the schools to hear what teachers and students want. Back at the office, we didn’t want to waste their enthusiasm on photocopying – we had them organise one of our key promotional events, a Cambridge Day, when hundreds of teachers gather to discuss new developments in English Language learning and teaching.
The most frequent comment I have heard about this experience from the Fellows’ perspective, is that it’s a life-changing and inspiring opportunity, something that gives them a truly unique insight into another country, its people, its history and culture, its commercial potential. Of course I’m glad we were able to be part of this experience (and I’ll hope to see some of them working in publishing one day!) – but we got a huge amount of goodwill from our involvement too. At a time when businesses are looking for projects that make them stand out from the crowd, the Global Fellowship could not be more apt.
João Madureira
Director Brazil Branch, Cambridge University Press
Contributed by
João Madureira
Director Brazil Branch, Cambridge University Press
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