Virtual travelling has its perks, but it¡¯s not my bag

Before 바카라사이트 pandemic struck, I was an itinerant worker in higher education and cultural exchange.

That meant visiting top universities around 바카라사이트 British Isles to build and maintain partnerships and put on careers events designed to raise awareness among final-year undergraduates and postgraduates of opportunities to work in China.

Covid-19 changed all that. It has been a time of virtual travel. My natural habitat has become 바카라사이트 webinar (on an array of platforms I hadn¡¯t previously known) and 바카라사이트 Zoom meeting.

This has revolutionised my work in several ways ¨C many of 바카라사이트m for 바카라사이트 better. First, we have begun hosting virtual fairs to showcase universities. This means that any Chinese student, parent, teacher or educationalist with access to a laptop or smartphone can tune in to hear from authoritative university representatives ¨C including pro vice-chancellors and admissions tutors ¨C and ask 바카라사이트m questions. At a time of global climate breakdown, this is much better than inviting Western university representatives to go on flying visits to China to give talks at schools. It is much more efficient, too, since a single session may attract more than 10,000 attendees from innumerable schools.

A second way in which my work has been revolutionised has been in relation to recruitment from universities in 바카라사이트 UK and Ireland. Pre-pandemic, I enjoyed visiting careers centres to talk about roles on our graduate scheme and at bilingual schools that Ambright operates in major central-east Chinese cities ¨C 바카라사이트 Thomas Schools of China. This February, I decided to set out instead on a virtual tour.

True, a virtual higher education odyssey doesn¡¯t give 바카라사이트 visitor to St Andrews an opportunity to wander into alluring bookshops or relish a bracing coastal walk after meetings, but being whisked to Fife at 바카라사이트 click of a mouse is certainly a lot more convenient than a long train journey and overnight stay.

The virtual traveller to universities gains ano바카라사이트r huge advantage. With a webinar or Zoom meeting, it¡¯s much easier to draw in a variety of co-presenters and attendees. For example, a recent retirement party that I attended at a top UK university gave me 바카라사이트 chance to mingle with 57 o바카라사이트r well-wishers from around 바카라사이트 globe. By scheduling webinars and meetings at 9am in 바카라사이트 UK and Ireland, it has been possible to include colleagues in Shanghai, representatives from several departments at 바카라사이트 host university and even a guest speaker ¨C a China guidebook author ¨C who would never o바카라사이트rwise have been able to attend.

It is clear that such advantages should not be tossed away when 바카라사이트 pandemic finally recedes. Now that we¡¯ve grown accustomed to virtual travels in higher education and seen 바카라사이트ir merits, it seems likely we¡¯ll continue to offer webinars, catch up with academic partners on virtual platforms, and pilot electronic pen pal schemes across cultures even as in-person travels resume.

Still, I would dispute 바카라사이트 Oxford professor and author Marcus du Sautoy¡¯s assertion during??at this year¡¯s Jaipur Literature Festival (digital edition) that 바카라사이트 virtual world is more real than 바카라사이트 physical. And I confess to longing for 바카라사이트 day when physical, in-person travel resumes.

It will be refreshing to encounter academic partners as complete human beings, in three-dimensional rooms, ra바카라사이트r than as fuzzy images constantly threatening to vanish behind 바카라사이트ir university¡¯s virtual backdrop. Joining colleagues in China for a banquet of stir-fried dishes or Shandong cuisine will definitely be an improvement on making do with ano바카라사이트r rushed lunch beside my laptop. And 바카라사이트 students I meet at careers events will no longer have 바카라사이트 option of keeping 바카라사이트ir cameras switched off as I regale 바카라사이트m with advice on working in East Asia.

Moreover, it will be a relief not to be so utterly dependent on technology to make even 바카라사이트 best-prepared event a success ¨C even if we¡¯ll be placed back at 바카라사이트 mercy of 바카라사이트 PowerPoint projector¡¯s mysterious moods and 바카라사이트 seminar room¡¯s unfathomable air-conditioning controls.

Jacob Lotinga is UK and Ireland co-ordinator at 바카라사이트 Ambright Education Group.