The Homburg Global Education Project by Dr Jarrod Wiener

Leader of the Homburg Global Education Project

In September 2008, Richard Homburg, Founder and Executive Chairman of the Homburg Group of Companies, initiated an international research project on global education in the field of Real Estate.
When the Project began, the economic and social consequences of the financial collapse linked to real estate assets were continuing to grow, and the effects, arguably, have yet to be felt in their entirety. The financial crisis brought home many truths, but some have received more attention than others. One is the painful lesson that the world of high-finance was not as secured from collapse as many believed, and the complex financial risk-mitigation techniques were perhaps more sophisticated in preventing understanding of them than they were in preventing crisis. We also re-learned the lessons of previous financial crises about the close interdependence of national economies, though some policy-makers still prefer to treat the regulation of finance as if it were principally a national issue.

There is also no escape from the figure of $9 trillion – and growing – which is the amount of public resources globally that have been expended trying to mitigate the effects of economic recession. After a period of crisis stimulus, the reckoning is compounded by austerity measures and sometimes severe and usually always painful budget cuts. Attention, rightly, is focused on the budget deficits as these impact people’s livelihoods in a very real way.

Less attention is focused on the intellectual and knowledge deficits that brought us here to begin with. This is understandable. By their very nature, knowledge deficits are hard to see. Ask anyone to list the most important things that they don’t know, even if it can save them from the next financial ruin. The trouble with knowledge deficits is that we don’t know what we don’t know. It takes a unique ability to step back in a time of crisis to look beyond the urgency of daily issues to see the larger picture, let alone look to the future and ask what is required to prevent this all from happening again.

This is the vision of the Homburg Global Education Project. Dr Homburg believed that once we emerge from the urgency of crisis we must start to address knowledge deficits. We must enhance academic knowledge, and we must create avenues for knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer must flow from academics to practitioners, but also from practitioners to academics. Academics and practitioners need each other, if only because the rest of us need them both.

There are opportunities to build bridges:

1. We need to bridge the worlds of academics and practitioners. The world of real estate asset valuation on one hand and the world of global finance on the other is only one of the more striking areas – in view of the financial collapse - in which we must build greater dialogue. There are many others.

Global Education
Homburg Global Education Project
119 Kent Street, Charlottetown
Prince Edward Island, C1A 1N3
Canada

2. At the same time, we need to build bridges across disciplines. Real Estate begins with planning and extends through law and regulation, architecture and design, urban economics, construction and development, engineering, business and management, finance and banking, and lately it seems that it ends with political economy and international relations. Real Estate as both an academic subject of enquiry as well as a professional practice demands an integrated approach to knowledge and this means inter-disciplinary study among the diverse fields of knowledge. And this is asking a lot, as these fields span the human sciences, social sciences, and technical sciences. Here, we need a big bridge.

3. We also have to build bridges across nations. Real Estate is the largest industry in the world, and the effects of finance are felt globally. In this, we must address the age-old problem of regulating international interdependence: preventing the unique characteristics of national practices – whether cultural, social, or economic – from creating systemic risks for everyone else, while at the same time respecting and protecting national uniqueness to prevent the kinds of backlash against ‘globalisation’ that can hinder efforts at international regulatory cooperation.

4. Finally, we have to address issues that are truly global in scope, like global environment protection and depleting natural resources. Global issues are ones from which there can be no escape anywhere on the planet, and the responsibility for them therefore lies with us all. Sustainability in real estate development is critical in this as buildings are ubiquitous – they literally structure and house all aspects of human activity – and they consume a fantastic amount of resources. Sustainable design, sustainability in building and construction techniques and materials, as well as the sustainability in planning of the communities in which the buildings are found, are critical issues of this generation with implications for the environment, living spaces, as well as human life systems, well beyond the current economic situation.

The mandate of the Homburg Global Education Project was to examine the discipline of Real Estate, with a view to building these bridges: developing innovative inter-disciplinary curricula, creating avenues for dialogue among academics and practitioners, creating international exchange and understanding, fostering collaboration, and finding ways to deliver education about real estate to a global audience using the best and most current technology available.

The year 2011 is the year in which we implement what we have learned. We are doing so in innovative ways.

1. Our continuing commitment to research and to the development of knowledge is underscored by the launch of the co-branded book series with Oxford University Press: The Homburg-Oxford University Press Advances in Real Estate book series. Supported by an international editorial board, the book series covers the new agenda in Real Estate, encouraging a multi-disciplinary and international approach to current and emerging issues in the built environment.

2. Our curriculum includes a Master of Real Estate with a stream for recent graduates and an Executive stream for more experienced professionals, and both are based on an inter-

Global Education
Homburg Global Education Project
119 Kent Street, Charlottetown
Prince Edward Island, C1A 1N3
Canada
disciplinary approach. Planning includes the later development of the Bachelor of Real Estate with numerous concentrations. Curriculum development is supported by an International Academic Advisory Board composed of academics in North America and Europe, with expertise in diverse fields, to promote both inter-disciplinary and international perspectives.

3. The delivery system for the programs is an international institutional form that we take pride in saying is ‘born global’. The structure includes the academic Homburg Academy Switzerland, based in Zurich, and the professional-development institute the Homburg Institute Canada. These are linked together through the latest video-conferencing technology with an output to our online learning portal, the Homburg eCampus Global, to bring the learning opportunities to students based everywhere. We call this institutional structure the ‘International Multiversity’, defined as an academic system with teaching, research, and professional development actives located in specialised units spread over an international geographic space.

4. Dialogue among academics and practitioners is accomplished through the Homburg Institute Canada’s professional development programs, which take place alongside the Homburg Academy’s Summer Schools in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island – the birthplace of Canadian Confederation and an ideal summertime conference centre with no fewer than 11 world-class golf courses and other stunning opportunities for professional networking and social activities.

5. We are also engaged in dialogue with the diverse professional and industry associations to ensure that the curriculum for both academic and professional programs is relevant and timely, and where possible, carries the accreditation of professional associations and leads to professional designation.

6. Our commitment to internationalisation includes enabling international mobility of students and staff within the organisation, and fostering inter-cultural experiences and perspectives. The teaching staff is based throughout the world, including North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia, and these academics and professionals will teach their courses through the eCampus online portal to students around the world. And we are committed to extending international partnerships, both individual and institutional, throughout the globe.

Our actions are always based on our perception of the past, our understanding of the present, and our expectations for the future. Dr Homburg’s vision of an international organisation for the interdisciplinary research and teaching of real estate combines his 40 year career that built a multi-billion dollar enterprise, with a vision for the future that is founded on sharing knowledge among academics and professionals, across disciplines, and across continents.

For more details about Real Estate University, please visit us online.