By Prof. Alan Barrell DBA, FRSA, 1 December 2008

IMAGINE... A world without conflict... IMAGINE... A world without Borders... IMAGINE... A world of more cross border visits... IMAGINE... More Communities of Common Purpose

IMAGINE... Education across borders and around the world... IMAGINE... Greater Convergence of Technologies... IMAGINE... Enhanced cultural understanding and acceptance of Diversity

And use YOUR OWN IMAGINATION - to dream more of a future world with more connectivity, with more positive communication and access to more OPPORTUNITY.

None of us can change the world on our own. Even together, we cannot change everything. BUT, if we START where we are, and with what we CAN DO we WILL make a difference. And it is PEOPLE starting things and achieving "little victories" that do, over time, change the world. Nelson Mandela changed the world from a prison cell. He was locked up continuously for 27 years - and badly treated. But he changed the world. Mahatma Ghandi was a poor man - a man of peace. He died by the assassin's bullet - but he changed the world. Ghandi once said "BE the change you want to see in the world" What a vision! What an invitation! Deng Xiaoping said "To Get Rich is Glorious" and led the march of China towards being a Modern Global Economy of power and influence. George Bernard Shaw told the young man who was thinking small... "You look at things and ask WHY - but I dream of things that never were and ask - WHY NOT?"

And I could go on quoting great men and women from the past and present with words that hopefully INSPIRE But the movement EDUCATION WITHOUT BORDERS is all about YOU - ALL OF YOU READING THIS. You all have the opportunity to change at least a bit of your corner of the world, and by believing in the movement towards a WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS and EDUCATION WITHOUT BORDERS you are making a start - and there are people and organisations - like EWB to encourage and help you.

SO - IMAGINE, AND START TO BE THE CHANGE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE HAPPENING IN THE WORLD!

FROM THE DESK OF PROFESSOR ALAN BARRELL, CAMBRIDGE, DECEMBER 1ST 2008

About Prof. Alan Barrell DBA, FRSA

Prof. Alan Barrell has spent almost 30 years in senior executive positions in technology based companies, including chief executive roles at Baxter Healthcare, Domino Printing Sciences and Willett International, and has become one of Cambridge's most articulate promoters of entrepreneurship. He was instrumental in launching the Cambridge Gateway Fund to fund early stage technology businesses in the region and is involved with a number of charities including the Papworth Trust, the RSA, the Centre for Tomorrow's Company and The Prince's Trust. He has also chaired the Cambridge Enterprise Conference and works closely with a number of Science Parks and Innovation Centres in Cambridge, elsewhere in the UK and overseas. He is Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Cambridge Entrepreneurship Centre. His work in these areas recently led him to becoming one of the first recipients of The Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion in 2006. Most recently, he has been appointed as International Advisor to Youth Business China (YBC).