Welcoming The Wolves Back To The Pack

Name: Josh Altow (JA)

Location: Lille, France

School: EDHEC

Days Spent Abroad: 60

Favourite Memory: last night with exchange friends from Germany and Spain!

Name: Jacqueline Hall (JH)

Location: Helsinki, Finland

School: Aalto University

Days Spent Abroad: 73 days

Favourite Memory: Skiing, dog sledding, and watching the northern lights in Northern Finland!

Name: Kathryn Brown (KB) Location: Brussels, Belgium

School: Solvay School of Business

Days Spent Abroad: 45

Favourite Memory: Seeing the Grand Place in real life!

Name: Olivia Spencer (OS)

Location: Aarhus, Denmark

School: Aarhus University

Days Spent Abroad: 83 days and counting...

Favourite Memory: Road trip to Skagen Denmark!

Name: Danny Vasquez (DV)

Location: Madrid, Spain

School: Universidad Carlos III

Days Spent Abroad: 75

Favourite Memory: Going to Ibiza with new roommates and Queen's friends!

Q. Did you notice a difference in leadership styles between your host country and Canada?

Government

"The Finnish government is quite fascinating. Their current Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, is the youngest in the world, and her female leadership has attracted international recognition. Diversity and inclusion are of top priority for her administration, and a lot of recent government reports outline the importance of achieving sustainable growth through a bioeconomy strategy. Innovation and technology, environmental conservation, and advanced social policy are a few key features of their government priorities."

Academic Context

"The way in which professors conduct themselves and lead the students is much more informal. You can address them by their first names, and the communication is very relaxed. I found them to be quite accommodating to different students’ needs. In the classroom, I found that the local students were less willing to take the lead, and if they did contribute, it was more humble and low-key - which is a stark contrast to what we are used to in North America."

"Overall, I did not notice much of a difference in leadership style between Belgium and Canada. The only difference I experienced was the power distance I had between the professors and myself. From what I observed, professors were slightly more informal when interacting with students. Contrary to our interactions with Smith superiors, we could call our Professors by their first names and email them in a more informal manner. Otherwise, I would say that the leadership style is structured much flatter than it is in Canada."