Those who teach computing and technology are in the business of globalising intellectual capital. The vision they have is of a global community of academically proficient individuals with technological expertise, able to work in any number of cultures and add value to the diverse communities and organisations that they work within. Paradoxically, with the growth of computing and the harnessing of diverse technologies, the world appears to get smaller, but those who have the most seem to get more and those with the least get even less. Universities such as De Montfort in the UK want to arrest this process by offering possibilities beyond what individuals might ordinarily expect within their own localities.
There is no reason why intellectual and technological ability should be confined to specific economic and geographical areas; indeed, technology must be harnessed to transcend these barriers.

The academic community want people to invest their intellectual capital back into areas where it is most needed. It is international students that are at the vanguard of a formidable force – a combination of both technological knowledge and cultural understanding. It is this that they ultimately ‘learn ’ from studying in a different country.

Universities such as De Montfort University are in the business of helping individuals push boundaries. Like the global companies the Seattle protestors confronted, universities are in the ‘growth business ’, but their business is intellectual growth, not corporate greed. Universities sow the seeds of international understanding and development through cultural exchange rather than cultural imperialism through the corporatisation
of cultural meaning.