The Business of Life with Dr King
Dr Ariel Rosita King brings on a variety of International guests from various countries, cultures, organisations, and businesses to talk about turning
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The Business of Life with Dr King
Dr. James Mulli: Transforming Education and Empowering Global Communities Through Innovation (European Business Institute, Luxembourg)
Discover how education can be a game-changer in our latest episode featuring Dr. Mulli, the visionary founder and academic dean of the European Business Institute of Luxembourg.
With a rich tapestry of experiences from Kenya to the United States, Dr. Mulli reveals the transformative power education holds in leveling life's playing field. You'll learn about the incredible mission of the European Business Institute, which has empowered over 26,000 students worldwide, and the inspiring stories of young Afghan women who have seized new opportunities through education.
Join us as we explore a groundbreaking model of education that blends technology and partnership with over 150 not-for-profit organizations. By leveraging platforms like Zoom and Moodle, we uncover how this approach not only ensures accessibility and affordability but also champions community empowerment.
Dr. Mulli shares his compelling insights on influencing change from both the top-down and grassroots levels, and paints a vision of a corruption-free future led by technological innovation. This episode is packed with valuable lessons on making education a universal right, and we encourage you to connect with Dr. Mulli for more on this inspiring journey.
Music, lyrics, guitar and singing by Dr Ariel Rosita King
Teach me to live one day at a time
with courage love and a sense of pride.
Giving me the ability to love and accept myself
so I can go and give it to someone else.
Teach me to live one day at a time.....
The Business of Life
Dr Ariella (Ariel) Rosita King
Original Song, "Teach Me to Live one Day At A Time"
written, guitar and vocals by Dr. Ariel Rosita King
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The Business of Life. My name is Dr Ariel King and I want to thank you for being with us here today. Today, we have a very special guest, Dr Mali, who is the founder and the academic dean at the European Business Institute of Luxembourg. Welcome, Dr Mali, who is the founder and the academic dean at the European Business Institute of Luxembourg. Welcome, Dr Mali.
Dr James Mulli:Thank you very much, Arielle.
Dr Ariel King:So please tell me. We're talking about education and you and I, before we started, had some very brief conversation about the future of education. What do you think the future of education is?
Dr James Mulli:Well, let me just say that I come from Kenya and education is very important, not only in Kenya, but it is also important and has played a very important role in my life. So just to illustrate what I think education is all about, I'll tell you a little bit about myself first, so that we can perhaps use that as a springboard. So my father was an educator. My father was an ambassador. He was the first Kenyan ambassador to China. He was the first Kenyan ambassador to Egypt, where I met Muhammad Ali as a child on his Hajj. And my father was a firm believer in education, again having been a teacher himself.
Dr James Mulli:And what I have learned is that along the way, as I grew up, I grew up in many different systems. I went to schools on American military bases At the time there was not much in terms of international schools, so you either were a military base or in some sort of system where this existed. So I was in Somalia, at the American Department of Defense schools, in Germany as well. Eventually, when we moved around, we were in again these different countries, and in France I was at the American School of Paris. And going through all these cultures and having been exposed to, I would suggest, having been very lucky to be exposed to different educational systems, because I went back to Kenya and I entered into the Kenyan system, and then I went to the US and I entered into the state education, the state university. Eventually I graduated from St John's University in New York. So I think I got a little bit of exposure, having started in a nursery school in Zabmalik, cairo, and having completed my doctoral studies at St John's University and then, of course, somalia, in between Germany, france.
Dr James Mulli:So what do I think of education? Well, what I feel is that it's important to also emphasize, before I even come to that, emphasize before I even come to that I have taught. I've been teaching for over 30 years now See the gray hair 30 years in universities, here at the University of Luxembourg. I've taught universities in New York and I've taught at international schools as well, not only in Shanghai, china, but in Germany, in Luxembourg. I've taught as well in the international systems, high school and universities as well. So I've gotten a little bit of an exposure experientially, as a child and also as a practitioner in terms of as an educator. So it's important, I think, just to put that forward.
Dr Ariel King:Yes, it's a worldly experience with many different systems, which is so important with many different systems from many different countries at all levels. That does make a big difference.
Dr James Mulli:Yeah, especially even coming into contact with students and different types of learners from multiple cultures, because these international settings is where I was exposed to different learners. You name it, every continent was most likely in my classroom at one point. I have more than 3,000, I think it's 4,000 Facebook friends, and these are students of mine over the years. These are not just people I randomly take in, so that's just those who decided they wanted to. So I'm just coming to say that Asking me about education with that backdrop is, I think, my springboard. So I decided to go into education having one singular objective, and that is to try and bring forth this level playing field, because education, in my view, is the great leveler. When individuals in different continents, on different countries and so on regions are able to be exposed, then they're able to have equality. And I believe this is the biggest lack of equality. It's not about you know your economy. Your economy does not come about unless you have the basis of a sound education. It's not about society, societal norms. I mean again, the sound basis you have to have is education. And then we even talk about the political side as well. The reason why in Kenya we have our Gen Z protesters is because they were exposed to an education that I believe gave them this critical thinking capacity, and we need this. So where is education going? What is the future of education From my perspective? I believe that we can make education not only affordable, but accessible to all, and that is our mission at the European Business Institute. That is my firm belief that this is possible, and let me just say that we're not just talking about it, but we're actually doing it. We have over 26,000 students that we have educated in our program, 26,000 students that we have educated in our program. We've recently just brought in over 380 young women from Afghanistan into our programs. Most of our students by default of my presence, are from Kenya. Out of the 26,000, the majority are from Kenya, but we have students from every corner of the earth. We have students from Japan, we have students from Colombia, we have students from South Africa, we have students from Romania, from Russia, you name it. On this platform, we're able to come together and thereby engage with each other as a community. So this is where I think the future of education can go, if we can get other institutions to come on board with our model. I do not believe we can do it alone. I believe that it is important that others realize that this is an avenue. Now again, education there is.
Dr James Mulli:Let me just put to you this way when it comes to higher education, there is no free higher education on the African continent, except for two countries, and this is something that the Brookings Institute has put out. There's no free higher education in North America. I think we know this very well. You know this very well. Yes, we do. Why is that? There is no free higher education in Asia, except in Malaysia. In Ecuador we only have. The only free higher education that exists in South America is in Ecuador. And in Europe, yes, we do have, there is free education.
Dr James Mulli:You look at Sweden, you look at Norway, you look at France, moderately, look at Germany. So what is it that prevents us from getting this leveler in play? And I'll tell you what it is. What is preventing this? I believe that the models of education are industrial age. Now, ken Robinson. I'll take that from Ken Robinson. I have to give him credit for having said this and having expounded these ideas, the late Sir Ken Robinson. He made very clear remarks on how the educational system is just not what it can be or should be in terms of its construct. But we don't have to go into that. What we're trying to do again is make it number one, affordable and accessible. These mobile telephones you can't see this because it's black, it's mobile telephones. No, we can see it, make it a real. Make it a reality, right knowledge.
Dr James Mulli:It makes it a reality artificial intelligence, everything artificial intelligence is your private tutor that can help you, whether you have ad and d, you know dyslexia, or if you speak a different language, or even to a to to tune into your cultural norms. When we talk about not only generative but the coming general artificial intelligence, right, there's generative and then there's general artificial intelligence. If we talk about general artificial intelligence, that is forthcoming with human cognition. This is the future and it's coming rapidly. It's already knocking on our door.
Dr Ariel King:I was going to say it's kind already knocking on our, it's kind of here already it's kind of here already yeah yeah and and, if I can just say, uh, let's, let's.
Dr James Mulli:Let's take this very simple example of what kenya did and and, of course, is we see everywhere in terms of mobile banking. With this instrument, mobile banking has been the leveler. And when we talk about technology and education, I believe we're going to see within our lifetime, within our working lifetime, within the next five to 10 years, I think we will see a huge transformation. It will be disruptive where, where we have instructors no longer being the sage on stage, but more like the guide on the side, and I think this is where we're going. So that's my short, brief uh bit on on what I think is going to happen and and what we are trying to do. Uh, so, if you, let me just give you an example where in the world can you get a full for $1,200, certified, accredited with us, and anybody can do this, anybody anywhere, as long as they meet the underlying criteria in the applications? You can't get that. Well, you can get it in Sweden, because that's what they will charge you in addition to I mean, this is just for administration fees.
Dr Ariel King:But also people don't. I think what makes it different also is that you don't need to get a visa, you don't need to try to figure out how to get accommodation there, you don't need to figure out how to leave your family. So what we're also talking about is education where you are, how you live in your own environment, and I think that's the game changer, isn't it?
Dr James Mulli:live in your own environment, and I think that's the game changer, isn't it? I believe that is part of the big challenge, because we see all the migrants crossing and risking their lives here in Europe, coming across the Mediterranean, coming across, you know, sacrificing life and limb in order to seek economic fortunes here in Europe, but, at the same time, if without the education, this is a challenge. So, yes, indeed, if they had the means of coming here, they would be challenged nonetheless, with room and room and board, and right, and all of that with your program.
Dr Ariel King:I mean, what's your program and what you offer? When you talk about a four-year degree, you're talking about this online right, so people don't have to. They don't have to think about going to get this education because basically, the education can be where they are. They don't have to make all of these changes and sacrifices.
Dr James Mulli:And also it's a sacrifice to the family and the community so they can grow, develop and learn in their own environment, in their own community also add is that they have committed instructors who are on board not because of, you know, monetary gain, but we're able to take advantage of the fact that we can source from all different corners of the earth, the best instructors who are willing, who believe in this mission, and we do do that. We have instructors from Royal Holloway in the UK, from King's College, from Georgetown in the US. We have instructors from everywhere.
Dr James Mulli:And this is what is wondrous, because, you know, at the end of the day, in the comfort of the living room, students are able to engage in a community. This is live, this is not a recording. They're able to engage in a community. This is live, this is not a recording. They're able to engage with a community of other students. And I always say we also do invite the students to come to Luxembourg, and they do. We have campus week events and sometimes they've said that it's sort of like a blind date because they know each other very well and then all of a sudden, they see each other for the first time, and in person, and they pick up where they left off.
Dr Ariel King:That's really similar.
Dr James Mulli:Yeah, and if they cannot afford to come, then they have graduation ceremonies where they collectively get together and this becomes also a wondrous event. We've had graduation ceremonies in Kenya, in Botswana, where you see them getting together and this becomes also a wondrous event. We've had graduation ceremonies in Kenya and Botswana where you see them getting together, and so on. So this is indeed the advantage of accessibility.
Dr Ariel King:And an international community. You've built an international community. That's fabulous. May I ask? You talked in the beginning about the model. That's fabulous. May I ask. You talked in the beginning about the model, but you would like other people to come on board or to use the same model. Can you just tell us a little bit more about the model, which seems to be really part of the success and growth that you've had at European Business Institute?
Dr James Mulli:Yes, the key thing here is that. Number one we do not work. We do not recruit students independently, we do not look to seek a student out and bring them on the program. So part of our model is that we work with organizations. We have over 150 partners. These are not-for-profit organizations that are in the trenches, who are in tech, whether it's an organization Majid Mazouri in the slums in Kenya or it's Girl Effect in India. I mean, all these organizations filter and they say, hey, we have not one, not two, we have 50, 100 students, 50, 100 students. And this is what makes it very interesting for the organization who is struggling to see a high. You know, it's either enrollment or endowment. That's how institutions survive. Now, what we find in that model is that we always guaranteed a very large number. We went from 500 to 2,000 to 5,000, to 10,000. And then we, here we are at 25,000 in no time. By the way, I'm talking about five years.
Dr Ariel King:Yes, I remember we started with you. Yes exactly.
Dr James Mulli:So that's. That's model number one. The second aspect of this model is that when we recruit the students and they come into our program, we are ensuring qualitative education. We have a very rigorous system that is based on the OLC, the Online Learning Consortium in terms of just benchmarking, so our standards are incredibly high, and this is what the students talk about. This is really important. Now we're able to monitor in the online environment very different from what you have in the campus physical campus Because when you close the door in a physical campus, you know you have, as you know, no one monitoring you. Everything is recorded in our environment.
Dr Ariel King:Right.
Dr James Mulli:Everything is accessible all the time. So we monitor, we provide the instructors with feedback, the students provide the instructors with feedback, not at the end of the course but continuously, and they must, in the middle and in the beginning, provide feedback to proceed. This is also part of the quality aspect that I think becomes a very key feature of the model. So, again, we work with partners. We have a very high quality control mechanism in play. Now, the other thing that I will say, and just to speak to the organizations and universities out there as they struggle to get their students and as they raise their fees, this goes against all principles of you know, I don't know elasticity. If you wish, the higher your cost, the lower your volume. You know I don't know elasticity. If you wish, the higher your cost, the lower your volume. You know, and at the end of the day, what we are doing is we are able to lower our fees, our administration fees, but because of the high volume, we achieve, of course, enough revenue in order to function, and even more than enough to function, if, in fact, we even turn around and support other organizations and other programs. For that, for the fact matter of fact, that we have such a higher volume.
Dr James Mulli:We recently graduated uh well, that's not very recent, but a year or two ago 400 women from the women in business. Uh, the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce in this industry gave us four hundred women who came in and they graduated and they held a ceremony, they invited the speaker of the house and so on. This volume is what makes that possible. So, because you have high numbers, why do you raise tuition fees if you are in an online environment, the? This is where, of course, I teach managerial accounting. Uh, it costs volume. Profit analysis becomes very interesting when you look at costs and profit and volume and you play this around and you have fixed costs the more you can. Whether you have five students or 300 students, your costs are the same.
Dr Ariel King:Yes.
Dr James Mulli:And so what we do then is that we take advantage of this. So this is something that is part of the model. And then, dr King, what we do is that we have hardship scholarships. We tell students who cannot even afford the administration fees you will pay nothing, because you know what? Like I just said, whether you have, if we have 50 students, that covers our costs. Every additional student does not impact us at all. So why not turn around and create hardship scholarships for those students in Afghanistan, for example, for all those 380 women they're on?
Dr Ariel King:hardship scholarships. It makes a huge difference, doesn't it?
Dr James Mulli:And it makes a huge difference in terms of word of mouth. That is how we market ourselves. So this is what I would say. And then, of course, there are the features, but those are the key features that I would say go a long way to making it affordable, qualitative. And, of course, we're using platforms such as Zoom and we're using Moodle platforms that don't have a cost as a virtual learning environment. We do pay for the Zoom education, of course, but this is where I think we've managed to do well and we have like-minded individuals such as you supporting us.
Dr Ariel King:No, thank you. I love that so you can actually do business, make profit and do well, and it's a 360 win. Everybody wins, and even the Afghanistan women I find amazing because you're educating individual women who have families, who live in communities. They will go back and then affect those communities and actually the entire country, so it's a really fantastic model. May I ask the model that you came up with, did you adopt it from somewhere else? Did you develop the model yourself? How did you come to construct that? Because I know it's not just put in right away, so how did that learning happen?
Dr James Mulli:Yeah, Well, it begins with an organization that I founded called Technology Enabled Learning Africa, asia and the Americas. So the whole idea was to use the technology that was accessible and available to us in order to enable learning, and eventually, this has just evolved, it's been refined. We did not adopt this from another organization. What we've done, essentially, is evolve and realize that we can do more with less, and, to this end, we have managed to come out on this side of it with very interesting impacts, and it is about impacting at the end of the day. Let me just say we're not. We're a non-for-profit. We're not making a profit. We generate revenue that we put back into the organization, but the model just evolved on the basis of trial and error. We started tech teller. Technology enabled learning in africa was founded in 2014, so this is, this is 20 years hence. And then uh, ebu uh was founded in 2018. So it it, it murphed, so it evolved.
Dr Ariel King:I should say Tela became EPU Very quickly, very quickly. The growth is just exponential, exactly Incredible. What do you see? You've done so much. Where do you see the future for the European Business Institute and also this idea that people can be educated where they are and that I won't say there's a right to an education, but there's an access to education? Where do you see EPU? I would say in 10 years rather than five, because already it's quite exponential.
Dr James Mulli:There's a paper I'm writing, there's a book I've put out I don't know if I've shared that with you on the impact of artificial intelligence. We are, uh, the book is in stanford university, um technical university of munich, which is the mit of germany, and 19 other libraries, and what we focus on in this volume, uh, this book is where education is going, exactly what you just asked, but the role, specifically, of artificial intelligence here. So the future of EBU is invariably bound with technology. Technology, we believe, is going to evolve very rapidly, as it has. I mean, look at this here videos. I remember watching tv and and they were showing videos and now, wow, that's the future.
Dr James Mulli:Well, here we are here, we are yes, yes, I do well, we believe that ebu cannot extricate itself from this future that is coming, that has to involve artificial intelligence as an enabler, as a complementary feature. Let me emphasize that, yes, so we feel we want to be on the cutting edge, on the razor edge of where technology is going to be changing. We want to use this no-transcript, so that's where we see ourselves and I believe, at the end of the day, it's only achievable through technology.
Dr Ariel King:Thank you so much, dr Malik, for this interview. I really appreciate it. I've learned so much and I just want to thank also the European Business Institute and all the wonderful people you work with. I know that we've had the pleasure, through my foundation, of working with what you're doing, and many people have had just stellar comments about their professors and the teachers, including you, sir. Several people said that they love the way that you still teach.
Dr James Mulli:Thank you. Thank you what we are also. Let me just add one little thing here that I forgot to mention we believe that we have to impact government, and and government is because because it's all trickled down but we also want to work from the grassroots up, so we want to work from both ends, so we want to influence governments, and there's a paper I'm going to be putting out that looks at how we can eliminate corruption from a do no evil to can't do evil, because because technology, the technology is there, and to find out more on this, you need to read my paper, thank you. How?
Dr Ariel King:can we? That's what's going to. How can?
Dr James Mulli:can we get?
Dr Ariel King:ahold of your book and to find out more on this, you need to read my paper. Thank you, how can we get a hold of your book and, if not, can we get a hold of your paper and how can we learn more about you, dr Mully, and also about the European Business Institute of Luxembourg?
Dr James Mulli:Please connect with my LinkedIn profile. That's readily available and I'm happy to share everything and, of course, work with everybody, because we cannot do this alone. We don't feel it's possible, but we want everybody on board who's willing and able.
Dr Ariel King:Thank you so much, dr Molli. It's been a fantastic time with you and thank you to our audience for being with us for the business of life. And until next time, remember, if I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, then when? That's by Hillel and I say if not me, then who Go out there and make the business of life the best that you can. Thank you.