3 IPED Students Selected as Wings of Excellence Awardees

Three IPED students were selected as Wings of Excellence Awardees by the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Armand Aquino (2017), Schima Labitsch (2017) and Lodewikus Lombaard (2016), are some of the few selected to participate in the St. Gallen Symposium in Switzerland as Leaders of Tomorrow. From among hundreds of other applicants, Armand, Schima and Lodewikus were selected based on their essay submissions for this year’s symposium topic which is Growth – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Entitled Good-Based Economy: Growing the Rice and Weeding out the Grass, Armand’s winning essay proposes for a “good-based” economy that delivers a positive impact rather than one that seeks traditional  notions of economic growth.

Schima’s paper, Deconstructing growth: The why, what, and how any alternative to growth must consist of argues for a new growth discourse. By understanding its constructivist nature, growth can be built as a deliberate socioeconomic choice wherein alternative economic policies can emerge.

Meanwhile, Lodewikus’ essay, Perennation Rates: The appropriate way to measure the success of the modern collective human endeavor, offers a new alternative to growth which is generally understood as a measurement of humanity’s success. He suggests perennation rates which captures the survival rate of humans amidst modern day adversities.

Armand, Schima and Lodewikus will be attending the St. Gallen Symposium from May 11-13. Abstracts of the three students’ papers can be found here.