Coming full circle
Jing Wei has won the Scholars Choice Award, voted by his cohort for having contributed the most to their overall Oxford experience. He has been the spark and the glue that has helped strengthen the WHT family.
“This is the land of dreaming spires – where your wildest imagination comes to life, in more ways than you can possibly contend with.”
This is a quote from my mentor turned friend prior to my arrival (and admission) to Oxford, and indeed, Oxford did not disappoint. I had the privilege, through the scholarship, to embark upon multiple journeys and meet people from around the world, allowing me to understand diverse cultures and lived experiences.
The year of diverse conversations started with introductory sessions back in September of 2022, where we engaged in issues of morality and entrepreneurship within the halls of Worcester College. Being immersed in an environment in which people from all over the world can navigate and discuss pressing problems, from poverty to climate change, in the same setting, is one that was not only intellectually stimulating, but moralistically intriguing. From conversations about geopolitical flashpoints from the home countries of peers from the scholarship and in the environment of Oxford, to differences in cuisine, diversity bonded us and yet ensured we obtained a richness of the human experience in ways I have not experienced prior.
Coming full circle, I ended my formal programme in Oxford with the WHT cohort, firstly with a retreat to Cumberland Lodge, and then a celebratory dinner in the Divinity School. Cumberland Lodge, a 17th-century country house situated within the Windsor Great Park, played host to moral philosophy seminars discussing the ethicality of businesses, pitches showcasing our past year’s efforts in creating enterprises meant for good, and evening walks to The Copper Horse while debating the likelihood of meeting deer along the way. The dinner at the Divinity School was to celebrate 15 years of the Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme, bringing together alumni from as far back as 2007, donors and partners who made the scholarship possible and of course, current scholars. Sprinkled throughout the events of all four days was a continuation of deep conversations ever present: From inspirational alumni who are fighting for justice in the ICC, to personal struggles experienced by scholars. In a pleasant turn, I also had the opportunity of a lifetime to converse with the Chancellor of Oxford, Lord Christopher Patten, about past experiences while working as a politician and civil servant, gleaning fascinating insights into many issues in geopolitics and in his life.
My reflections from Cumberland Lodge sum up my biggest takeaway from Oxford: The very peers around me – in the master’s programme of Global Governance and Diplomacy, at Lincoln College, and of course, in the Weidenfeld Hoffmann Scholarship and Leadership Programme, are beyond inspiring. Not because of their accolades and academic prowess, but their sheer will and determination to move the world forward amidst the odds. It became salient to me that it is not the dreaming spires and the past of the University that renders it a formidable institution, but the collective desires of generation upon generation that inhabits these spires seeking to spur positive change in the world.
