by Adriana Maria Vargas Bermudez    
 

Università Cattolica, a hub of diverse minds. We see students walking through the halls, rushing to their classes. After the busy morning hours, carrying paperwork in hand, Professor Minciullo approaches the classroom. After arriving at the classroom, he unpacks his backpack and finally looks around. Filled with the murmur of curiosity and excitement of the different students in the Business Strategy course, he proceeds to request silence and starts his lecture in a way that only he knows how to deliver. That he has learned over the years with expertise, with knowledge but overall, with experience. Experiences from different places around the world, experiences that taught the Professor many perspectives and created an impact deep within his way of thinking.

Perhaps that’s what makes Professor Minciullo so eager to teach the Bachelor of Economics and Management at Università Cattolica or to be the programme coordinator of ALTIS – Master in Sustainable Business Administration because he felt he could support fellow Worldbounders. This group embodies individuals committed to borderless education and holds a global perspective. These Worldbounders are recognised not just for their bravery in getting out of their comfort zone, but for their belief in the power of sharing knowledge across borders, aiding their international peers in a shared journey of learning. From Portugal to Mozambique, USA to India, this is Professor Minciullo's worldbound experience.

Worldbounders are recognised for their belief in the power of sharing knowledge across borders.

When Professor Minciullo was a student at Università Cattolica in 2006, his journey as a Worldbounder started pursuing an Erasmus exchange programme in Germany where he met a Professor from Romania who taught his classes in a very different way than what Professor Minciullo was used to back home in Italy. The fact that this Professor was teaching in such a different country from his own, made him relate partly to young Professor Minciullo as they both were experiencing life abroad in a university environment and were there to learn and explore outside of their comfort zone. This Professor being very welcoming towards international students as Professor Minciullo, gave a very good first impression on what being a Worldbounder meant. After returning to Università Cattolica and earning his Master's degree, Professor Minciullo began his research and teaching career at his Alma mater. He then embarked on various international research projects as a visiting researcher.

Beginning in 2011 in Portugal, followed by India in 2012, Mozambique in 2013, and landing finally in the USA in 2016, Professor Minciullo not only enriched his vision of the world and his knowledge of the different countries but also had a transformative impact on his sense of community and how he viewed his students and his way of teaching his material. “I can’t teach anything that isn’t potentially known by students, which means I don’t need to give them new information. All students already have some experience. They have their ideas. What I can do is try to help students disclose and share the knowledge they already possess. Let's say my experiences abroad have a strong influence on the way I do teaching today.”

Professor Minciullo considers teaching in the international curriculum designed for semester study abroad students to be incredibly important and significant. “I'm always learning, my interest in topics such as environmental sustainability and social entrepreneurship is something that keeps evolving. What I hope students can understand is that being a professional means you are also a citizen of the world".

As Professor Minciullo keeps the lecture going and asks different questions, he notices active participation from all his students. They are discussing and debating in a dynamic dance of ideas hoping to learn and to reach an ever so-different conclusion. With every interaction, he realises that where there is an exchange between Professors and students, a sort of community starts to emerge.

«Today's students are much more aware of what they want to do, they are true agents of change.»

Being able to foster that sense of curiosity and community within students is something he learned during one of his experiences abroad. “In India, I was studying microinsurance and social entrepreneurship and I have observed and studied models of management which imply contacting a single person or with a community of people. And you see there, how social ties work because you observed that if someone, for example, was not able to repay a debt, the community would cover for that person.”
Bringing back home everything he learned gives the journey of this Worldbounder a full 360-degree closure, being able to teach what he was once so eager to learn.

As humans, we are an ever-evolving species, we adapt, we create, and we amaze. Having people who support and follow us through our path of recollecting knowledge and learning from the world is what makes the findings so special. That feeling of fulfilment wouldn’t be so wonderful if we didn’t have anyone to share it with. The role of community is very important for our development as individuals and as a society. We are social beings, and we are made to bond and help one another.
Professor Minciullo was able to experience so many opportunities: to see, to grow, to form a community and to share those we feel, are the greatest joys of being a true Worldbounder.

The lecture comes to an end and the students start to dispel from the classroom as the Professor packs up his things and looks around one last time before leaving the room. With a quick turn, the Professor starts his way through the chiostro and finds students laughing and talking. A bling on his phone reveals a notification email for an interview for the Worldbound Magazine. The Professor can’t help but throw a quick smile, thinking once a Worldbounder, always a Worldbounder while he kept his pace through the international landscape of Università Cattolica