THE OXPEX MANIFESTO
We believe in the following things:
Education is at the heart of improvement in all spheres of human endeavour – in business, in political, social and cultural development, in our responses to climate change and sustainability.
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Education is most effective when linked closely with practical application – learners should be enabled and encouraged to actively contribute to valuable projects in their domain of interest.
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Multi-disciplinary approaches are essential to improvement – Valuable problems are frequently complex and require skills, knowledge and thinking from multiple disciplines to provide sustainable solutions.
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There is high value in building conduits between academia and business, government, not-for profit organisations and social-cultural movements – we need information, skills, knowledge and thinking to flow rapidly and effectively in both directions.
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There are a core set of enabling methodologies that can be leveraged in service of this Manifesto:
Systems Thinking : Understanding complexity, interrelationships, non-linearity and emergence;
Design Thinking : Adopting the tools and thinking styles of Designers to make sense of problems and situations and then create, implement and deploy valuable solutions;
Agile Thinking : Employing an iterative and evolutionary style of project execution to maximise learning, speed progress towards goals and build engagement with participants;
Lean Thinking : Leveraging a rational, scientific problem solving approach that depends on observation and measurement, analysis, hypothesis formation, experimentation, testing and sustainment, with an imperative to reduce waste and improve flow.
There are a core set of ‘big problems’ which must guide our endeavours in all domains:
Sustainability and Bio-diversity
Poverty, Inequality and justice
Global health
Conflict and Political Instability
The provision of high-quality education for every person
Capitalising on technological opportunities and reduction of technology related risks