Globetrotting as a Real Estate Academic

Going abroad for work or study is almost a fad in many engineering colleges of India. As an undergraduate student, I subscribed to the fad. When at home (even in a country as culturally diverse as India), I naively perceived ‘Western’ countries as a socio-cultural monolith. Despite professional experience with multinationals in major cities of India, the idea of ‘foreign’ culture was not well understood. No wonder, graduate studies at Texas A&M University came with an immense amount of cultural shock, both at academic and social levels. Until then, the Nehru-era notion of "democratic socialism" was deeply ingrained in my worldview, and I carried some prejudices about capitalism by default (some do not cease to exist yet). An intense campus like Texas A&M clearly breaks many of these prejudices.

In particular, moving to an American college town from another country makes the transition even more drastic. You do not see the sky-scrapers sprinkled all over the map (isn't the US all about just them?) and may not have easy access to transportation (public or private). Your life may revolve around trips to school (and back) and sporadically to a local gas station for groceries. For those without a car, shopping at a Wal-Mart, or eating at an ethnic restaurant situated a couple miles away may be a remote luxury. Yet, you do not feel like Robinson Crusoe on a desolate island. The experience is rather pleasant. The sensible hospitality of American friends, their inclusive, non-judgmental nature, and selfless assistance make it all worthwhile.

Indeed, large American universities are a cultural melting pot, both inside and outside the classroom. What binds people together (locals and expats alike) is the quest for building the desired competencies at personal, social and academic levels. This characteristic can be observed across the breadth and depth of urban America. I witnessed this during my stays in Dallas-Texas, New York and Atlanta.

Unemployed in the aftermath of global financial crisis, the business school at Georgia State University rescued careers of several academically-inclined graduates who enrolled in Ph.D. programs. I was one of them. Having attended classes at three universities in different parts of the US (Georgia State, Texas A&M, and NYU), I developed an admiration for the pedagogy offered by the American higher education system. In my opinion, such a system facilitates maximum utilization of a student's inherent capability rather than pushing them towards an extrinsically created maximal target. Great professors, who often happen to be good researchers, make this experience particularly enjoyable.

After spending over six years in the US, one will barely see this one country as a monolith (..and did I mention the “West” earlier?). But, right when I started telling the difference between the "Ya'll" versus "You all" versus "You guys" versions of American English was the time when my wife and I decided to move to continental Europe.

Joining the picturesque Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland further broke the myth of a monolithic "West". You experience at least four different (read ‘very’ different) cultures within Switzerland: French, German, Italian and expat [There is a fifth one- Romansch, but you need to be really motivated to witness it]. Bestowed with a rich history, culture and socioeconomic philosophy, Switzerland presented itself as a whole new world.

I observed that while the socioeconomic system in the US revolves around a consumer, it was almost the converse in Switzerland. The Swiss system is based on deep social values where community protocols are paramount in preserving a high-quality individual life. Many people find these protocols at their “extremes”. The European culture in general and the Swiss culture in particular present a middle ground between the US and the Orient. For example, to witness families with prams strolling in downtown areas late after business hours was a pleasant surprise. This may be common in many Indian cities, but is a rare sight in most US cities. At the same time, the economic sophistication, social security and infrastructure development in Western Europe is inspiring.

Lifestyle Changes

But, expensive Switzerland is, despite substantially higher wages. The almost triple-priced McD double-cheese burger and the Pike-Place blend Starbucks coffee quickly chipped off our daily lifestyle. The mantra of ‘this lifestyle is healthier’ was a solace in the drastic transition. My family no more eats-out five times a week. Living in a spacious single-family home has become a moving target. But despite all this, the quality of life seems to have improved substantially. Besides, the vicinity to Paris, Venice, Milan and several other touristic locations is a major boon.

In Swiss cities, every morning one feels blessed by the freshness of air (even in urban areas) and the sight of ever-changing colors of the Swiss Alps from bedroom window is not a rarity. The sound of silence right in the middle of the city during Sunday afternoons, only to be occasionally broken by church bells, feels truly great. As ironic as it sounds, the community protocols in Switzerland ultimately enhance the privacy of individuals. What is particularly striking about the Swiss culture is the people's curiosity and knowledge about cultures beyond their own. This curiosity feels a little different from that barber in College Station, Texas who once innocently asked me if I daily rode an elephant to my school in India. From street-hawkers and postal clerks to professors, bankers and random co-travelers in high-speed Swiss trains, they are eager to learn about you. No one is satisfied by "India" as an answer to their query about where we come from. They like to know further about "where in India, exactly?" People's commitment towards sustainability, vegetarianism, and respect for others seems very authentic. And yes, Europe has got history which is well preserved.

Despite the ubiquitous cigarette fumes (not excluding the public places such as railway platforms), the Swiss cities bustle with life. You dedicate evenings and Sundays to your personal or family lives (you do not have a choice, actually, because the shops are closed anyways). You learn to replace the habit of binge-shopping (who can afford that in continental Europe?) by mountain hiking, swimming, skiing, boating, or just picnicking in a scenic park nearby. Over time, we started loving this discipline which, in early days, seemed to be externally forced.

To modulate my pronunciation of English words and comprehending varied accents (Southern, in particular) has been a necessary evil. However, now we can tell between the British, Scottish, Irish, French, German, Italian, Romanian (...and you name it) versions of English. For a person raised in a conservative setting in India, social interactions have presented a steep learning curve. For example, the traditional Indian culture recommends a gender-based greeting where it is a courtesy to offer more space to ladies. You politely say hello, but need not even shake hands. Americans are more gender-neutral in this respect. If you hug men, you should expect a warm hug from women alike (which, by the way, is a big no-no in most Indian settings). However, in Switzerland hugs may be restricted to close family members, but les bises (three kisses on the cheek) is expected. For me it has taken conscious effort to match the location with the greeting etiquette. Sometimes, you learn the hard way.

On a More Serious Note: Academic Differences

“We are all the same” – Dalai Lama

Development (and acceptance) of real estate journals and adoption of several academic books globally builds a level of comfort and uniformity across the world in fundamental understanding of the discipline. What changes with location is a nuanced set of specificities; but does not that add to the vibrancy of our world? Having worked as a consultant for industry bodies, or as a visiting professor in several countries across Europe and Asia, I have witnessed common challenges in real estate markets. Yes, they vary in their extent. The beauty of academic community in real estate is that it is a small world. Be it the ERES, ARES or AsRES (i.e. various academic conferences for real estate across the world), one gets to meet a significant number of familiar faces more than once every year.

Beyond the wonderful cheese, mesmerizing landscape, pleasant climate and proximity to a large number of historic cities, the opportunity to apply the real estate education acquired in the US to a new context promises a dynamic career. Several schools (including mine: EHL) prefer internationally or American based accreditation which helps streamlining one's academic background with the context.

However, unlike the US and some other countries such as the UK and Australia, business disciplines in Switzerland appear to be clubbed into bigger, more generalized boxes. Real estate, in particular, appears to be at the receiving end. For example, despite a robust industry appetite for real estate professionals, universities often consider real estate as a sub-domain of finance. As a result, premier real estate journals are rendered subordinate to general finance journals. This challenges real-estate focused researchers, who are schooled in a real estate-centric research paradigm rather than wearing the lenses of general finance to answer real estate questions.

Because of relatively smaller (although of high quality) academic community in real estate, younger academics in Europe maintain some discipline-fluidity (across real estate, general finance and economics) as a risk-management strategy for the job market. Yet, in some other disciplines this challenge is subdued. For example, in Management Sciences schools may dis-aggregate OB, HR, Strategy, Leadership etc. as separate areas when shortlisting top-quality journals. Nevertheless, the access to resources for research (e.g. funding) is relatively generous. My school, in particular, focuses on balancing academic rigor with industry relevance. This comes with superior academic freedom on developing the research agenda and teaching curriculum. Besides, a specific focus on hotel assets and more attention to Europe, a burgeoning real estate market, adds to the fun.

[This article is a slightly modified version of the original article published in the American Real Estate Society Newsletter in 2017, edited by Dr. Julia Freybote.]