If you've ever tried to find the English-language instructions on cameras, stereos, automotive products, household items or almost anything that comes in shrink wrap, it's clear that merchandise is being made for plenty of people who don't speak English.

That's globalization.

It started with international investing and overseas sales and production, but it now includes companies that are looking beyond the U.S. market and are distributing their products and services to the world. And, globalization is the reason the College of Business and Economics has created the position of faculty director for international programs and appointed John Kmetz to it.

Michael Ginzberg, dean of the College, says the new directorship is needed to better position UD graduates to function in a global economy and to help students grow as individuals by exposing them to other worlds and other cultures.

Last year, the College added an overseas trip to the requirements for its Executive Master of Business Administration degree. The Executive MBA is for working professionals, but Ginzberg says a trip abroad is just as important for students about to enter the business world.

"Anyone who is going into business needs to spend time understanding other cultures, their people and their practices," he says.

Kmetz, an associate professor of business administration, says he wants to encourage participation by making it easier for students to get information.

"The idea is to have a single point of contact for all things international," he says. "For students, my job is to make them aware of and get them involved in international programs. For the faculty, I serve as an information bank."

This Winter Session, B&E study-abroad programs will travel to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Geneva, Australia and New Zealand, all offering courses taught in English at overseas universities.

The programs for undergraduates feature courses in economics and in business administration. MBA students can take courses at the Central European University Graduate School of Business in Budapest, where they'll interact with officials of companies still grappling with the transformation of the business practices in former Eastern Bloc countries and the ongoing development of the European Union.

The fall and spring programs offer full semesters abroad, this year in London or Granada, Spain. Some students are reluctant to spend a semester overseas because they are afraid they'll lose time and credits, but Kmetz calls that "an incorrect perception."

"We can work with them to find overseas courses that will keep them on schedule to graduation," he says.

Students in the Granada program live in private Spanish homes while attending classes. The program is multidisciplinary, which means that courses other than business also are offered and students from other colleges also are enrolled.

Class time is combined with a variety of social and cultural activities. The first few days are spent in Madrid. Once classes start, there are weekend trips to the Andalusian cities of Cordoba and Seville and to the Costa del Sol and day trips in Granada.

Students who spend their fall or spring semesters in London live in furnished flats with easy access to the London Underground, shopping and markets. They attend economics and other classes at UD's London Centre, a restored Georgian row house next door to the one-time home of novelist Charles Dickens. Classes meet in museums, galleries, theatres or government institutions. An internship program allows U.S. students to work in Parliament, at government offices or with political parties or lobbyists.

Kmetz says he is working toward giving students a wider choice of countries in which to spend a semester and is negotiating with other overseas universities to set up exchange programs.

B&E students also have exchange opportunities with Bond University in Australia, Jönköping International Business School in Sweden, University Lyon II in France, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Korea and Soka University in Japan. To participate in the French, Korean and Japanese programs, students must speak the language.

Along with trying to expand the number and range of partnering agreements and universities hosting study-abroad programs, Kmetz is working with companies overseas to develop internship opportunities for B&E students.

Business students also can take part next spring in two web-based courses that feature international cooperation and travel. Business administration seniors at UD and at the Moscow State University Higher School of Economics in Russia will take a course together via the web. Then, at some point in the semester, some of the Russians will come to Delaware and some UD students will travel to Moscow to meet with their counterparts.

The second web-based partnership is in a marketing course, where B&E students will work with the Baltic Business School in Sweden, with a similar exchange planned.

"The University of Delaware was the first in the nation to send students abroad [in 1923], and maybe because this University has always done it, travel abroad is somewhat taken for granted," Kmetz says. "We can't rest on our laurels. The College is devoting resources to increasing study abroad, and we're hoping both students and faculty will take advantage of it."

--Barbara Garrison