Volume 13, Number 1, 2004
As the University's study-abroad programs have expanded in recent years to meet a growing demand for graduates with international experience, the Lerner College of Business and Economics also has increased opportunities for its students to gain hands-on knowledge of today's global business operations.
The College sponsored a record number of undergraduate and graduate study-abroad programs during this year's Winter Session, which is the time when most UD international programs are offered. Some of the business programs were brand-new this year, with Australia an especially popular destination, while a trip to Geneva was just the latest installment of the College's longest-running study-abroad program.
In the business world, students who have participated in study abroad usually have an advantage over other graduates when it comes to employment, according to John Kmetz, associate professor of business administration and faculty director of international programs for the Lerner College.
"Study abroad really gives our students at all levels an exposure to the global business community," he says. "The more they learn about it firsthand and get a taste of what's out there, the better off we all are."
Kmetz adds that students, who may never have traveled out of the United States before, often report personal growth as well as educational benefits from the study-abroad experience. "There are a lot of students who have said over the years that the program was the high point of their academic careers," he says. "On every trip we've taken, at least one student has had a life-altering experience. It just helps them blossom."
All study-abroad programs at the University include regular, credit courses that students complete while overseas. Lerner College programs usually add their own, business-specific features, including visits to corporations in the host country, says John Sawyer, chairperson of the Department of Business Administration. Such visits are preceded by discussions that prepare the students for the different cultures and customs, and they offer students an opportunity to ask questions during the tours. The students generally are required to submit a report after the visit, Sawyer says.
"The primary benefit is that students are able to connect the material they are taught in the classroom with that business environment," he says. "We find that when students come back to the classroom after such a visit, they have a context. When they go into the job market, they have a much richer understanding of the business environment as well as the global environment."
For James J. Culyer, BE '05, studying in Australia during Winter Session "provided me with many new friends, great experiences ... and knowledge of an international market." He says he observed how the more relaxed culture of the country seems to influence its business operations.
"Not everything has to be rushed, and people are more understanding, creating a better social environment," he says.
The program in which Culyer participated was one of three from the College held in Australia in January. A Department of Accounting and MIS program looked at multinational firms and the unique business challenges they face in Australia, which is both sparsely populated and geographically isolated from much of the rest of the world. The students focused on global issues in information technology and also took a course in international accounting.
A group of business administration students toured a dozen companies and organizations in Sydney, while taking seminars in international management and international marketing. The emphasis was on Australia's role as a key business hub for emerging Asia-Pacific businesses and markets.
The third Winter Session program Down Under, sponsored by the Department of Economics, looked at the internationalization of financial, labor and output markets and explored comparative health-care issues. Participants took courses examining regulation in a global economy and the health and labor markets of Australia and New Zealand.
In addition to the Australian programs, Winter Session students traveled to Europe to visit companies in various countries, some that are members of the European Union and others that are former Soviet Bloc nations. Another European program, which began almost 30 years ago, traveled again to Geneva, where students attended lectures and visited businesses, banks and some of the many international organizations based there.
New this year was a study-abroad program in which UD students traveled to Peru in an innovative effort to better understand corporate social responsibility and sustainable business practices around the world. Jennifer Gregan-Paxton, assistant professor of business administration, says the program was the first of its kind to bring together businesses, academics, local communities and such nongovernmental organizations as the Red Cross.
--Martin Mbugua