Grant to Help Internationalize CBA From: University Currents Date: April 14, 2000 By: Carey Hoffman Phone: (513) 556-1825 Photo: courtesy of Raj Mehta Archive: Campus News, General News The way Steve Salter sees it, familiarity with international business can no longer be an optional part of a business education. "Not everyone is going to be asked to manage a subsidiary in some far-off country," Salter says. "But they are going to be asked for information that pertains to global business." That's why Salter is among those leading the efforts to strengthen international business education in the College of Business Administration (CBA). Salter, associate professor of accounting and information systems, is also the executive director of CBA's Center for Global Competitiveness (CGC), which received a major boost this year through a newly won grant. The center received a Title VI-B Business and International Education Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant runs through 2001 and provides $172,000 in funding to CBA in partnership with the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce. "The grant was obtained because we were able to demonstrate to the Department of Education that Cincinnati is an area of significant export activity, but was under served in providing training for global managers. Further we could show that if it received the grant, CBA had the potential and commitment to internationalize the management pool in the Greater Cincinnati area," Salter says. To that end, grant money is being used to fund several initiatives: A program called Faculty Development in International Business (FDIB) is being used to enhance the international business experiences of CBA faculty. An initiative to create and improve business links in Latin America will send CBA students and faculty to the region, including the MERCOSUR free trade region that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. A technological component will use distance learning and Internet tools to link CBA classes to learning opportunities around the world. "The grant is having a phenomenal impact on the college," says Susan Sadlier, CBA's director of International Programs, who points out it has greatly expanded international opportunities for the college's undergraduate enrollment. CBA has adopted the pyramid model of International Business (IB) Competence for setting program objectives. At the base level of the pyramid is simple awareness of the differences in doing business between countries. This knowledge then grows to the understanding level where basic tools for entering the global business world are learned. Finally through experience abroad and intensive language study a competence level is achieved. Learning about the subject starts at the base level for both student and faculty. About 25 CBA faculty per year participate in Center for Global Competitiveness programs. By the time faculty members reach the top of the pyramid, they are prepared enough to not only teach about international business but to enter into research at a foreign location. A student who reaches the top is expertly prepared to pursue international opportunities in business. "The idea is that no UC student will leave this college without at least reaching the level of that pyramid where they have an understanding," Salter says. Every undergrad in CBA is required to take either a foreign language sequence or a series of international area studies. Many go further through travel opportunities to non-U.S. markets. "One of the objectives with the grant was for every student to have some form of significant international experience," Salter says. For about one-third of CBA's current undergrads, that translates into a trip to Windsor, Ontario, to learn firsthand the details of cross-border commerce. (A group of 50 will be leaving for three days on May 4.) Others participate in distance learning, such as a global marketing class that brings students at Canadian universities together with UC students via distance learning technology. In the fall, that arrangement will be extended to include a university in Finland. Then there are the experiences open to undergrads with a more focused interest in international business. Honors-PLUS students will get a terrific opportunity to learn in Europe. Students in the International Business (IB) integral of the college have expanded opportunities to study overseas, including a standing six-week summer program at Ecole Superieure de Nantes-Atlantique University in France and a split quarter - studying half the quarter at UC, the second half at a university in Chiang Mai, Thailand. At minimum, IB students will make a trip to Montreal to experience business in a different culture. MBA students also have multiple international options, including 10-day study abroad programs in Austria, France, Germany and Thailand. The Title VI-B grant is also allowing CBA to bring in foreign professors for short courses for the part-time MBA students. A professor from Great Britain is teaching international human resources this month; in May, a professor from South Korea will teach international finance.