An International Education

MBA students at St. Mary’s are required to take at least one course devoted only to international business. The school’s “specialization in international business” program, which is an optional MBA track, lets students customize their course load to feature international marketing, international finance, or global entrepreneurship. And, as an international grand finale, all MBA students at the school travel abroad for 10 to 14 days before graduating to gather experiences and examples from overseas businesses. The students went to China this year. “Every St. Mary’s MBA graduates with a global perspective,” Gulliver says.

Well-Traveled Education

At the University of Minnesota, the Carlson School of Management’s international programs office has become an increasingly busy place, with twice as many MBA students going abroad to study last year versus the 2001–2002 academic year. The department, which offers a variety of international study programs, allows business students to earn Carlson School credit while studying in other countries. The international programs count as elective credit toward the MBA. Students can do a semester exchange or a “global enrichment elective,” which is a short-term program designed to give students a taste of international business without spending a semester abroad. Additionally, the Carlson Executive MBA program has a two-week required residency that takes students to various parts of the world. This residency is the capstone experience in the executive MBA program.

But the international programs office focuses on more than just sending students abroad. Carlson offers three global executive MBA programs in partnership with universities in Guangzhou, China; Warsaw, Poland; and Vienna, Austria. Carlson faculty members travel to these locations and teach classes to the local managers enrolled in the programs. Exposure to business issues in these foreign markets allows the visiting faculty to bring home one-of-a-kind international experience that can in turn be taught to MBA students in Minneapolis. In May of each year, students from Guangzhou, Warsaw, and Vienna come to Minneapolis to participate in joint classes with Carlson students.

The Carlson School of Management also strives to recruit international students, faculty, and staff, Houston says. Continuing with the global theme, MBA course options include “international environment in business,” “international marketing,” “strategic alliances,” and “international finance management,” among other courses. “We make sure every student leaves our program well rounded to work in a global market,” Houston says.

International Degree

Roger Prestwich, director of the international business program within the College of Management at Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis, says the MBA as a degree needs to further evolve in most schools if it is to keep up with increased internationalization of the business world. Prestwich, who is from England and has worked and studied in various countries, believes the current state of U.S. MBAs is still too American in emphasis, although emerging curriculum trends are moving in the right direction, he says.

“I would like to see MBAs internationalized in every respect,” he says, noting that many current MBA programs have a thin veil of internationalism and simply sprinkle in case studies and examples. “Very few schools, including my own, offer a completely internationalized MBA.”