Lubar School of Business Receives $175,000 Grant from U.S. Department of Education to Expand Internationalization Initiatives
The Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business has been awarded a $175,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to expand curricular internationalization and overseas learning opportunities for Lubar School students. Dean V. Kanti Prasad and Richard C. Notebaert Professor Margaret Shaffer are the co-principal investigators of the grant project entitled “Access to Global Success,” which was one of only 23 proposals funded in this year’s Business and International Education (BIE) grant program.
“The BIE grant will further the Lubar School’s longstanding commitment to providing students with a strong international business education, as well as experiential learning regarding a foreign culture and its way of doing business,” said Dean V. Kanti Prasad.
The two-year grant will allow the Lubar School to develop new business study abroad programs to China and India. While abroad, students will attend academic presentations on the host country’s economy and culture, and interact with top foreign and expatriate executives, who will provide valuable insights into international business to complement the program’s academic content. Under the direction of faculty, groups of students will visit China in the first year and India in the second year of the grant.
The BIE grant will also enable the School to offer a new international internship program focused on providing students with business experience in emerging market economies, including China and India. Each year, the School will send five to six business students to live and work in an emerging market, partnering with Wisconsin firms with significant foreign operations.
As part of the grant, the Lubar School will also sponsor faculty to participate in professional development programs in the area of international business. “These efforts will enable faculty to infuse international dimensions in teaching courses and conducting research in their specific business disciplines,” noted Professor Shaffer.
The Lubar School has long provided study abroad options to business students. Its undergraduate and graduate students study in an array of foreign locations, including London, England; Dublin, Ireland; Bordeaux and Paris, France; Giessen, Germany, and Lima, Peru.
Opening up business study opportunities in China and India will give students a “leg up” as they enter the global workforce, noted Prasad. “Through the development of these new programs, the Lubar School will provide its students with a global mindset as well as knowledge and cross-management skills necessary to function effectively in today’s highly competitive global business environment,” he said.
