Global studies: Indiana business schools adopt a world view.

"IT'S A DIFFERENT WORLD we're living in now, and students have to be more strongly engaged in the world than ever before," says Patrick O'Meara, Indiana University's vice president for international affairs. "No business school can afford not to be global."

Such a view elicits nods of agreement at business schools across the state. Now more than ever, students are getting a business education infused with a world view, whether or not they actually declare a major in international business.

"We start our program from the beginning with a global perspective," says Dean Schroeder, associate dean for graduate programs in management at Valparaiso University. Setting the tone, he says, is the first required reading assignment: the Thomas Friedman book The World is Flat. International business, according to Schroeder, "is not something that you can afford to just have as a specialized course or an elective."

"We integrate globalization as a primary theme for business education," agrees Bob Clark, dean of the Schroeder Family School of Business Administration at the University of Evansville and director of the Institute for Global Enterprise in Indiana. The global focus comes through coursework, study-abroad opportunities and a series of outside speakers who address students and Evansville business leaders on international business topics. "We have a specific concentration in global business for those who want to specialize, but in general we weave global business throughout all of our business curriculum."

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And at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, the global perspective is so important that it is listed as one of the MBA program's six primary goals: "Each student will have an understanding of global influences on business decisions/plans and/or develop plans for managing a business in a global environment."

"The likelihood that any college student today is going to work in an organization that does business internationally is very strong," observes Doug Naffziger, director of international programs at the Miller College of Business at Ball State University.

Global studies on campus. "Currently, we have close to 30 students who have selected an international business major," says Ray Montagno, associate dean for research and outreach at the Miller College of Business. "They take a full complement of international courses and also a concentration in some functional area," such as marketing or finance. The major has requirements for language proficiency and global studies in the humanities, as well as some type of international field study or internship.

Foreign language is part of the requirement at University of Evansville as well, Clark says, noting that only a quarter of business schools accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business have that requirement. "We incorporate that into the curriculum requirement through general education."

At IU's Kelley School of Business, international business can be chosen as a second major, paired with another Kelley undergraduate major. Global components also are strong in the MBA program, and O'Meara points out that many of the students enrolled in the online Kelley Direct MBA are overseas themselves, including participants in a Kelley partnership with Cummins Inc. "It's been developed from the ground up. It'll be offered in India with Cummins Engine in Pune," he says.

At Purdue University, the Krannert School of Management incorporates a global perspective in a variety of ways, most overtly through the international management option in its master's program. Students choosing this option are advised to choose such coursework as international accounting, international strategy and international human resource management, and explore such opportunities as study abroad and work with the university's Center for International Business Education and Research.

Study abroad. Overseas learning is a growing component of global business education. Indiana's business programs offer a wide variety of study-abroad opportunities.

The Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, for example, supplements such on-campus courses as international manufacturing and entrepreneurship in developing countries with intensive, for-credit overseas studies. It offers an eight-credit module at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado campus in Santiago, Chile, as well as a pair of two-credit, 10-day study trips--one to Brussels/Munich/Prague and the other to Beijing and Shanghai.

Notre Dame's European trip explores the economic, legal and political institutions of the European Union, as well as its trade policy and business opportunities. The China trip covers similar topics relating to China, and offers some basic language instruction along with cultural learning.

Valparaiso also offers a business experience in China each spring, says Schroeder. "Our China trip involves not just culture, but we get into about 10 different businesses in Shanghai and take a train up to Beijing and spend some time there."

Students learn success tips directly from Chinese entrepreneurs, including those who run the Youngman Automotive Group. "Eight years ago they made bicycle tires, but today they're the No. 1 producer of luxury coaches in China," he says. "I'm fascinated to find out what they're doing and why they're doing it."

China also was the destination for a group of Purdue Krannert School of Management students during the summer. They took part in internships at several companies in Beijing and Shenzhen, according to Kwei Tang, associate dean for programs and student services. "Top managers in these companies wanted to create a cultural exchange but also wanted to learn more about how Americans conduct business. This kind of experiential learning goes beyond the classroom setup and is invaluable to our students."

Similar opportunities are available through the Kelley International Perspectives program at IU. KIP is a series of seven-week courses that conclude with a 10- to 12-day field research trip to the country being studied. The studies are informative, of course, but so is the experience planning them. Up to five student leaders propose each KIP course nearly a year in advance, and the student leaders are involved in planning the trip's curriculum, marketing, logistics, finances and speakers.

At the University of Evansville, overseas study is common. In fact, says Clark, the university "ranks third in the country among master's-level universities in terms of the percentage of graduates who have engaged in study abroad--60 percent or more." As many as 150 students each year travel to the university's Harlaxton College in England, and another hundred typically study elsewhere around the world, he says.

Ball State's business school also makes a strong push to get its students overseas for hands-on learning, says Montagno. "We've established a goal to have at least one in four of our students get some kind of study-abroad experience."

Business programs with a global focus are clearly good for the students involved. O'Meara at IU argues that the state's economy is also a major beneficiary. "If you're going to keep people in Indiana and have jobs in Indiana, the opportunities are going to go to those who know how to operate in this wide> world context."