International Business
ENGAGING THE WORLD FROM THE NATION'S CAPITAL
The pandemic was a disruptor, yet it also offered unprecedented front-line opportunities to deepen understanding of global business. Our students learned — in real time — how national industries, multinational corporations, and international supply chains adapted to fast-changing conditions, including border shutdowns and shipping and manufacturing turmoil.
“We made sure students were still able to use global-based learning to understand global context even when they weren’t able to travel to other countries,” said Bryan Andriano, assistant dean of operations and Global & Experiential Education.
Specific projects helped students understand the impact of COVID-19 on the Belize Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Marriott International in Singapore, the International Olympic Committee in Japan, and PwC in Germany. A project focused on cultural tourism in Kazakhstan, meanwhile, became a COVID-19-focused tourism project with a U.S. partner. Global MBA students also took part in virtual engagements that involved Denmark, France, Ghana, Mexico, Rwanda, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
The study and understanding of international business sit at the heart of the GW School of Business, which is ranked No. 1 for international business among U.S. institutions and No. 2 worldwide for its Global MBA program. Students seek out the school for its experiential learning requirements, its faculty from around the world, its nearly 55,000-alumni network that spans the globe, and for exposure to the largest international-student enrollment of any school at the George Washington University.
The school’s home in a global capital city also proved important. GWSB’s deeply entrenched connections to international development banks and institutions, the U.S. Department of States and other government agencies focused on world issues, foreign embassies, and international think tanks enabled the school to continue its momentum as a place where business education is viewed through a global lens.
“We made sure students were still able to use global-based learning to understand global context even when they weren’t able to travel to other countries,” said Bryan Andriano, assistant dean of operations and global and experiential education.
Throughout the academic year, GW School of Business students are typically found all over the world, studying abroad, working on international consultancies, or engaged in capstone projects with overseas corporate clients. The experiences encompass partnerships with our alumni, large and small businesses, and prestigious partner universities in 22 cities. Some of the experiences also unfold in partnership with other schools at GW.
When students couldn’t travel, the school took other routes to ensure that global business exposure remained part of the student experience. International consultancies took place virtually. Students in short-study programs found their programs seamlessly converted into online global programs. International students, meanwhile, were given projects with U.S. companies.
“We’re used to thinking in complex ways at GW. Obstacles created by the pandemic presented a new dimension for how we needed reframe or refocus our work,” said Andriano.
The forces that impact international business are especially germane to the work of the school’s linchpin, the prestigious GW Center for International Business Education and Research (GW-CIBER). One of only 15 such federally funded centers throughout the country, GW-CIBER saw its work resonating in dynamic ways during the 2020-2021 academic year as students watched businesses go virtual against the backdrop of the pandemic.
GW-CIBER Director Anna Helm, an associate teaching professor of international business, usually leads a consulting course that takes students to Sweden. That undertaking, for example, was converted into a virtual learning experience. Executives of high-tech Swedish businesses joined commercial officials from the Swedish Embassy, Sweden’s trade promotion office, and Swedish startup companies who engaged with GW School of Business students online.
GW-CIBER also responded in high-impact ways to the tight job market facing students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic significantly impacted the availability of jobs and internships. We had to figure out how to keep our students moving forward in a professional way,” Helms said. The solution was a summer immersion experience that ran for nine weeks.
Helm said the boot camp helped level the playing field for students who might otherwise have been hampered by the cost of travel for their experiential learning experience and that she hoped it would become a permanent fixture at GWSB. She added, however, that students who want to lead, compete and excel in a fast-changing global environmental benefit most from in-country exposure.
“There is nothing to compensate for putting feet on the ground in different countries and for face-to-face networking,” she said. “Students need to have their eyes and their souls opened to the fact that people handle business differently in different parts of the world. That is one thing that was missed during the pandemic.”