Partnership (Intro Block)

Collaboration is essential to the success of GW Business. Partnerships are enhancing the school’s reputation, expanding its academic offerings, heightening its student experience, and strengthening its social impact. Relationships spread across a spectrum that touches government, the D.C. community, and private sector entities, nonprofits, and universities all around the world enable GW Business students to engage in high-quality experiential learning projects with global companies, to make a real impact, and to garner in-the-field experience that gives them an edge when entering the workforce.

Since 2006, GW Business has hosted one of 15 federally funded Centers for International Business Education and Research. GW-CIBER is a cornerstone of the school’s highly ranked international business program. In 2020-21, GW Business was selected by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate to lead a prestigious Center of Excellence in Security Technology Transition. The selection of GW Business to host the center underscores the school’s track record in developing cutting-edge, in-demand academic programming.

The Power of Partnerships

The GW School of Business also expanded its international exposure and opened exceptional opportunities for students and faculty research through its wide-ranging partnerships. In alignment with its forward-looking approach to business education, the school stepped up its engagement at the front line of urgent issues that resonate with business. As a follow-up to a series of public discussions on Artificial Intelligence and business, for example, GWSB is making plans to host an AI summit in 2022-2023 that draws in a number of voices.

Other ongoing partnerships stretch across a broad spectrum, including:

• Corporate: Corporate collaboration is a cornerstone of the school, and the most recent academic year included real-life projects with dozens of companies, ranging from Marriott International in Singapore to PwC in Germany to Stockholm Water Technology in Sweden to Turkish auto parts maker Nursan. Other unusual projects involved cultural tourism in Kazakhstan, a healthcare company in Ghana, and tourism investment in the Turks and Caicos. Student organizations took the initiative to also develop their own connections with corporations. The student consulting and finance organization GW TAMID accepted four consulting projects with tech startups in Israel while MZZ Ventures, a student-run pro bono consulting firm, completed three corporate social responsibility projects with companies in Uganda.
• Government: The new Center of Excellence with DHS is not the school’s only new partnership with the federal government. In a collaboration between the F. David Fowler Career Center and the U.S. Department of Energy, two DOE entities provided student consultancy opportunities focused on the transition to clean energy. A project with the Belize Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, meanwhile, helped students understand how COVID-19 affected a government agency in that Central American country.
• Nonprofit: GW Business has strong ties with the nonprofit world, particularly in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation. The International Council for Small Business holds joint events with the Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence at GW Business. The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship brings educators to GW Business for training programs that prepare teachers to inspire a spirit of entrepreneurship among low-income high school students. Springboard Enterprises, meanwhile, aims to move woman innovators and women-led businesses forward. It hosts events at the school. Through the F. David Fowler Career Center, students offered consulting services to D.C.-based nonprofit Raising a Village to provide children, youth, and families in underserved areas broader access to education, health services, and the arts.
• Educational: GW partnerships with higher education institutions on six continents allow students to have rich study-abroad learning experiences. GW Business also encourages collaborations closer to home. It partners with The GW Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, including in the planning and execution of the GW Business Plan Competition. In a collaboration the Elliott School of International Affairs and funding from Sustainable GW and Duke Energy, the school is involved in a sustainable energy solutions course. A separate partnership with the School of Engineering and Applied Science has permitted business students to work on projects with Swedish clean technology companies and a new degree program—developed jointly by SEAS and GW Business launches in fall 2021.
• Community: The GW Business partnership with the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development promises a far-reaching impact, but it was not the only D.C.-focused initiative that took place during the academic year. The school also continued its Business & Society Series. The series offers courses that look at the societal arena in which businesses operate, with an eye on political, economic, and cultural factors. Of special interest are the relationships businesses have with government agencies, multilateral organizations, macroeconomic institutions, and nongovernmental organizations. Onsite visits and lectures with leaders of major organizations and associations based in D.C. drive the learning.