International Experience For International Business Majors

In October 2002, the CBA approved an international experience requirement for the International Business (IB) major. Starting in the spring of 2003, all entering IB majors are required to study or intern abroad for at least a summer or, preferably, a semester, during their upper division studies. For international students, neither the U. S. nor their native country qualify. To comply with this new requirement, students will be able to study on any of the semester-long international student exchange or summer-abroad programs sponsored by the CBA, the summer and semester-long programs offered by the Consortia of Jesuit Universities' China Study Program or by the Loyola College of Arts and Sciences faculty, or independently arranged study programs (whether for a summer or for a semester) proposed by the student and approved by the CBA. Also, IB majors will be able to intern abroad, whether at opportunities obtained by the student or by the CBA, with proper virtual supervision by a faculty member.

With this new requirement, the CBA aims at ensuring that all future IB graduates will have a credible international experience.

Until now, only about half of all graduating IB majors studied or worked abroad. Most others experienced financial difficulties that prevented them from going abroad. To overcome such a hurdle, the CBA has made a commitment to tap resources with which to offer study abroad scholarships (covering roundtrip airfares) to those facing financial difficulties. In addition, the CBA is committed to further expand and strengthen its global network of alliances with leading business schools abroad. Loyola's IB majors develop advanced expertise in at least one modern foreign language and in the basic understanding of the region of the world where that language is spoken, in addition to the basics of International Business. For the latter, majors can choose six IB electives from the following (most offered every semester): International Economics, International Finance, International Marketing, International Management, Multinational Strategy, Global Startups, International Business Law, Import/ Export Operations, Global Supply Chain Management, Economic Development, and Latin American Business.

In adopting this new requirement, the CBA faculty recognized the need to establish new standards so as to place its IB students among the best prepared in the world. Actually, the CBA's IB majors already rank on top: during the past six years they have been scoring in the top 95-99 percentile of the international studies component of the ETS test. With the new requirement, future IB majors, as has been the case of those who have studied or worked abroad already, will have firsthand experiences that will help them:

• better define their long-term professional development goals;
• understand, appreciate, and thrive in cultures other than their own, and in organizations composed of and serving individuals with diverse social and ethnic backgrounds;
• conduct business transactions in at least two languages using the practical skills and modern techniques of management practice;
• feel comfortable in reconciling conflicting ethical, political, and economic dilemmas of the emerging global economy;
• incorporate both the broad and specific implications of global trends and unexpected events into the design and implementation of business strategies; and
• assume positions of responsibility in internationally-oriented organizations in which they will leverage managerial skills and expertise.

The above outcomes are consistent with the CBA's ultimate educational mission: to prepare and graduate individuals with the capability and motivation to become effective and socially responsible business and community leaders who possess a love for, the critical intelligence to pursue, and the eloquence to articulate truth.

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