Exchange Magazine, Fall 2003 - Duke University's Fuqua School of ...

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FUQUA EXCHANGE
JOINING FORCES
FEATURE BY ANGELA THOMAS
The Fuqua School of Business is quickly becoming a recognized
name around the world as a leader in business education.
By joining forces with others, Fuqua has increased its reputation
in the worldwide arena. The saying that “no man is an
island” would also hold true for schools. It takes collaboration
with others to become and remain strong. Fuqua has mastered
this concept with the many alliances and programs it has established
over the years.
There are many arenas, both domestically and internationally,
in which Fuqua collaborates with others. One example of this
is the Global Academic Travel Experience or GATE courses.
This year, Fuqua is offering upwards of seven courses in the
Daytime program. Of those being offered, two new courses will
include separate studies about Cuba and India. These courses
provide an opportunity for students to expand their international
scope by studying for six weeks about a region or a
country before traveling overseas for 10 to 14 days to learn
about the business, government, economics and culture.
This will be the third year for the Weekend Executive MBA
students to participate in the GATE courses by studying and
visiting Western Europe. This year, the students will visit
Brussels, Frankfurt and Budapest. Tim Zacher, program assistant
for the international center, acknowledges that the
partnership of the multinational corporations, as well as local
and regional companies, is really the differentiating factor that
proves to make these courses a success. “The partnership with
these companies is essential to our program,” Zacher stated.
“The program exposes our students to the various companies
of the region, but at the same time, gets the Fuqua name out to
companies and organizations around the world that might not
otherwise have interaction with our school.”
Another program that relies heavily on partnerships is
Fuqua’s International Exchange Program. Fuqua has exchange
relationships with 26 international partner institutions around
the world, 17 of which are part of the Programme in
International Management or PIM network of business or economic
schools. The international program offers students the
opportunity to get a global perspective from their MBA degree
by allowing them to have total immersion into a foreign culture.
At the same time Fuqua students are heading abroad,
students from the various partner schools from around the
world converge on Fuqua. These students become immersed
into the American culture and the Fuqua experience. Once
they return to their respective countries, the students act as
ambassadors in spreading the word worldwide about the
school and its unique culture.
Wendy Sheets, program coordinator for the Fuqua Exchange
Program, is also responsible for the MBA Enterprise Corps.
This program is another good example of Fuqua aligning with
others to get its name out. “The MBA Enterprise Corps, a division
of Citizens Democracy Corps (CDC), is a non-profit
volunteer organization founded in 1990 by a consortium of
leading U.S. business schools,” Sheets explained. “By being a
member of this important organization, Fuqua recognizes that
it takes a team effort to make a difference in the world. No
school could do this alone. It takes a solid commitment and
coalition and in turn puts our name out there with some of the
best schools in the country.” Since its inception, the Corps has
increased from 16 to 52 participating institutions. The mission
of the Corps is to give recent MBA graduates the opportunity
to spend approximately 15 months abroad in an emerging
economy. The Corps is a unique partnership which allows students
to learn international business and cross-cultural skills
on-the-job by providing technical and managerial assistance to
local managers who have limited practice working under a free
market concept.
Recent Cross Continent graduate, Jenny Raymond, accepted
a position with the MBA Enterprise Corps after graduation