Teaching Business Classes Abroad: How International Experience Benefits Faculty, Students, and Institutions

Abstract

International educational experiences can provide benefits for faculty members as well as higher education institutions and their students. The opportunity to lecture and conduct research with colleagues at universities in other countries can foster the globalization or internationalization of academic teaching, the advancement of knowledge, and cooperation among institutions. Research has shown that the experience abroad helps educators to gain a more global perspective that will enhance business classes. This article will show that a Fulbright experience abroad helps faculty to lead business students to be more knowledgeable and aware of international issues and global concerns.

What Are We Teaching Abroad? Faculty Goals for Short-Term Study Abroad Courses

“…Faculty members' prior international experience/intercultural competence was another notable area of difference among the goals of the faculty members in our survey. The study abroad literature points to the importance of considering faculty members' own intercultural competence as a predictor of their approaches to teaching abroad (e.g., Goode, 2008;Miglietti, 2015;Paige & Goode, 2009); and we found some limited, but nuanced, support for this assertion. Although we did not have a direct measure of intercultural competence, which may have led to different conclusions, we did not find two variables that are likely to be related to intercultural competence -speaking multiple languages and being born outside of the U.S. -to be significantly related to faculty members' goals.…”

“…In a recent study of short-term study abroad course instructors, Niehaus, Reading, Nelson, Wegener and Arthur (2018) found rank, gender, race, discipline, and prior international travel experiences to be significant predictors of the extent to which faculty members engaged in various forms of cultural mentoring while teaching abroad. Other researchers have identified the importance of faculty members' prior experience, particularly prior international experience, in shaping their own intercultural competence and thus their approach to facilitating students' intercultural development (e.g., Goode, 2008;Miglietti, 2015;Paige & Goode, 2009). Discipline may be particularly important in understanding goals for short-term study abroad because faculty members' disciplinary training and socialization in some fields may lead them to emphasize disciplinary content over reflection, experience, and intercultural learning (Lutterman-Aguilar & Gignerich, 2002).…”

University Educators’ Experiences of Teaching Abroad: The Promotion of Cross-cultural Competence

“…As Schlein and Garii (2011) explained, educators can use international experiences to become "culturally enhanced" (p. 82) and bring these enhancements back to their classrooms and back to their colleagues. In her study of business faculty who participated in an international educational experience, Miglietti (2015) found that they changed their teaching by increasing the global content of their classes.…”

Student Exchange: The First Step Toward International Collaboration

“…Some universities have faculty exchange programs which provide benefits for faculties as well as their universities. An opportunity to lecture in another university is an invaluable experience [35]. Experience abroad helps faculty members enhance their understanding of global issues.…”