BEINDP is a mandatory business class for all students that are declared business majors. This is a three credit class that is offered every fall and spring semester. Fall 2018 was the first year that this course offered the opportunity for those in the class to network and communicate with other students from different parts of the world and now students enrolled within the class this semester are given the opportunity to speak with students from places such as Germany and Thailand.

Within the curriculum, each student is given a case study and their job is to analyze the key details on a job’s requirements and determine what fictional character is best suited for which job.

“They gave us a list of their work ethic and personality type and we just have to choose based off of the information they gave as to where we thought they were best suited and were just comparing with the students from Germany on what they thought,” said Grace Jesuit, BEINDP student.

This exercise is incorporated in many other business classes to continuously grow the students cultural intelligence as they get close to pursuing their careers.

“You can’t assume that people are like you and you can’t assume that your way is the best way. That is a tough lesson to learn and we’re trying to open their eyes and maybe stimulate a little bit of interest in international business. This is going to be their future,” said Carol Scovotti, coordinator for international business programs and director of institutional business collaboration.

There are currently half a dozen collaborations within the college. For instance, the Netherlands, UW-Whitewater and Winona State University are some of the colleges involved in sales negotiations. There is also a financial banking course that is working with students from Thailand, which is a much more extensive project. There are analysts of social media sites in groups with Dutch students, and the sales negotiation class broker and form sales teams with students in the Netherlands.

“Starting it here gives them a little bit of a taste and when they get upper level courses they get some more sustained partnerships and collaborations and a little more experience. Students walk away from this saying ‘I want to go to Thailand, now I want to go to Germany’. I always tell my students ‘when you start understanding other cultures then it helps you understand decision making processes and when you are leaders in the business you can make better decisions as well,’” said Michele Peetz, Department of Management Lecturer.

There are more than six hundred students that are working with students from different countries and the program is only growing. Through these courses, the goal is to not only have students interact with people from different countries, but have them learn how to be successful business leaders.

All students are encouraged to take a BEINDP course as it is not just for students studying business. Professor Carol Scovotti can be contacted via email [email protected] or during her office hours in Hyland Hall room 3432, as well as Professor Julie Woletz, [email protected] and her office is also located in Hyland Hall, room 4502.