Maryland Smith Undergraduate Students Excel at International CIBE Case Challenge

Santiago Luna, the coordinator for the Center for Global Business at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, writes about the CIBE Case Challenge held November 7–11, 2018 at the University of Connecticut.

The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business was represented by four undergraduate students at the 2018 CIBE Case Challenge hosted by the University of Connecticut. The competition, which took place Nov. 7–11, 2018, included students from universities across the world. Students were organized in teams with participants from other U.S. and international universities and tackled an international business case over the course of the weekend.

From Maryland Smith, Nadine Eloseily, an international business major, won the award for the best presenter and two teams with Smith students were awarded first and second prize in the competition. The students that participated in this year’s competition are Nadine Eloseily, class of 2020, Diksha Garg, class of 2020, Mignon Kim, class of 2019 and Christina Zhang, class of 2021. 

The Maryland Smith students were advised by Zeinab Karake, clinical professor at the Smith School's department of decision, operations and information technologies. Karake has advised teams competing in the case challenge for the past four years. “The CIBE case competition was a stunning success for our students!” said Karake, “they competed against teams coming from universities around the United States, as well as teams from around the world — Italy and South Africa. Our students are great citizens and superb ambassadors. They make us so very proud! [ . . . ] The young ladies who competed in the competition indicated to me that this was the highlight of their college education!” 

Diksha Garg, a finance major, reported on the experience and shared some of the highlights, which included a tour of the new Maker-Space on UConn’s campus, a new collection of UConn and CIBE merchandise, and new friendships forged during the competition. 

This event was sponsored in part by the Smith School’s Title VI grant known as CIBE (Center for International Business Education). As one of 15 schools nationwide to host a CIBE grant, the Smith School serves as a national resource center and provides support for university students across the U.S. who seek to expand their knowledge of international business.