Smith Undergraduate Students Explore the World

Greg Rafal, assistant director at the Center for Global Business, writes about the 2020 faculty-led, short-term winter semester program.

Undergraduate students at the Robert H. Smith School of Business completed another successful cycle of the faculty-led, short-term study abroad programs. This past winter semester, the Center for Global Business offered five programs that explored different topics in social entrepreneurship and innovation, accounting, supply chain management, globalization, and Brexit.

“These short-term programs provide students with opportunities to apply a comparative international perspective to their business education and professional careers. They are just one way in which we are preparing our students to become global business leaders,” said Rebecca Bellinger, executive director of the Center for Global Business.

The program, Supply Chain Management in Panama and Peru, led by Humberto Coronado, lecturer, and Greg Rafal, assistant director at the Center for Global Business, offered a new destination with a coveted subject. Students traveled to Panama City and Lima where they met with local companies and port authorities to discuss logistics and supply chain in Latin America. A highlight of the program was visiting and learning about the Panama Canal.

Social Entrepreneurship in the Contemporary South African Context is a program that introduced students to social enterprise in Cape Town. Led by Victor Mullins, associate dean of undergraduate programs and Jeanette Snider, associate director of undergraduate programs, students visited Cape Town and immersed themselves in the field of social innovation. They visited locally-owned companies and toured Robben Island, a UNESCO world heritage site, the former maximum-security prison where the late Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. The program exposed students to various opportunities to design creative, sustainable processes towards social change using multiple learning strategies.

The Impact of Globalization, Convergence and Fintech on the Financial Accounting Profession program in Singapore and Taiwan, led by associate clinical professors of accounting Eugene Cantor and Stephen Brown, served as the perfect host site since these two destinations are emblematic of globalization. Students visited leading tech companies and accounting firms to learn about the effects AI and technology will have on the accounting profession. Students explored the culture of both destinations and learned how to cook traditional dishes in a cooking workshop.

Students had the opportunity to explore the U.K. and Belgium on the Brexit: The Financial Effects on the EU and beyond led by Susan White, clinical professor and Karen Hallows, senior lecturer. This unique timing allowed students to hear from both sides about the implications of Brexit from companies in various sectors. In addition to companies, students learned how Brexit could affect the EU in a lecture at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, a Maryland Smith institutional partner.

After their return to College Park, all short-term study abroad students at Maryland Smith will relive their experiences together and take part in the 2020 Global Showcase where they will demonstrate their learning through a poster exhibition. Everyone in the Smith community is welcome to attend the global showcase on February 13.

For more information about study abroad programs, visit the Center for Global Business website at www.rhsmith.umd.edu/global.

The programs were supported in part by CIBE, a Title VI grant provided by the U.S. Department of Education.