Global Digital Business Review
Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007, pp. 1 13-18
ISSN 1931 1931-8146, All rights reserved

INTERNATIONALIZING THE BUSINESS FACULTY VIA AN
INTERNATIONAL SPRING TOUR: IMPLICATIONS FOR AACSB
ACCREDITED HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY
BUSINESS PROGRAMS

Donald Vest, Clark Atlanta University, USA

Charles Moses, Clark Atlanta University, USA

ABSTRACT

In today’s global economy, the internationalization of the business faculty is a dire necessity. As the intellectual and driving force of academic institutions, a cadre of faculty, or indeed the entire faculty, must participate in the internationalization paradigm shift. The International Spring Tour provides first-hand, experiential learning to faculty participants and represents one of the many creative and holistic ways to internationalize. Although augmenting traditional foreignexchanges, which range from summer programs to yearly Fulbright awards, the International Spring Tour, unlike traditional exchange programs, only lasts two weeks and takes place during spring break. This, in turn, causes little disruption in the responsibilities and lifestyles of the  participants while helping to internationalize the college, curriculum, faculty, and students.

INTRODUCTION

     Under the status quo, internationalizing the business curriculum presupposes that the business faculty is mindful of the importance of international business and capable of teaching it to various academic constituents, namely students. Since students rely on faculty as their primary source of information (Webb et al., 1999), academic institutions must focus on initiatives that facilitate and expedite the internationalization process, especially sending faculty abroad. In 1993, 25-business faculty from HBCUs, met at UCLA as part of the Nissan HBCU Summer Institute to discuss ways to internationalize the college and business curriculum at HBCUs (Joshi, 1993). Pedagogical issues regarding infusing internationalization into the business curriculum and international faculty exchange programs were the focus of the weeklong conference. “More and more students attending traditionally black colleges and universities are receiving undergraduate business degrees, a trend that bodes well for increasing the number of African Americans in business। But while Black colleges are proud of their business programs, they continue to strive for increased involvement from corporate America and improvements in their teaching of such topics as entrepreneurship and international business” (Joshi, August 14, 1993, p।1)।

     Recently, a collaborative internationalization initiative, launched by the Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) and 11 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, was designed to develop stronger international business programs (Banerji, 2002). “Specifically, the initiative will help 11 Black schools recruit qualified faculty for international affairs and business courses, offer more international affairs and foreign language courses and expand overseas internship programs for students” (Banerji, 2002, p.1).

INTERNATIONALIZATION IMPETUS AT AMERICAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS

     Excluding internationalization initiatives undertaken by colleges and universities on their own accord, in recent times, the impetus behind the internationalization of American business schools has been caused by two major factors: corporate leaders who seek to hire graduates who can handle international responsibilities (Webb et al., 1999) and accrediting boards such as the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), formerly known as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, who require their accredited schoolsto internationalize (Turley & Shannon, 1999)।

     According to Shetty and Rudell (2000), “The purpose of internationalizing business education is to increase the competence of the managers trained by business schools for doing business globally” (p. 104). A study by Kwok et al., (1994) revealed that working abroad received the highest mean score, followed by interacting with people of other cultures, and finally studying and traveling abroad (Webb et al., 1999). Another study that compared business programs in the United States to programs in Canada, Latin America, Western Europe and Japan revealed that the U.S. faculty had lower levels of international expertise than their overseas counterparts (Webb et al., 1999). And in particular, European schools were more likely to include the participation in internationalization initiatives as a formal part of faculty evaluations for promotion and tenure decisions (Shetty & Rudell, 2000). The other force causing a paradigm shift in the internationalization of business education is the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (Keating & Byles, 1991). “Partly in response to these exhortations, but
also because business educators themselves had become aware that all business graduates must have some knowledge of international business, the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), in 1974, broadened its standards to require that business curricula reflect the worldwide as well as the domestic aspects of business” (Ball & McCulloch, 1993, p. 1). Manuel et al. (2002) report, “Internationalization of the business
curriculum is mandated by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and other accrediting agencies, but the accrediting bodies have recognized that there is no one best way to achieve this goal” “Since the mid-1990s, when accreditation standards changed to include more schools, an outpouring of support from companies pushing diversity sent Black B-schools on an improvement frenzy” (Merritt, 2001, p. 3).

     According to the White House Initiative on HBCUs (www.ed.gov), there are 89 four-year HBCUs, of which 76 have business programs. According to the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the following 20 HBCU business programs are accredited:

 

Clark Atlanta University
Delaware State University
Fayetteville State University
Grambling State University
Howard University
Jackson State University
Morehouse College
Morgan State University
Norfolk State University
North Carolina A&T State University
North Carolina Central University
Prairie View State University
Savannah State University
South Carolina State University
Southern University and A&M College
Tennessee State University
Texas Southern University
Tuskegee University
Winston-Salem State University
Virginia State University

For the full article, please follow the link below!