Schools Set Global Track, For Students and Programs

By DIANA MIDDLETON

Globalization is the buzzword among business schools, and many programs are stepping up their efforts to expand offerings abroad.

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Eric Palma

Most business schools now offer some sort of global component in their curriculum to prepare their students for work overseas and to raise the schools' international profile.

Schools, like Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, have opened entire campuses overseas. Other schools facilitate student or faculty exchanges with schools in countries as far-reaching as Turkey and Chile. There are also consortium memberships and training agreements offered by some domestic programs to foreign schools.

Still, there is skepticism if such efforts adequately prepare students for work overseas.

"To become sophisticated enough to work and live in another country, you have to be there for at least six months to a year," said Warren Bennis, professor at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.

A report released in February by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business questioned the veracity of some schools' alliances, including weakness in assessing their effectiveness.

Robert Bruner, dean of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, which offers a global M.B.A. for executives, says schools are still experimenting with several prototypes. "The consequence of a wave of innovation is that many models emerge," said Mr. Bruner, head of the task force that wrote the AACSB report.

Although most students don't go abroad for their first jobs, according to schools' data, some schools said teaching case studies about international companies or creating diverse classes, help students get a leg up in the global job market.

However, recruiters hiring M.B.A.s for global positions said that a school's efforts alone often aren't enough to nab an international job.

There may be a disconnect between schools' globalization efforts, and specific skills employers want in job candidates.

Applicants for global positions at consulting firm Bain & Co. need to demonstrate proficiency in another language, such as Mandarin, French or Korean. Candidates also get an edge if their previous experience garnered exposure to international companies.

"Many business schools offer opportunities for students to go abroad, but I don't know if that's sufficient in its own right," says Russ Hagey, senior partner and worldwide chief talent officer at Bain.

Boston-based Hult International Business School has campuses in London, Shanghai, San Francisco and Dubai, with a New York City campus on the horizon. Each campus is a big draw for students—in 2010 the school enrolled 425 M.B.A.s, this year it will expand to 625—which school president Stephen Hodges attributes to the global campuses. Indeed, half of Hult students take advantage of studying on one of its overseas campuses.

Each new campus costs between $15 million to $20 million, says Mr. Hodges, but the rise in M.B.A. student enrollment will bring in about $11.1 million a year in additional tuition revenue, although it will likely be less because of scholarships.

Alliances with foreign schools are a more cost-effective way for schools to expand their global reach.

Alliances have proven popular with Babson College, which recently added Bangkok University to its international consortium to the tune of $1 million. Under a 10-year agreement, Babson professors will help Bangkok University develop an entrepreneurship center, as well as train the faculty to run the center, says Shahid Ansari, provost of Babson.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has alliances with half a dozen schools, recently teamed up with Sabanci School of Management in Turkey. An MIT spokesman declined to disclose how much Sabanci paid for the alliance, but as part of the five-year agreement, students from Sabanci may study for two weeks at the MIT campus and Sabanci faculty members will work with MIT professors to do joint research, says S.P. Kothari, deputy dean at Sloan School of Management. MIT students benefit by having access to companies with ties to Sabanci.

Other schools, like the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley, rely on classes to give their students global exposure.

The Haas School of Business offers an international development class, in which students participate in mini-consulting projects for companies, like Nokia Corp. The goal of the class is for students to a create business plan or conduct research on how to expand a business in another country. The students aren't compensated, but the school collects a fee ranging from a couple thousand dollars to $15,000.

"This type of experience changes the way students think about the world," says Kristi Raube, executive director of the international business development program at Haas School. She says the fees collected help fund the class.

At Harvard Business School, a study trip abroad will soon be a requirement. Students will have to complete mini-consulting projects for companies.

David Smith, managing director at Accenture who works with clients to recruit M.B.A.s to global positions, said a broad global outlook, including understanding nuances in other cultures and a willingness to relocate, is key for landing top positions. Two otherwise identical applicants would have to prove they know how international markets differ from domestics ones, and show that they know how to manage expectations to team members in other countries.

"I don't know if two weeks abroad is enough," Mr. Smith says.

Write to Diana Middleton at diana.middleton@wsj.com