Program News
IMBA bolsters global language partners
While increased globalization reduces barriers to cross-border interactions among people and
organizations, the majority of communications within a particular country take place in that
nation's local language. As companies and nongovernmental organizations increase their reliance on
international materials, manufacturing, and outsourced business processes, they need employees with
cultural understanding and foreign language skills to work with suppliers and customers scattered
around the globe.
The Moore School’s International MBA (IMBA) program has been ranked No. 1 or 2 in international business for 18 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. It has earned this distinction in large part because of its innovative Language Tracks. The school also offers the Global Track for those already fluent in a second language or who choose to focus on business in English-speaking countries.
The Language Tracks
Because fluency in another language is often critical for success in the global economy, students who select the language tracks combine their business education with intensive language training, as well as cultural training, in one of eight languages—Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese or Spanish.
In addition to language and cultural training, students have an internship in a country where the people speak the language they have studied. IMBA students spend at least seven months living, studying, and working-immersed-in foreign culture, language, and organizational environments.
Evolution of an Innovative Idea
The Moore School began its foray into international business specialization in the early 1970s. The School believed that fluency in a second language was critical for success in what it saw as an increasingly global economy and decided to include an innovative foreign language component to its full-time graduate business degree program.
For 27 years, students received foreign language instruction primarily on the USC campus in Columbia, South Carolina. To acculturate the students before they began their internships abroad, the Moore School arranged for students to attend a two-month summer immersion experience at a school abroad. There the students studied language, culture, political science, and geography.
While subtle changes to language delivery were made over the years, in 2006 the IMBA program substantially changed the architecture of language training. The crux of the change is providing students with maximum in-country experiences. “Environment is critically important to gaining insight into the nuance and convention of language. It’s also a vehicle to greater cultural insight into a community,” said Dr. David Hudgens, IMBA Associate Director and Track Manager for the Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and Arabic Tracks.
The new architecture entails 16-week, 35-hour-per-week, full-immersion language training for most tracks (novices of Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese study language full-time for one year).
Steven J. Sacco, Language Education Consultant and Chair of the International Business Program and Professor of French at San Diego State University, describes the new language instruction architecture as “bold and forward thinking. It establishes USC as the leader in language instruction for IMBA programs, setting the bar higher for language proficiency than any other MBA or IMBA programs in the U.S.”
Pursuing and Selecting Partners
In large part, the partnerships have been successful because of the dedication of the track managers: Louis Dessau, David Hudgens, Yoshi Sakakibara, and Cynthia Wharton. With the support of the school’s administration, they have negotiated full-time, in-country language and cultural instruction.
Many of the previous summer language partners transitioned to language immersion partners. For those that did not, the track managers were responsible for establishing new partnerships. One example of this effort is Louis Dessau’s work with the European School of Management (ESCP-EAP).
When Dessau was hired in 1995 as an IMBA track manager, there was a language instruction school in Paris, but no partner university. His goal was to create a partnership with an institution of higher education, so he approached his MBA alma mater, the European School of Management Paris campus, a ‘Grande Ecole.’ “ESCP-EAP accommodated us by developing courses about doing business in France that also allowed the students to refresh their French and become familiar with being in Paris, where the school is located,” said Dessau.
For the first time in January 2007, IMBA French Track students began studying in a language program in Paris managed by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, in addition to taking the Doing Business in France courses at ESCP-EAP. Through the partnership between the Moore School and ESCP-EAP, French students may take graduate business electives at the Moore School and IMBA students may take business courses at ESCP-EAP after they have completed their internships.
Another Moore School long-standing relationship is with Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Yoshi Sakakibara, Japanese Program Director at USC and the Japanese Track Manager, knew a professor at the Waseda University Center for Japanese Language Studies and was able to establish a working partnership in 1984. Sakakibara stressed the importance of personal visits. That is why he visits Waseda at least once a year. “They appreciate the face-to-face contact,” said Sakakibara. “ Other schools do not visit.”
Risk Versus Return
The decision to outsource the majority of our language training was indeed a difficult one. The language instruction offered here at USC is excellent. Located in close proximity on campus, the IMBA program director could easily meet with the language faculty and administration to customize delivery times, content, and so forth. Moving the language training off-shore, therefore, had many inherent risks that had to be managed and minimized.
One way to be successful is to ensure that partnerships with overseas institutions are mutually beneficial. Representatives at the partner schools say they appreciate the high quality and passion of the Moore School students. They say the program adds diversity and new perspectives to their classrooms. These schools also open their doors because they see it as an opportunity to promote economic growth in their own country.
“Moore School has sent us good and reliable students every year for over 20 years,” said Naomi Hoka of the Center for Japanese Language at Waseda University. “Students who have learned in our program and have taken internship programs may come back to Japan in the future in order to continue their studies or find jobs in Japan, which will lead to the progress of Japanese society.”
Josiene O’Biren, manager of Visiting Programs at ESCP-EAP, emphasizes that having Moore School IMBA students at the Paris school “adds significantly to the international student body and environment that we want all of our students to experience.”
Our network of global language partnerships has created a win-win situation for all involved—t he schools, the students, and the employers. The Moore School’s objective with language and cultural immersion is to create a better product: road-ready, international business professionals. A mobile manager, well versed in a country’s language and culture, is better prepared to contribute to the day-to-day activities of for-profit and nonprofit entities. The Moore School’s unique learning experience teaches students to live and work in the ever-changing global environment—to become adaptable, mobile managers.
Dr. Martin S. Roth
is executive director of the IMBA Program and professor of
international business at the Moore School. He can be reached at
mroth@moore.sc.edu.
The Moore School’s International MBA (IMBA) program has been ranked No. 1 or 2 in international business for 18 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Report. It has earned this distinction in large part because of its innovative Language Tracks. The school also offers the Global Track for those already fluent in a second language or who choose to focus on business in English-speaking countries.
The Language Tracks
Because fluency in another language is often critical for success in the global economy, students who select the language tracks combine their business education with intensive language training, as well as cultural training, in one of eight languages—Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese or Spanish.
In addition to language and cultural training, students have an internship in a country where the people speak the language they have studied. IMBA students spend at least seven months living, studying, and working-immersed-in foreign culture, language, and organizational environments.
Evolution of an Innovative Idea
The Moore School began its foray into international business specialization in the early 1970s. The School believed that fluency in a second language was critical for success in what it saw as an increasingly global economy and decided to include an innovative foreign language component to its full-time graduate business degree program.
For 27 years, students received foreign language instruction primarily on the USC campus in Columbia, South Carolina. To acculturate the students before they began their internships abroad, the Moore School arranged for students to attend a two-month summer immersion experience at a school abroad. There the students studied language, culture, political science, and geography.
While subtle changes to language delivery were made over the years, in 2006 the IMBA program substantially changed the architecture of language training. The crux of the change is providing students with maximum in-country experiences. “Environment is critically important to gaining insight into the nuance and convention of language. It’s also a vehicle to greater cultural insight into a community,” said Dr. David Hudgens, IMBA Associate Director and Track Manager for the Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and Arabic Tracks.
The new architecture entails 16-week, 35-hour-per-week, full-immersion language training for most tracks (novices of Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese study language full-time for one year).
Steven J. Sacco, Language Education Consultant and Chair of the International Business Program and Professor of French at San Diego State University, describes the new language instruction architecture as “bold and forward thinking. It establishes USC as the leader in language instruction for IMBA programs, setting the bar higher for language proficiency than any other MBA or IMBA programs in the U.S.”
Pursuing and Selecting Partners
In large part, the partnerships have been successful because of the dedication of the track managers: Louis Dessau, David Hudgens, Yoshi Sakakibara, and Cynthia Wharton. With the support of the school’s administration, they have negotiated full-time, in-country language and cultural instruction.
Many of the previous summer language partners transitioned to language immersion partners. For those that did not, the track managers were responsible for establishing new partnerships. One example of this effort is Louis Dessau’s work with the European School of Management (ESCP-EAP).
When Dessau was hired in 1995 as an IMBA track manager, there was a language instruction school in Paris, but no partner university. His goal was to create a partnership with an institution of higher education, so he approached his MBA alma mater, the European School of Management Paris campus, a ‘Grande Ecole.’ “ESCP-EAP accommodated us by developing courses about doing business in France that also allowed the students to refresh their French and become familiar with being in Paris, where the school is located,” said Dessau.
For the first time in January 2007, IMBA French Track students began studying in a language program in Paris managed by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, in addition to taking the Doing Business in France courses at ESCP-EAP. Through the partnership between the Moore School and ESCP-EAP, French students may take graduate business electives at the Moore School and IMBA students may take business courses at ESCP-EAP after they have completed their internships.
Another Moore School long-standing relationship is with Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Yoshi Sakakibara, Japanese Program Director at USC and the Japanese Track Manager, knew a professor at the Waseda University Center for Japanese Language Studies and was able to establish a working partnership in 1984. Sakakibara stressed the importance of personal visits. That is why he visits Waseda at least once a year. “They appreciate the face-to-face contact,” said Sakakibara. “ Other schools do not visit.”
Risk Versus Return
The decision to outsource the majority of our language training was indeed a difficult one. The language instruction offered here at USC is excellent. Located in close proximity on campus, the IMBA program director could easily meet with the language faculty and administration to customize delivery times, content, and so forth. Moving the language training off-shore, therefore, had many inherent risks that had to be managed and minimized.
One way to be successful is to ensure that partnerships with overseas institutions are mutually beneficial. Representatives at the partner schools say they appreciate the high quality and passion of the Moore School students. They say the program adds diversity and new perspectives to their classrooms. These schools also open their doors because they see it as an opportunity to promote economic growth in their own country.
“Moore School has sent us good and reliable students every year for over 20 years,” said Naomi Hoka of the Center for Japanese Language at Waseda University. “Students who have learned in our program and have taken internship programs may come back to Japan in the future in order to continue their studies or find jobs in Japan, which will lead to the progress of Japanese society.”
Josiene O’Biren, manager of Visiting Programs at ESCP-EAP, emphasizes that having Moore School IMBA students at the Paris school “adds significantly to the international student body and environment that we want all of our students to experience.”
Our network of global language partnerships has created a win-win situation for all involved—t he schools, the students, and the employers. The Moore School’s objective with language and cultural immersion is to create a better product: road-ready, international business professionals. A mobile manager, well versed in a country’s language and culture, is better prepared to contribute to the day-to-day activities of for-profit and nonprofit entities. The Moore School’s unique learning experience teaches students to live and work in the ever-changing global environment—to become adaptable, mobile managers.
Dr. Martin S. Roth
is executive director of the IMBA Program and professor of
international business at the Moore School. He can be reached at
mroth@moore.sc.edu.
July 2007