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Voyage to China: a Business Student Blogs About the Study/Travel Adventure of a Lifetime

Posted November 3, 2007

Eleven students from Western New England College and seven students from the University of Evansville in Indiana recently arrived in China for a study/travel experience that is bringing them to Beijing and Shanghai to explore the context in which business is conducted in this rapidly developing economic superpower.

The International Practicum experience, taught by Dr. Jeanie Forray, director of International Business Programs at Western New England College, is introducing the students to companies, museums, and institutional landmarks, as well as providing them with opportunities to talk to government and trade representatives and local businesspeople throughout their eight-day trip. Dane Martin (pictured), a senior majoring in business management and minoring in international business, is authoring a daily weblog of his encounters, which can be read by clicking here.

“There is a wide range of international experience among the group, as some students have traveled extensively, while others have not left the U.S. before,” writes Martin, who has visited Canada, but has never left the continent.

“China is the farthest distance we’ve traveled with students as part of the International Practicum program, and everyone is extremely excited about going there to learn about business and culture in China,” says Forray, chair and associate professor of management in the School of Business. “The students get so much from this type of experience; it is truly learning that can’t be replicated in a classroom.”

The trip is being chaperoned by Forray, Bill Bosworth, professor of finance, and Pete Sherman, an assistant professor of management at the University of Evansville. Prior to trip, Bosworth taught a pre-travel eight-week seminar that provided a cultural and economic context for the Practicum. Both Forray and Bosworth opened Manhattan online classrooms to prepare the students for the excursion, and the students and faculty discussed the journey via online teleconferences on October 20, November 10, and December 8.

The students, who will earn credits for Learning Beyond the Classroom, a College-wide program that helps undergraduates link theoretical learning with real-world opportunities, will return on December 23.