The International Business Center at the Eli Broad College of Business has recently been awarded a grant by the U.S. Department of Education to continue to operate a Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER). MSU is the only university in Michigan, one of three in the Big Ten, and one of only 15 universities in the country given this privilege.
Through grant and matching funds, the $3.3 million project for 2018-22 is titled “Strategic and Sustainable Value Chains for Increased International Competitiveness.” This value chain perspective provides CIBER with a perfect role within the Broad College.
In that spirit, the 2018-22 grant cycle of CIBER also coincides perfectly with the Broad College’s implementation of a rigorous “global mindset” requirement for all business undergraduates – among the first for such a large U.S. business school.
“Spartans have a global calling to take what they learn at the Broad College of Business – where the International Business Center is housed – and then shepherd it to all corners of the planet, so those lessons can be put into action to build a better world,” said Sanjay Gupta, Eli & Edythe L. Broad Dean of the Broad College.
The Broad College work agenda for 2018-22 will build on the CIBER experiences already received by thousands of companies and people since its founding in 1990. Just within the last year, these activities have ranged from 33 business outreach programs involving 3,079 businesspeople to 57 educational programs involving 3,013 faculty, ultimately impacting 176,880 students nationwide.
“With its cross-campus collaborations involving all corners of MSU’s campus, CIBER fills a tremendously important role in international education and outreach at Michigan State University,” said Steve Hanson, associate provost and dean for international studies and programs.
Sanjay Gupta
In particular, the Broad College CIBER has long been recognized as the country’s leader in training of community college faculty to teach international business, and its globalEDGE.msu.edu online resource has been top-ranked on Google for years for “international business resources.”
Throughout its existence, the International Business Center has provided facilitation to more than 15,000 U.S. companies going international (including more than 2,000 Michigan companies); trained more than 1,000 faculty at community colleges across 44 U.S. states (including faculty at 24 of 28 of Michigan’s community colleges); and consistently appeared at the top of research rankings in international business (the Journal of International Business Studies).
The CIBER grant, coupled with the International Business Center’s contract with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, State of Michigan, and the Joint Partnership Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce, as well as involvement with the U.S. District Export Councils, provide a comprehensive platform to serve U.S. and Michigan companies and constituencies.
Tomas Hult
“This global calling is exactly why our team of 11 staff and 17 student assistants in the International Business Center works so diligently every day to nurture the global mindset of future generations,” said Tomas Hult, director and Byington Endowed Chair, International Business Center, and principal investigator of the CIBER grant. “We find great satisfaction in being an integral part of the State of Michigan’s international trade team and the country’s quest to maintain its worldwide leadership in global business.”
The Broad College CIBER project captures and addresses the country’s need perfectly with its 2018-22 focus on “Strategic and Sustainable Value Chains for Increased International Competitiveness.”
“The value of trade across borders has grown faster than the growth in the cumulative production (GDP) of all countries for more than half a century … the globe has become structured as a dynamic, ever-evolving and increasingly efficient complex web of supply chains,” Hult said.
More information about the International Business Center, its team, and activities can be found at ibc.msu.edu, or by contacting Hult by phone at 517-353-4336 or email at hult@msu.edu.
