YSU students tour China to learn about business

Staff report

Youngstown

Nineteen Youngstown State University students are in China on a study tour to learn about international business.

The trip during the first two weeks of this month is part of the YSU Williamson College of Business Administration’s mission to promote an international dimension to business education.

Students, joined by three faculty members and a high school instructor, are traveling to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing. In addition to stops at popular tourist destinations such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, students will visit General Motors Shanghai, Microsoft, Ralph Lauren Asia, United Bank of Switzerland, Maersk, and the U.S. and Pakistani embassies, as well as a law firm and a small investment bank.

The tour is partially sponsored by the WCBA Center of Excellence for International Business and the U.S. Department of Education Emerging Markets Initiative.

The purpose of the trip is to augment the theoretical understanding of international business provided by YSU with a hands-on experience of international travel (visas, immigration, customs, foreign currencies), international businesses and non-U.S. cultures.

“The change we see in our students before and after the trip is enormous,” said Wang Ying, assistant professor of marketing.

“Study abroad tours are a unique educational experience, focusing not just on knowledge and skills, but more on perspectives and ways of thinking. In today’s competitive marketplace, we need to equip our students with open minds and a global perspective.”

Students attended a series of pre-trip sessions that included lessons on how to speak basic Chinese and use chopsticks, as well as tips on international travel.

“We design the study tour with rigorous academic content,” said Peter Reday, assistant professor of marketing and one of the faculty members leading the tour. “Students are expected to apply what they have learned about international business in the classroom to real-world projects.”

Jill Martin, economics teacher at Austintown Fitch High School, is also participating in the study tour.

She is being supported by the Emerging Markets Initiative from the U.S. Department of Education.

The China trip is one of the regular study-abroad tours organized by the Williamson College of Business Administration.

Others include study trips to London/Dublin, Brazil and India.