This fall, the McIntire School of Commerce welcomed its second class in the Global Commerce Program. But the program is not any typical commerce track: it is a graduate degree program for business majors that is spread across three different continents.
With the inaugural class’s experience during the 2016-2017 school year being hailed by the school as a large success, the program continues this year with another set of students from a range of countries. It serves as an alternative to the more well-known option of pursuing a Masters in Business Administration (MBA), a program that many graduates look into when trying to gain an advantage in the business world.
The program begins at the McIntire School of Commerce here in Charlottesville, where the class’s sixty students will spend a semester learning the foundations of global strategy, commerce, and management from an American business perspective. In January, they will begin another ten-week session in Guangzhou, China, where their curriculum will focus on consumer behavior and international finance. Finally, they will head to Barcelona, Spain, for four months to study global management, cross border mergers and acquisitions, and business in the European Union as well as Europe in general.
At the end of their international journey, they will have gained not only the M.S. in Global Commerce from McIntire, but also a Certifcate in International Management from Lingnan (University) College at Sun Yat-sen University, and a M.S. in Global Strategic Management from ESADE Business School, a highly esteemed institution in Europe.
Applicants to the competitive program are currently being selected from all around the world, with the program requiring applicants to hold a business administration or management degree and little to no work experience. The idea is to not have seasoned workers, and instead to train them through the program.
The track requires students to conduct live cases, capstone projects, and a master’s thesis throughout the duration of the program. In doing this, the program’s directors are striving to help students develop global business skills and connections all around the world during their cultural immersion experience. At the end of the program, the track will culminate in a celebration of the students’ year of study at a graduation ceremony in Barcelona, where their families and program faculty will come together across the three institutions.
McIntire’s Global Commerce program is the first of its kind for the University of Virginia, and it follows the trends of many other institutions with similar business immersion curricula. With a competitive application process, diverse experience, and past success, the program marks UVa’s entry into a truly global education market for years to come.
