How Is Your School Teaching Cultural Intelligence?

• To build cultural intelligence, business schools have designed educational opportunities that often combine immersive experiences, cross-border collaboration, and real-world business challenges.
• Many schools provide accessible on-campus and virtual initiatives to ensure that students who are unable to travel also have opportunities to expand their global perspectives.
• By offering diverse opportunities to study and work across cultures and borders, business educators are striving to position all students to thrive in the global business environment.

 
We recently posed this question to educators on the AACSB Exchange member forum: How is your school preparing culturally intelligent students who can navigate diverse markets and international collaborations that drive business success?

Below is a compilation of the best practices they shared across seven categories, from competitions and consultancy projects to seminars and special events. These wide-ranging ideas provide an informative glimpse into how today’s business schools are teaching students to appreciate cultural differences, work effectively across borders, and make decisions in an increasingly interconnected world.

1. Immersive Experiences

■ Global Challenge Lab, Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. In the GCL, master’s-level students collaborate with global organizations in their preferred regions on team-based capstone projects. Each project lasts six to seven weeks, with students spending three of those weeks on-site with their clients.

Student teams have traveled to Kenya to work with the Kenya National Innovation Agency on a fundraising strategy, and to Colombia to help Inorca Seating develop a marketing strategy to introduce its product lines in the U.S. and Canada. Each GCL project is designed to empower students “with the mindset and skills to lead responsibly in a global context,” says Mary Hess, the school’s assistant director of communications.

■ Hassenfeld Immersion Program, Brandeis International Business School in Waltham, Massachusetts. For this annual nine-day experience, graduate students are introduced to the economy, politics, culture, traditions, and local business practices of an overseas market, says Kathryn Graddy, the school’s dean. Participants are selected through an application process. Before their travels, the fellows complete a half-semester module in which they study the political, social, historical, business, and cultural contexts of the countries they will visit via case studies, presentations, and guest lectures.

Established with funding from former Hasbro CEO Alan Hassenfeld, the program allows students to participate at little or no cost. Countries that Hassenfeld fellows have recently visited include India, Israel, and China.

■ Business at the Hub of the Americas, Drake University’s Zimpleman College of Business in Des Moines, Iowa. For this two-week travel seminar to Panama City, students learn about the interconnections between global commerce and international policy, explains Alejandro Hernandez, the school’s dean. While in Panama, students visit multinational firms, trade associations, and local entrepreneurial ventures, as well as official locations such as the United States embassy and the Organization of American States.

While in Panama, students learn about the interconnections between global commerce and international policy.

For the seminar’s central activity, students complete real-world business challenges in the context of Panama’s multinational business ecosystem. The challenges are submitted by companies located at Panama Pacifico, a mixed-use development adjacent to the Panama Canal. Student teams spend several days conducting research and preparing recommendations, before presenting their recommendations to senior executives.

■  Global Immersion Program, Wake Forest University School of Business (WFUSB) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This optional three-credit elective combines classroom learning, cultural exploration, and professional networking. Master’s-level students visit companies, engage with local leaders, and explore cultural and historical landmarks at the chosen destination. Past immersions have sent students to Portugal, Morocco, China, and the United Arab Emirates.

The program significantly improves the level of confidence students feel in their ability to apply cultural frameworks, says Roderick Lewis, the W. Howard Upchurch Jr. Executive Director of Global Inclusion & Community Impact. For instance, the percentage of participants from WFUSB’s MSc in Management program who feel “very confident” or “extremely confident” with their skills in this area increased from 5.3 percent pre-experience to 56.9 percent post-experience. Such programs, Lewis adds, ensure that “students not only understand cultural frameworks but also apply them effectively in diverse markets and international collaborations.”

2. Sector-Specific Immersions

■ An immersion in Italy’s insurance sector, Madden College of Business and Economics at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York. The Madden College recently sent four students in its McNeil Academy of Risk Management and Insurance on a weeklong trip to Italy to study the environmental, strategic, and operational risks presented by climate change. The program was supported by a General Grant from the Spencer Educational Foundation.

During their trip, the students visited Venice, where they spoke to residents and local experts about how climate change has exacerbated flood risks. They also visited Milan, where they met with representatives of Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Limited to learn about the differences between the insurance industries in Italy and the United States.

■ International Healthcare Management Experience in Kenya, University of Houston–Clear Lake in Texas. In June 2022 and June 2024, M. Femi Ayadi, professor in the school’s healthcare administration program, took six students on 12-day trips to Kenya. Most of the students were enrolled in the MBA or master’s in healthcare administration programs.

As part of this course, Ayadi’s students spent two to three class sessions before the excursion discussing Kenya’s healthcare landscape. Once in Kenya, they visited four hospitals in Nairobi and Mombasa, including a small Catholic nonprofit that works with underserved communities, a large regional public hospital, and a for-profit private hospital that treats more affluent patients. The students also took part in cultural experiences, including a safari in Nakuru.

Ayadi’s students completed a reflective journal, wrote one-page analyses of healthcare-related events in Kenya, and worked on a relevant research topic of their choice. Ayadi now is planning a similar experience in Ghana. “By far,” Ayadi says, “these immersive cultural visits have been the most awesome experiences I have had with my students.” 

3. Local and Virtual Initiatives

■ Integration Day, Wrocław University of Economics and Business in Poland. This half-day campus event features interactive booths, games, and activities meant to introduce students to the cultures and traditions of their classmates’ home countries. The most recent Integration Day, held in November, featured activities such as a traditional Japanese matcha tea ceremony and a quiz on South Korean culture. Students also drew the flags of their home countries to be displayed on a world map. 

According to Bogusława Drelich-Skulska, the school’s vice rector for international cooperation, and Magdalena Sobocińska, a lecturer in the department of marketing research, the event is “a unique opportunity to integrate in an atmosphere of openness and understanding, and to explore cultural diversity, which should unite us, not divide us.”

Wrocław students participate in a range of culturally diverse activities at the school’s most recent Integration Day. 

■ COIL project, Skyline University Nigeria (SUN) in Kano and the University of Nebraska in Omaha (UNO). UNO and SUN partnered to deliver a collaborative online international learning project, or COIL, in February 2024. The COIL, which served students who might not be able to travel abroad, was coordinated by Phani Tej Adidam, Ward Y. and George T. Lindley Professor of Business Administration at UNO’s College of Business Administration.

The virtual exchange brought together students in Nigeria and the U.S. to discuss an international business case study. The project exposed students on both campuses to different perspectives as they explored “the global and cultural experiences of business and academic practices,” says Ajith Kumar V.V., SUN’s vice chancellor.

■ A culturally themed field trip to New York City, Adelphi University in Garden City, New Jersey. Scheduled during the school’s January intersession, this trip to nearby New York City is part of an experiential special section of an undergraduate International Business course. Each year, the professor chooses the culture and traditions of a different country as the theme.

A past class focused on China and featured activities such as a Chinese tea ceremony and visit to the China division of a global company. For the most recent excursion, students studied India, visiting the United Nations headquarters, a Hindu Temple, and an Indian restaurant, as well as an exhibition of Indian art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Graduate students from India served as “cultural liaisons” who explained “some of the cultural or religious significance of things the students experience,” says MaryAnne Hyland, the school’s dean. The liaisons also assisted students with a project related to the chosen country.

■ A dedicated faculty coordinator, Texas Tech University’s Rawls College of Business at Lubbock. In 2024, Rawls College assigned a faculty coordinator of global initiatives to advise its Center for Global Engagement (CGE), says Dino Villegas, associate dean of undergraduate programs. The CGE coordinates study abroad and other global initiatives, and the school wanted to do even more “to broaden the center’s impact and foster a global business mindset among our student and faculty members,” Villegas explains.

A faculty coordinator of global initiatives helps Rawls College foster a global business mindset among students and faculty.

Carl Pankratz, the inaugural coordinator, supports the CGE’s director and guides the internationalization efforts of the Office of Undergraduate Programs. He also works to bring internationally focused opportunities to campus, especially for students who cannot go abroad, says Villegas.

For example, Pankratz oversaw the recent transformation of Introduction to Marketing, an undergraduate course, into Global Markets. Starting in fall 2025, the course will regularly feature guest lecturers who speak on international topics; in addition, students will complete a project with a global focus.

4. Hybrid Learning Opportunities

■ MBA consulting projects, Montclair State University’s Feliciano School of Business in Little Falls, New Jersey. This consulting experience is mandatory for MBA students enrolled in the on-campus program and optional for those enrolled in the online program. For each project, MBA students work with an international company to address a current organizational challenge. Students complete most of their work at home, before taking a nine-day faculty-led trip to the company’s location to present their recommendations. The school organizes five to six trips annually, each involving 15 to 20 students.

One student team worked with the Indian company Proklean, which makes sustainable cleaning solutions, to create a strategy to launch a new product in India and the U.S.; for this project, the students also collaborated with MBA students from Somaiya Vidyavihar University in Mumbai.

“The trip offers a global perspective by exploring the challenges and potential of growth in different sizes and types of economies,” says Mariella Hernandez Salazar, director of global programs and partnerships.

■ Responsible Business Workshop (RBW), The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School. At the start of this semsterlong course, CUHK students join peers from universities in Taiwan and Japan for six interactive online sessions led by experts from five countries, says Kei Tat Ku, associate dean for undergraduate studies.

The next phase of the workshop uses a case method approach, in which students work together virtually on multinational teams to analyze real-world sustainability dilemmas. Students have explored environmental, social, and governance challenges in Hong Kong; the impact of Japanese culture on sustainable business practices; and risks affecting the supply chain for Indonesian coffee.

In mid-May, students meet at an international destination for further interaction. After completing RBW, students report having greater global awareness and appreciation for the importance of business responsibility and sustainability. The experience, Ku adds, also inspires some students to express “increased interest in pursuing careers related to sustainable business practices.”

5. Global Exposure Requirement

■ Mandatory one-year study or work abroad experiences, TBS Education (Toulouse Business School) in France. All bachelor’s students at TBS Education are required to participate in at least one year of study abroad or one gap year for international work experience, explains Cordula Barzantny, associate professor of human resources management and business law. Students typically fulfill this requirement in the second year of their programs. Students in the Master in Management program are required to pursue at least one semester of international study or work experience.

The school, adds Barzantny, has “a worldwide network of accredited academic partner universities to facilitate this important international student mobility.”

6. International Capstone Projects

■ Tourism Transforms Lives photo project, Moody College of Business at the University of Louisiana (UL) in Lafayette. As part of the school’s undergraduate International Tourism course, this project asks students to document the effects tourism has on communities abroad through photography.

Last fall, about 15 students interviewed representatives of communities in three different countries: Egypt, Japan, and Mexico. The students invited these representatives to capture photos illustrating tourism’s impact on their communities. The best photographs and stories were featured in a public exhibition held during the Lafayette Downtown ArtWalk held in December.

As part of the Tourism Transforms Lives project, students invited representatives from three different countries to capture photos illustrating the impact of tourism on their communities.

This capstone project “highlights the profound ways tourism impacts the daily life of communities around the globe,” says Ignatius Cahyanto, associate professor of hospitality management and course instructor. Students “navigated the complexities of international partnerships” while “serving as advocates for the communities they worked with.”

■ Kansas-Berlin capstone project, Wichita State University’s Barton School of Business in Kansas and the Berlin School of Economics and Law. Each year, Barton School MBA students work with Berlin School MBAs on two- and three-person teams on projects for Kansas- and Berlin-based companies. The Barton School students are taking part in a strategic management capstone course.

Each January, Barton students travel to Berlin for a week to meet their teammates and begin developing comprehensive business plans for their clients. The students then work together virtually over the semester. In April, Berlin School students come to Wichita for a week to present their final recommendations to the Kansas-based companies. Once Berlin students return to Germany, they present the team’s recommendations to their German clients.

The project’s benefits are twofold, says Dorothy Harpool, executive director of engagement and prominence. It provides students with hands-on experience in global business and helps companies in Kansas and Germany identify international growth opportunities. “To date,” Harpool says, “more than 120 businesses have benefited from this transformative program.”

7. Projects With Long-Term Impact

■ International societal impact projects, Clark University School of Business in Worcester, Massachusetts. For the past 15 years, David A. Jordan, dean of the business school, has taken small groups of graduate students on annual—sometimes biannual—trips to one of eight developing countries.

These visits have resulted in real-world change, says Jordan, who is also the school’s social entrepreneur-in-residence. So far, students have collaborated with local partners to help establish two medical clinics and five schools. One such project involved the creation of a primary school in Kibera, a slum in Nairobi known as the largest slum in Africa.

Students also have created 30 clean water wells, nearly 30 village latrines, and a community library, as well as contributed to several microfinance efforts. Jordan and three graduate students recently returned from Sierra Leone and Ghana, where they studied the cycle of societal economic development and environmental stewardship. 

This work is done through Seven Hills Global Outreach, a nonprofit that Jordan established with Clark students in 2009. “Experiential learning can certainly be local, regional, or national,” Jordan says. “But moving students out of their comfort zones and engaging in global concerns is for many a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”