At Urbana-Champaign
CIBER APPLICATION 2002-06
ABSTRACT
Since its establishment in 1993, the Center for International Business Education and Research at the University of Illinois (Illinois CIBER) has been a leader in advancing the study, teaching, and practice of international business. Drawing on the outstanding resources of the University and the College of Commerce and Business Administration, Illinois CIBER has achieved a significant record of accomplishments during its past eight years of operation. The numbers of business courses with international content and foreign language courses with business content have tripled. Nearly 200 business students have received CIBER travel support to study abroad. More than 80 faculty and doctoral students have received CIBER research grants to investigate topics that affect America’s international competitiveness. Many of these projects have produced important results that significantly impact both theory and practice. Through its business outreach, Illinois CIBER has served more than 120 area companies with direct export counseling. Finally, several of our programs that serve national audiences (e.g., the workshop on instructional technology for teaching business foreign language) have attracted such large enrollments that we need to increase program capacity in subsequent offerings.
With the enhanced international resources available on campus, and based on its demonstrated capacity for accomplishment, Illinois CIBER is ready to launch an ambitious agenda for the next four years. This agenda is designed to meet the changing needs of our constituents - students, faculty, and business professionals. As the world becomes increasingly globally interdependent, technologically advanced, and culturally diverse, we need to develop more integrated frameworks to guide international business teaching, research, and practice. To this end, we have adopted the theme “Technology, Culture, and International Competitiveness” to provide a vision and direction for our new CIBER agenda. This theme builds on the unique strengths of the University of Illinois as a world leader in the development and deployment of cutting-edge technologies, particularly in computing and information management, and their application to the fields of agriculture, business, library science, and engineering. Our goal is to draw from this knowledge base and combine it with area studies and foreign language expertise in developing and implementing programs that further America’s international competitiveness. This is a most exciting task, and one that the University of Illinois and its CIBER are particularly well equipped to undertake.
The Illinois CIBER’s new agenda supports seven major objectives that meet the statutory purposes of the authorizing CIBER legislation. While each objective represents a focused area of activity, they all reinforce one another in furthering the CIBER mandate of increasing the nation’s capacity for international understanding and competitiveness. The following outlines the project objectives and the proposed activities designed for their accomplishment.
1. Further enhance Illinois CIBER's national resource capability by establishing a Global Consortium for International Business to provide added support and expertise for program development and implementation.
a. Consortium Annual Meetings with Executive Briefings
b. Annual World Economy Conferences
c. Global Consortium Newsletter
d. Illinois CIBER Website Upgrade
2. Deepen the internationalization of business programs to include both a global and area studies focus, with emphasis on institutionalizing new curricular innovations and increasing student participation in study abroad.
a. Elective Course on Transnational Economy
b. Course Development Grants with Area Focus
c. Certificates in International Business with Area Specialization
d. Dual Degrees in Business and Area Studies
e. Ph.D. Minor in International Business
f. International Business Case Competition
g. Summer Overseas Study
h. Summer Overseas Internships
i. Business Foreign Language Courses
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CIBER Distinguished Speaker Series
3. Strengthen international components at other professional schools on campus by supporting joint teaching, research, and outreach that involve faculty and students from business, foreign language, and area studies departments.
a. New Course in International Human Resource Management
b. International Agribusiness Colloquium
c. Minor in International Agribusiness
d. Minor in Global Business Reporting
e. Joint Research on Soybean Exporting
f. Joint Research on Global Web Page Design
g. Satellite International Programs for Engineers
h. Global Business Reporting Summer Institute
4. Accelerate efforts to incorporate business and other professional content in foreign language and international studies programs by increasing opportunities for students and faculty to acquire the needed knowledge.
a. New Section of IB course for Non-business Majors
b. Conversation Courses in Business Foreign Language
c. Certificate in Business Foreign Language
d. Multimedia Simulation for the Teaching of Business Foreign Language
e. Online Business Foreign Language Courses
f. Online Courses on Commercial and Technical Translation
g. FDIB grants for Foreign Language Instructors
h. Workshop on Instructional Technology for Teaching Business Foreign Language
5. Promote interdisciplinary research that advances the study and teaching of international business, with emphasis on combining the economic and cultural approaches to investigate issues affecting U.S. international competitiveness.
a. Biennial Interdisciplinary Research Conference
b. Implementation of Interdisciplinary Agendas
c. Research Workshops on Developing Integrated IB Curricula
d. Developing New Measures of National Culture
e. Using “Grid” Technologies to Coordinate Global Workteams
f. European Peripheral Economies as Regional Export Platforms
g. Managing Multicultural Workteams in a Global Context
h. Research on Women in International Business
i. Enhancing IB Education through Information Technology
j. Faculty IB Research Grant Competition
6. Broaden academic outreach in international business to include training in both teaching and research, particularly for faculty working in schools that lack the needed resources to internationalize their programs.
a. National Workshop for IB Research and Publishing
b. Research Forum at Regional AIB Meetings
c. Internationalization of Faculty at Chicago State University
d. Faculty Overseas Study Trips to Promote International Collaboration
e. Internationalization of Doctoral Education in Business (IDEB) Workshop
f. ION Teaching Workshops for Community College Faculty
g. Biennial International Business Institute for Community College Faculty
h. Internationalization Workshops for K-12 Teachers
i. Virtual Trade Missions for K-12 Students
7. Expand business outreach to provide increased opportunities for business professionals to further their global knowledge and cross-cultural skills, including programs to promote involvement of women-owned firms in international trade.
a. Global Business Seminars
b. Certificate in International Business Fundamentals
c. Workshops on Advanced IB Topics
d. Overseas Business Delegations
e. Certificate in International Human Resource Management
f. International Programs for Women Business Owners
g. Online State Certificate in International Business
h. Export Counseling for Illinois Businesses
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International Business Roundtables with the Local Business Community
The CIBER agenda outlined above includes a total of 57 project activities, of which 36 are new, and 15 are substantially enhanced or expanded versions of current activities. About sixty percent of the activities are explicitly designed to serve national audiences. Additionally, about fifty percent will involve partnership with many of our nationally ranked academic or research units on campus, including the six area studies centers (African Studies, European Union, East Asian and Pacific Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Russian and East European Studies, and South Asia and Middle Eastern Studies), Department of Agricultural Economics, the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, Graduate School of Library Science, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), and others. Finally, our Global Consortium partner schools will provide added support and expertise to further enhance Illinois CIBER’s capability to develop and implement programs with national impact. When fully implemented, the proposed project will have a substantial and significant national impact on teaching, research, and business outreach.
Illinois CIBER requests federal funding for the 2002-2006 period to continue to offer high-quality teaching, research, and outreach programs that help our constituents advance their international business knowledge and cross-cultural skills. Our request is based on an eight-year record of achievement in fulfilling the CIBER mission and furthering the purposes of the CIBER authorizing legislation. The proposed project will enable Illinois CIBER to provide enhanced service to students, faculty, and business professionals and assist them in preparing for the globalization challenge of the 21st century.
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