The International Experience at 15

How a bold curriculum innovation came to be, succeeded, and continues to inspire transformation.

In 2008, the International Experience debuted as a requirement of a new Carlson School undergraduate curriculum, a breakthrough among U.S. public business schools. Hanson Hall, built to meet increased demand for undergraduate enrollment, had opened its doors, providing students a gateway not just to business education but to the world.
 

A bold vision

“It was a moment when we needed to move ahead in undergraduate education,” says Alison Davis-Blake, who joined the Carlson School as dean in 2006. “The focus was on distinctive excellence. We had to be bold.”

Davis-Blake observed that the international nature of business was a theme, yet half of Carlson’s undergraduate students graduated with no international education or experience. In her own life, attending eighth grade in Brussels with her family had been transformative. She brought the idea of expanding study abroad to Bob Ruekert, associate dean for undergraduate education. They talked to Mike Houston and Anne D’Angelo, associate and assistant deans for International Programs.

The Carlson School had considerable international strength at the graduate level among the faculty, doctoral students, and MBA programs. In 1991, Carlson’s Executive MBA program in Warsaw had been the first offshore graduate degree approved at the University. “Faculty who taught in the Warsaw program said it opened their eyes,” D’Angelo says. Executive MBAs were soon approved in Vienna (2000) and China (2001). 

"There is no substitute for experiencing life in another country and how it expands one’s mind." - Sri Zaheer, Dean, 2012-23

“The initial idea was to encourage study abroad as much as possible,” says Accounting Professor Pervin Shroff, then a member of the undergraduate curriculum review committee. “But, given the dean’s guidance to be bold, the idea evolved into making it a required experience. We had no idea at the time that we would be breaking new ground in undergraduate education.” The new curriculum including the International Experience was easily approved in 2007. “It was the smoothest curriculum reform I’ve been through, and I’ve been through tons of it,” says Davis-Blake. “Mike, Anne, and Sri Zaheer, who was then the associate dean of faculty, really helped people catch the vision.”

Making it real

Because students rarely take their International Experience as freshmen, the International Programs staff had a runway for building capacity. D’Angelo and her staff were already hard at work. They took a systems approach, increasing the number of seats in faculty-led courses from 25 to 30, developing more faculty-led options, and sending more students on programs through the University’s Learning Abroad Center (LAC), which was a great partner and asset. They worked with LAC on co-sponsored programs to get courses reviewed for Carlson School credit requirements, expanded opportunities through existing partnerships, and added exchange partners. 

“Mike and Anne were out there choosing the right partners,” says Alfred Marcus, professor and Spencer Chair in Strategy and Technological Leadership. He had been leading student programs at all levels for many years, from Lyon and Vienna to Costa Rica, Guangzhou, and Moscow. “Programs had to be academically challenging, not just a holiday abroad.” 

Partners, including alumni and corporate foundations, stepped up to provide financial support. Scholarships were a critical part of getting the other 50 percent of Carlson undergraduates abroad. In 2011, the International Programs Office was renamed the Carlson Global Institute (CGI). Then, in 2018, a $10 million gift from the Carlson Family Foundation to support scholarships, program development, and faculty was a key investment that allowed growth to continue and the quality of opportunities to increase. 

CGI also worked to prepare students to maximize their growth abroad. 

“We knew just sending students abroad wasn’t enough—we had to give them the tools to make sense of their experience,” explains D’Angelo. CGI incorporated intercultural competence in programming and eventually adopted the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) assessment to help students, as well as faculty and staff, navigate cultural experiences more effectively. 

The COVID-19 pandemic was the International Experience’s harshest test. Dozens of courses were adapted for remote learning. A new course was created to allow students who couldn’t travel to graduate on time. 

“It was adaptation as well as innovation,” says Kirsten Canterbury, CGI’s director of education abroad. “The qualities and skills that the International Experience is designed to promote— resilience, adaptability, communication—were the qualities and skills in our students and staff that got us through.” 

The next transformation

The International Experience today remains firmly in place, emerging from the disruption and stress of recent years. It is still a differentiator for the Carlson School and a noted component of the school’s award-winning curriculum, which took effect in Fall 2022. Enrollment numbers have rebounded in interesting ways due to changes in students’ perspectives, needs, and motivations. 

“The current challenges facing higher education certainly impact learning abroad,” says Ann Hubbard, assistant vice provost and director of the University’s Learning Abroad Center, which remains a critical collaborator. “Our learning-outcome goals are fully aligned, and we are working side by side to explore opportunities and implement new programming.”
 

Innovation is a key

“CGI continues to adapt and innovate to keep the International Experience fresh and responsive to students’ changing needs,” says Associate Dean Steve Parente. One example is a new semester-long program in Prague tailored to the curriculum. Developed in collaboration with the Carlson Undergraduate Program and the academic departments, this cost-effective program allows students to fulfill the I-Core Gold Block while also satisfying the International Experience. 

Another example of innovation this year was hiring the first full-time staff member dedicated to intercultural learning. As employers seek candidates with experience navigating cultural differences, intercultural competency is gaining value as a measure of program impact and quality. “It’s not a nice-to-have but a have-tohave,” says CGI Advisory Council member Bing Houw Tan, vice president for human resources in Global Talent Management at Ecolab. 

Vlad Griskevicius, associate dean of academic innovation and operations and Carlson Family Foundation Chaired Professor of Marketing, recently served as associate dean of undergraduate studies. He aims to ensure that all Carlson School students have a transformative educational experience that enables them to become their best selves. 

“The International Experience provides that spark,” he says. “Access has never been more important.”