International business may seem like a straightforward discipline, full of practical lessons on handling customs rules, tariffs and cross-cultural marketing and management.
But depending on where you start — and who you are — even the concept of what “international” means can be a moving target.
Issues of identity for students, from ethnicity to nationality, can create challenges for those tasked with teaching them how to do business across borders, professors from around the globe shared at this summer’s International Business Pedagogy Workshop at Georgia State University.
Organized each May by the GSU Center for International Business Education and Research, or CIBER, the conference convenes faculty from universities around the world who are interrogating the fundamentals of the subject even as they embrace instructional innovations.
Registration opened in October for next year’s event, set to be held once again at GSU’s Buckhead Center in Atlanta.
At this year’s event, Delta Air Lines Director of Ops and Analytics Robin Mead shared her experience integrating teams of data analysts in the airline’s joint ventures with Air France and Aeromexico, adding insight on what Delta looks for when hiring new graduates. [Ms. Mead also spoke on the rise of AI at the GSU Grow Symposium — learn more here: Georgia State University’s GROW Symposium Tackles AI Ethics, Responsible Global Business Practices]
After an interactive luncheon speech, a group of international professors compared notes on methods for helping their students understand the world.
At times, it starts with the basics, says Vassiliki “Vicky” Bamiatzi.
A Greek professor at the University of Sussex in England, she deals mostl ywith international students and starts each course by connecting them with each other and helping them understand their own cultural starting points.
“From the very first lectures, I actually introduce them to what it means to communicate, to give feedback, to receive, and of course to effectively think how they process knowledge,” Dr. Bamiatzi says.
Having pursued doctoral studies at Georgia State, Francesca Sanguineti teaches at Italy’s Pavia University, an 1,300-year-old institution that counts Christopher Columbus among its alumni.
“It is very hard to innovate while teaching in such old places,” said Dr. Sanguineti said, noting that some classes are held in thousand-year-old cathedrals.
She has learned that the “American way” of engaging with the students and asking them to think critically has helped capture their attention, even when their attendance is not mandatory. (Pavia, she noted, will host next year’s Consortium for International Marketing Research (CIMaR) conference — also organized with backing from GSU-CIBER).
For Ying Zhu, who remembers the challenge of showing up in Australia as a student from mainland China, engaging students is also about enabling them to take charge of their learning.
“An important thing is how can we empower students in the learning process rather than just teach them? Empowerment means leverage handing them control, rather than we control everything,” said Dr. Zhu, who now teaches at the University of South Australia.
It’s also key to remember that, especially in programs with high proportions of international students, understanding individual differences in worldview is vital, says Bilur Akdeniz, who hails from Turkey but teaches at the University of New Hampshire.
“International” as a concept is much more embedded in European thinking, for instance, than in the U.S., where a more stark line exists in people’s minds between domestic issues and what’s happening around the world.
“I really would like to emphasize and integrate that mindset to my students that international is in everything we do, every relationship we have, every product we consume,” she says.
Geopolitics can also play a role in opening doors for discussion. In Australia, for instance, Chinese students may not be open to speaking out during classroom discussions — partly because of the sensitive bilateral relationship, but also because their educational system eschews challenging authority publicly.
With education being one of Australia’s top exports, understanding these issues is vital, especially at the graduate level, said Hussain Rammal, professor of international business at the University of Adelaide.
Across the water in New Zealand, Matevž “Matt” Rasokvic has learned that professors must avoid the colonialist habit of committing what he called “ontological violence,” erasing indigenous perspectives on issues as central to the world as environmental stewardship.
“When you talk about things like sustainability, you realize there is more than one worldview. In New Zealand, the mountain is their ancestor, the river is their ancestor — it’s not simply a resource to be managed or to be plundered. The idea of ownership if unfathomable in the indigenous worldview.”
That, in turn, can complicate countries’ participation in multilateral bodies and how they tackle issues like climate change — all relevant for those studying global business, said Dr. Raskovic.
“It made me realize, because New Zealand is an island country at the edge ofthe world, how much IB as a discipline is focused on land, and we completely forget about the ocean, which is kind of ironic because it’s 70 percent of our planet.”
For moderator Leigh Anne Liu, a Georgia State expert on cross-cultural issues in her own right, the discussion illustrated why exchanging ideas on this topic was so valuable.
“This panel highlighted the depth and breadth of our annual pedagogy workshop, focusing on cutting-edge topics like cultural complexity and identity in today’s classrooms,” Dr. Liu said. “Each panelist generously shared their personal multicultural experiences, fostering rapport and compassion while facilitating the learning of complex international business topics —an exchange that in-person interactions uniquely provide, and that would be difficult for Zoom or AI to replicate.”
The panel was just portion of a three-day event featuring interactive sessions, lectures and a poster competition showcasing teaching resources and classroom innovations. Three professors took home monetary awards.
For the second straight year, corporate executive turned author and educator John Riesenberger explored megatrends in higher education, with a special emphasis on the rise of artificial intelligence and its impacts on the classroom and the world.
Other sessions focused on enriching the introductory international business course and student engagement.
GSU-CIBER IB Pedagogy Workshop By the Numbers
- 79 Total Attendees
- 15 Countries represented
- 17 States represented
- 41 Institutions represented
- 11 Historically Black Colleges & Universities/Community Colleges/Minority Serving Institutions represented
- 4 CIBERs represented
Learn more here or reserve a spot at next year’s workshop here
View a summary video:
GSU-CIBER is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Education Channel. Subscribe here for monthly Education newsletters.