The J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University is taking a cue from overseas partners, such as U.K.-based University of Leeds, by launching an updated master’s degree in international business to accommodate international students interested in receiving a U.S. business degree.

“The program — what we call the ‘fast-track master’s of international business’ — is a new degree offering to be launched in January 2013,” said Tamer Cavusgil, overseer of the new program and director of Georgia State’s Center for International Business and Educational Research, told GlobalAtlanta.

“We’ve always had the flexible master’s of international business program in place.  It’s served its purpose, but in recent years there’s been a need for an overhaul in curriculum and structure,” he added. “Students want to get done sooner, especially international students who don’t have three years to spend.”

The new course lasts a single year, and is one way that the university is facilitating education for students abroad, explained Dr. Cavusgil. Other strategies the university is using to attract students from overseas include omitting a lengthy December break and recording  promotional videos in targeted  languages.

Likely international applicants will come from larger markets and rapidly developing economies primarily including China, India and South Korea followed by Brazil and Turkey, he said, adding that there also would be students applying from the Middle East and Gulf regions.

Classes will be taught at Georgia State’s Buckhead campus and include a summer field study, when students will work on a research project with a company in the Southeast region including Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Atlanta such as Coca-Cola Co., Home Depot Inc. and  United Parcel Service Inc.

Domestic students also are to be accepted in the program that is to focus on international law, methods for analyzing emerging markets and intercultural awareness and sensitivity while the students develop  friendships and future business relationships with their international counterparts.

For more information, visit Georgia State’s fast-track master’s of international business site. http://robinson.gsu.edu/iib/fasttrackmib.html