CIEE Business Curriculum

By Alexandra Wood

More than one in five students who study abroad are business majors, according to the IIE’s latest Open Doors report. In response to strong demand for core business and management courses abroad, CIEE has created a task force to identify the most critical business courses sought by students in order to optimize CIEE course offerings and develop new business courses as needed.

As part of this process, we evaluated our existing study abroad business portfolio. CIEE currently offers 19 programs, such as CIEE Barcelona Business and Culture, specifically focused on business, and nearly 60 programs with robust business course options, including host institution programs offered through CIEE partnerships with a wide range of AACSB and EQUIS-accredited international institutions.

We also explored campus trends related to business through a series of in-depth interviews with senior leaders at 15 member schools conducted by Sarah Spencer, a former member of CIEE’s Academic Consortium Board. In these conversations, we discussed business major course and internship requirements, advising practices, business faculty support for study abroad, and reasons for business enrollment bottlenecks. We also looked at curriculum integration (course equivalences for courses taken abroad with business courses offered by the home school)  and business accreditation requirements.

Based on this research, we have identified several core study abroad business courses that are highly valued by business majors and member schools, and are complimentary to a study abroad experience. Many of these core business courses are already offered by CIEE or our host institutions but we will also be expanding the number of CIEE locations that offer these high-priority classes.

We began rolling out new 6-week Open Campus Block Courses on business topics at some of our Global Institutes this spring and have plans to introduce additional new courses in areas like data analytics, customer behavior and research, and digital marketing.

Thank you again to the many CIEE Academic Consortium schools who helped us develop these programs, ensuring they align with the U.S. business curriculum and meet CIEE’s rigorous academic standards — especially our friends at Arizona State University, the University of Washington, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Indiana University Kelley School of Business.

Stay tuned for announcements about further expansion of our business portfolio coming soon.

Some Highlights of Our CIEE Business Portfolio

Business-specific CIEE Programs Include:

Europe

• Business and Culture - Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Business and Culture - Barcelona, Spain
• Business and Culture - Berlin, Germany
• Business and Culture - Toulouse, France
• Business and Tourism - Palma de Mallorca, Spain
• International Business and Culture - Seville, Spain

Pacific Rim

• Business, Language, and Culture - Shanghai China
• Communications, Business, and Political Economy - Taipei, Taiwan

​Middle East

• Business, Engineering, Arts, and Sciences - Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

6-week Open Campus Block Business Courses Include:

Business Administration, Management & Operations

• Strategic Management
• International Management
• International Business
• Business Ethics & Corporate Responsibility
• International Business Law

Finance and Accounting

• International Finance
• Introduction to Management Accounting
• Introduction to Financial Accounting

Marketing

• International Marketing
• Principles of Marketing

Economics

• International Economics
• Economics of Wine
• Principles of Micro-Economics

Entrepreneurial & Small Business Operations

• Entrepreneurship and Start-up Cultures
• Technopreneurship
• Start-up cultures in Business