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Immersion W Global hen business educators think of global hotbeds for management educa- tion, Kigali, Rwanda, may not be the first place that comes to mind. But what's happening in Kigali mirrors what's happening in markets the world over, says Robert E. Kennedy, executive director of the University of Michigan's William Davidson Institute (WDI) in Ann Arbor. In the past two years, Kennedy has visited Kigali's School of Finance and Banking (SFB) five times as part of a multiyear, supportive partnership that the WDI has established with the school. During his visits, Kennedy has seen a school preparing to compete on the world stage. Globalization already has pushed many business schools well beyond their national borders. Now educators work to anticipate where global forces will take them next. by Tricia Bisoux "The School of Finance and Banking is only three years old, but it's already hosting faculty from abroad, moving into executive education, and thinking about international accreditation," says Kennedy. Thirteen years after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the now-peaceful country is "really pulling itself up by its bootstraps," Kennedy adds. "We see the potential to build a regionally strong, internationally accredited institution that will be a catalyst for private sector reform in the country and region." It's that "potential to build"—new global partnerships, curricula, and even cam- puses—that has become a hallmark of globalization for business schools, in both emerg- ing and established markets. With that potential, however, also comes some uncertainty about the next steps for global business education. Forward-looking business educators are anticipating significant changes to the ways business schools teach, which will affect everything from study tours to joint programs to ethics education. The following trends, say educators, offer a more complete picture of how business schools will drive—and be driven by—the forces of globalization. "Interconnected" Education What do sociology, philosophy, politics, law, medicine, and business have in common? Everything, when studied under the aegis of business. Business schools have long sought to break down disciplinary silos and highlight the interactions between the different areas of business. But globalization has upped the interdisciplinary ante. Communica- tions technology and the Internet are inevitably making the world much smaller, creating a system where different industries, countries, and professions are interconnected and interdependent. To help students better understand these interconnections, business schools are creating joint programs that mesh business with other professional areas. The TRIUM International Executive MBA program—a collaboration among New York University's Stern School of Business in New York City, HEC School of Manage- ment in Paris, and the London School of Economics and Political Science—is designed to acknowledge the geopolitical component that has become a big part of global busi- ness, says Erin O'Brien, TRIUM's executive director. "In TRIUM, you can't separate politics from business. The business climate will change depending on whether senior positions are elected or government-appointed," O'Brien says. As an example, she refers to a corporate governance roundtable that TRIUM recently held, which brought together representatives from governmental bod- ies in China and Hong Kong. "The politics there were palpable," she says. "The concept 44 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2007