Yale School of Management Announces International Exchange Program
Yale SOM will enhance its international offerings with a new exchange program next fall.
New Haven, Conn., February 14, 2008 – The Yale School of Management (SOM) will enhance its international offerings with a new exchange program next fall.
Starting in 2008, second-year SOM students will have the opportunity to spend their fall semester studying abroad at one of four exchange partner schools: the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK; IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain; the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India; and Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, Beijing, China.
The exchange program reflects a broader effort by SOM to expand its international programs. As part of the Yale Management Integrated Curriculum introduced in 2006, first-year students are now required to participate in faculty-led trips overseas known as the International Experience. The new International Exchange Program will provide students with the option of spending more time in another country in order to pursue their global interests in greater depth.
The international exchange is intended to offer SOM students a true study abroad experience, both academically and culturally, and to offer the student body general exposure to a wider range of international students from the exchange partner schools. “Students spend one semester in a leading international MBA program,” said Sherilyn Scully, director of Student and Academic Services. “But in addition to their academic studies, they will be meeting students from all around the world at their host schools, and they’ll bring back those experiences to SOM. Their experiences and interactions with students from our partner schools will enrich all of our students, I think, in a very meaningful way.”
For its launch year, the School expects that up to 12 participating SOM students — three per each of the four international host institutions — will study abroad through the exchange program, with a reciprocal number of exchange partners attending SOM. The host institutions were chosen on the basis of academic standing and prior history of international exchange involvement, and that the interests of SOM students, administration, and faculty were also gauged during the selection process. Each exchange partner offers programs in English.
SOM students hoping to take part in the exchange must prepare an essay application, to be submitted to a selection committee for review. Participants will remain enrolled at and pay tuition to SOM while they are overseas.
SOM Deputy Dean Stanley Garstka describes the exchange initiative as “a classic study-abroad program,” but one that will add something new to SOM. “After graduating, our students are involved in business transactions all over the world, and this program will be another way of increasing awareness of the global marketplace, cultural diversities, international business norms, and of developing a firsthand understanding of today’s world.”