International Double Degree Programs as Accelerators for Internationalization: Lessons from the Trans-Atlantic Business School Alliance

ABSTRACT

The global nature of the modern business world has expanded the set of skills and attitudes necessary for success, even among new bachelor degree graduates. Although US business schools have primarily integrated international concepts through their curricula, students who stay at their home institutions for their entire degree programs do not live and experience the global business environment to the extent necessary for twenty-first-century careers. Short-term, semester- or year-abroad programs help to bridge this gap. However, carefully constructed undergraduate double degree programs can provide students with much richer experiences. This article provides a model for creating international undergraduate double degree programs in business, highlighting the main challenges and offering successful proven solutions employed by a group of American and European business schools that other institutions can adapt to accelerate internationalization and deepen students’ international experiences in American business schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Double degree
• study abroad
• international education
• accelerating internationalization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey W. Steagall

Jeffrey W. Steagallis a professor of economics. His research interests include internationalization of business education, sports economics, international trade and economics pedagogy.

Peter Falk

Peter Falk served as Senior Lecturer at the Bremen University of Applied Sciences School of International Business in Germany from 1988 to 2015, where he now serves as Coordinator of Transatlantic Business Education. He is a co-founder of the Transatlantic Business School Alliance and has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, the University of Missouri-St. Louis and East Tennessee State University and an Erasmus Lecturer at the University of Westminster in the U.K.

Andres Gallo

Andres Gallo is a Professor of Economics and Director of the International Business Flagship Program at the Coggin College of Business, University of North Florida, as well as Secretario Académico at Universidad Austral, Argentina. He specializes in international economics, with focus on Latin America and economic development. His research focuses on international economics, economic development, the political economy of property rights in diverse areas, including the US patent system, biotechnology and property rights in the context of economic development. He has applied econometric techniques to address different issues in these areas of research and consulting in the private sector. His teaching expertise includes international economics, econometrics, macroeconomics, Latin American economies and economic development at both graduate and undergraduate levels.

Thomas W. Porter

Thomas W. Porter is an associate professor of marketing.  His research interests include marketing strategy implementation, problem sensing and marketing pedagogy.