International Experience Program at the Yale School of Management

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• International Experience Program at the Yale
  School of Management

Sherilyn Scully, Director Student and Academic
Services
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Overview of the International Experience

• Required global experience for all first-year MBA
  students in January of their first year
• Approximately 200 students
• Trips last 9 11 days each
• Trips mix business, governmental, non-profit
  visits with cultural activities
• Trips are faculty-led and organized
• 2 student TAs per 20 -25 students.
• Instituted in Fall 2006 as part of SOMs new
  curriculum

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Curricular Integration

• Trips augment the core course year and provide
  global curriculum perspective
• During the fall semester, students have several
  required pre-trip meetings
• Trip-specific meetings
• Health sessions
• 2 introductory sessions for State and Society

• The International Experience is a requirement for
  graduation
• Appears on the transcript as 0.5 unit course
• Students are given grades for their participation
• State and Society course in spring term requires
  students to report out on their global experience
• Leadership Development Program sections formed
  from trip groups
• Allows students to form strong bonds prior to the
  trip
• LDP meets 5 times prior to trip

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Where Have We Gone? The Destinations
January 2009 Bahrain/UAE Chile China Costa
Rica/Panama Ghana/Egypt Israel/Turkey Japan
January 2008 China Costa Rica India Israel/Turkey
Japan Namibia/South Africa Russia/Romania Singapor
e
January 2007 Argentina China Costa
Rica England/Poland India Japan Singapore South
Africa/Tanzania
Some trips are double trips 2x the students,
faculty and teaching assistants
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How Does It Work? The Destinations

• SOM works with travel agency vendors to come up
  with a basic itinerary
• Vendor provides guide, suggests cultural
  activities, makes hotel and plane reservations
• Vendor charges per person rate
• Can help students with arranging pre- or
  post-trip travel
• In 2009, we used multiple vendors in previous
  years, we used 1 vendor

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Faculty School Choose Destinations

• Faculty organizes most business meetings
• Average of 20/trip
• May be assisted by their teaching assistants
• Students asked to write caselets on an
  important decision at the nexus of business,
  government, and society from their trips
• Assignment done in groups as part of spring term
  course
• Asked to incorporate at least 2 of the core
  curriculum course concepts from fall term

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How Does It Work? Teaching Assistants

• Pre-trip responsibilities
• Attend pre-trip meetings
• Attend staff-led training sessions
• Help plan business visits

• Teaching assistants are second-year MBA students
• 2/trip
• Application process
• Chosen based on previous experience in
  destination countries, language ability, maturity
• TAs are paid a stipend full trip expenses

• Trip responsibilities
• Pay for additional expenses
• Assist with student emergencies
• Distribute readings
• Organize group for daily travel

• Post-trip responsibilities
• Expense log and receipt reporting

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How Does It Work? Charging the Students

• In 2008, students were charged 3,250 for the
  experience
• Students were bursared via their student accounts
  for 1,625 in fall term and 1,625 in spring term
• Flat rate charged, regardless of destination

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What Is Included in the Trip Fees?
Inclusions
Exclusions

• Hotels (2 students/room)
• Average of 2 meals per day breakfast 1
• All in-country transportation, including
  intra-country flights
• All cultural events on the itinerary
• All alumni/admissions events in-country
• Inoculations
• Medex services
• Visa services

• Airfare to and from the trip
• Personal items
• Mini-bar
• Laundry
• Meals not on itinerary
• Business services
• Transportation to/from airports

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Health Insurance Visas
Health Insurance
Visa Processing

• All Yale students are covered by Medex during
  travel for disaster recovery
• Mandatory health sessions provided by Yale Health
  Plan
• 1/region
• Participants provided with inoculations from Yale
  Health Plan at no cost
• Participants given prescriptions for antibiotics
  and anti-malarial pills at no cost
• Hospitalization through YUHS, covered overseas
  for emergencies

• SOM processes and pays for visas to destination
  countries
• Historically, we have used our vendor to help
  with independent travel visas too
• Deadline to turn in paperwork is December 1
• Students who do not require visas must turn in a
  copy of their passport

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Managing the Process

• Student and Academic Services (SAS) office is
  responsible for the logistics of the
  international experience
• 1.3 full-time professional staff people to
  manage
• Relationship with vendors
• TA selection process and training
• Pre- and post-trip meeting scheduling
• Visa and flight collection and issues
• Liaisoning with faculty
• Communicating program parameters to students
• International knowledge leveraged
• Incoming student visas
• International exchange program

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Timeline
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Timeline
November
December
January
Faculty conducts pre-trip meeting 3
Faculty conducts pre-trip meeting 4
Faculty leads trip!
Meeting with SAS and vendor
TAs assist on trip!
Students complete visa application process
Students pick up travel packets from SAS
TAs return phones, expenses post-trip
Staff orders gifts, medical supplies
Students go on trip!
Students attend Intro to State and Society
session 2
Staff concludes visa application process
Staff prepares TA and student packets/ bags
Staff mans emergency phones
Staff prepares emergency contact cards
Staff deals with emergency situations
Staff registers students with univ. DOS
Staff debriefs with faculty and TAs
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Wrapping It All Up

• Staff conducts debriefs
• One with all trip faculty
• One/trip (with faculty and TAs)
• Student survey
• Staff processes TA and faculty expense reports
• Staff collects trip photos for publications
• Students expected to write a case on their
  experience as part of spring semester course

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Emergency Situations and the Unexpected

• Staff mans emergency phones during the trip, but
  sometimes bad things happen
• Illnesses before and during
• Political unrest
• Visa issues
• How do you effectively communicate deadlines to
  students?
• Email newsletter and course sites

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Academic Issues to Consider

• Academic calendar
• Start date of spring term
• Match up with University calendar
• The right balance of teaching credit for faculty
• Issue for Dean to consider
• Appropriate amount of pre-trip and post-trip
  assignments

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Lessons Learned

• Students arrange flights to destinations
• Visa processing issues
• Faculty leadership
• Outsourcing this to a travel agency means youll
  get a nice tour of the facilities
• Pick travel vendors who understand academic
  environment
• Understand all reimbursement policies and
  procedures

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Thank you!Any questions?

• Sherilyn.Scully_at_yale.edu
• 203.432.6013