University of Queensland Business School (UQBS) MBA students have been helping to build links with one of the world’s fastest-growing markets on a pioneering trip to India.
UQ MBA program Director Dr Sarah Kelly said students on the School’s first Indian Immersion trip met business leaders and diplomats at the Australian High Commission in Delhi, worked with a microfinance charity in the slums and were featured in the Indian media.
Twenty students took part in the week-long trip, designed to give them detailed insight into the fast-growing Indian market and the business, political, economic and cultural factors which help to shape it.
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They were accompanied by Dr Kelly, International Management Lecturer Professor Peter Liesch and former Australian test cricketer and UQ Business School MBA student Michael Kasprowicz, who is the School’s goodwill ambassador to India.
Dr Kelly said the Business School planned to make International Immersion tours an annual event.
“Students met companies from a range of sectors, including IT and technology, pharmaceutical, marketing, resources, retail and banking, and attended lectures at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad on subjects including IT and outsourcing, innovation and entrepreneurship,” she said.
“In Delhi they attended an industry panel at the High Commission alongside some globally successful business figures.
“They were also able to see the non-profit sector in action in the city by working with Opportunity International Australia and its local affiliate, the global microfinance charity for which they had helped to raise funds prior to the trip.
Dr Kelly said immersion allowed students to develop a global perspective.
“First-hand experience is more engaging and memorable and provides a depth of insight that cannot be matched in class.
“Many students have told us that their perspective on the country has altered and that they could better distil some of the theory they studied in the applied context.
“It has helped to strengthen UQ Business School’s international connections and has been beneficial for students to develop their own networks and identify study and career opportunities there.
The UQ Business School business immersion experience seeks to broaden the students’ outlook and perspectives on business, political, economic and cultural factors in emerging markets.
For more information on the UQ Business School MBA program, visitwww.business.uq.edu.au/mba
