Every year, Alfaisal University College of Business sends a group of MBA students on international trip. The MBA international trips expose students to different cultures and business experience. The MBAs are learning new ideas from new faculty and experts in different business and management areas.
This is year on June 9, 2013, fifteen MBA students went to the USA for an educational seminar designed specifically for them — “Business Startups: Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship” at Boise State University.
The session was organized by senior administrators at the College of Business at Alfaisal University and the College of Business and Economics at Boise State University. The program emphasis was on the early stage of business formation including conception; initial funding, getting customers and making changes to a business plan along the way.
Instructors and guest speakers were selected to give the optimum blend of academic and business experience. All of the instructors have many years of experience teaching in Boise State’s MBA programs—both traditional and executive—and many of them also lead executive education programs. Guest speakers such as Clay Young, CEO, Inovus gave students a glimpse into well-run, Western start-ups. Joel Hickmant, Regional CEO of US Bank and Kevin Learned Director of Venture College at Boise State also spoke to the students.
Classroom instruction topics and professors were Presentation Strategies, Pat Delana; Design Thinking, Roy Glen; Personal Selling, Cheryl Larabee; Scanning the Periphery and The Hambrick Model, Nancy Napier; Marketing Opportunity and Early Stage Financing, Kent Neupert; and Turnarounds and Dramatic Repositioning, Courtney White.
The 8-day event wasn’t all in the classroom. Recreational activities for the group included many outdoor activities such as lunches and dinners hosted by Boise State University, rafting the Payette river and tour of Boise. The Alfaisal University MBA students highly appreciated the trip and the organizers.
Dr. Daniel W. Lund, Alfaisal University College of Business Acting Dean stated “The USA MBA trip to Boise State University brought together high quality executive education by world-class professors, interactive talks with American CEOs, and tours of thriving of US businesses. Boise State University officials report that ‘the Alfaisal University MBA Students performed at a world-class level.’ We are proud of our exceptional students as they represent Alfaisal University to the world”.