One of the things that the SBA emphasizes across all of its academic programs is teamwork - not just sitting in a classroom and hearing rote teaching. Often this involves financial resources. This can make a huge difference whether it is annual or endowment support. But partnership means more than just money - it's alumni serving as mentors or guest speakers, hiring our students or sponsoring our executive education programs to enhance their employees' development. It's really a reciprocal relationship with value added for both parties.
Partnerships also refer to our international connections.
As a business school, we have to reflect the international horizons. It's essential that a keen understanding of global business practices cuts across all of our programs and curriculum to bring a strong world perspective into the classroom. We provide our faculty and students opportunities for joint research projects and collaborative education at such schools as ESC - Lyon in France and Maastricht University in the Netherlands. And we are currently developing relationships in Shanghai, China and Thailand. The overall benefits to students of our global partnerships are the relevance of their education, the ability to really understand other cultures, and a true feeling for the international world of business.