The U.S. Department of Education awarded $3.3 million in grants and matching funds to Michigan State University’s International Business Center, or IBC.
The grant, titled “Strategic and Sustainable Value Chains for Increased International Competitiveness,” will allow the IBC to continue operating as a Center for International Business Education and Research, or CIBER, within the university’s Eli Broad College of Business.
Through the IBC, CIBER provides education, research and assistance to businesses, policymakers, academics and students on international business and trade. The only CIBER university in Michigan, MSU is among three in the Big Ten, and is one of only 15 universities in the country.
“With its cross-campus collaborations involving all corners of MSU’s campus, CIBER fills a tremendously important role in international education and outreach at Michigan State University,” said Steve Hanson, associate provost and dean for International Studies and Programs.
Since its inception in 1990, CIBER has assisted more than 15,000 U.S. companies go international – including more than 2,000 Michigan companies; trained more than 1,000 faculty at community colleges across 44 states; and consistently appeared at the top of research rankings in international business. CIBER is recognized as a national leader in training community college faculty to teach international business, and its online platform is a top-ranked global business resource.
Within the last year alone, CIBER’s activities have ranged from 33 business outreach programs involving 3,079 businesspeople to 57 educational programs involving 3,013 faculty, ultimately impacting 176,880 students nationwide.
“This global calling is exactly why our team of staff and students work so diligently every day to nurture the global mindset of future generations,” said Tomas Hult, Byington Endowed Chair, director of the International Business Center and principal investigator of the CIBER grant. “We find great satisfaction in being an integral part of Michigan’s international trade team and the country’s quest to maintain its worldwide leadership in global business,” continued Hult.
CIBER’S 2018-2022 grant cycle coincides with the Broad College’s implementation of a rigorous “global mindset” requirement for all business undergraduates – among the first for such a large U.S. business school.
“Spartans have a global calling to take what they learn at the Broad College of Business and then shepherd it to all corners of the planet so those lessons can be put into action to build a better world,” said Sanjay Gupta, Eli & Edythe L. Broad Dean of MSU’s Broad College of Business.
The Department of Education grant – coupled with the International Business Center’s contract with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, State of Michigan and the Joint Partnership Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce, as well as involvement with the U.S. District Export Councils – provides a platform to serve Michigan and national companies and constituencies, Hult explained.
“The world has become structured as a dynamic, ever-evolving and increasingly efficient complex web of supply chains,” Hult said. “MSU’s CIBER project captures and addresses the country’s need perfectly with its 2018-2022 focus on ‘Strategic and Sustainable Value Chains for Increased International Competitiveness.’”
