The private sector was informed about the Summit process. Follow-up to the Latin America business meeting in Monterrey Mexico in Jan 2004

This program assists North Carolina companies in becoming internationally competitive while also training MBAs to be effective global leaders. NC companies may apply to be part of the STAR program; more information on web site.

The University of Florida and Tshwane University of Technology received a grant titled "Partnership to Strengthen Teaching, Research, Service and Faculty Development in Tourism Management (2009-2012)." In Year 1, the teaching and curriculum needs will be accommodated at the Bachelor degree level. In Year 2, based on a strategic visioning meeting with faculty and industry stakeholders, a Center for Sustainable Tourism will be established with active industry engagement (Advisory Board) and partnership. The mission of the Center will be largely to serve tourism destinations and industries through research, training and outreach within the community, province and other regions in southern Africa. In Year 3, faculty development will be emphasized with regards to enhancing capacity as well as collaborative initiatives in tourism research with the project team and select UF faculty. The facilitation of collaborative initiatives in research partnerships will be sustained during and post-completion of the project. Also, professional development opportunities will be offered to current TUT faculty through a short exchange program with UF.

We are currently recruiting students for the Global Business Project. There will be an information session on the GBP on Thursday, October 29 at 5 p.m. in VMH 1412. The Global Business Project (GBP) is a unique graduate-level course offered to MBAs and other graduate students at thirteen member universities. Unlike other international consulting project courses, the GBP asks students to apply both cross-cultural awareness and foreign language skills to produce strategic advice for companies that is focused, compelling, and actionable.

The purpose of this project is to conduct a survey of current visitors to Zambia with respect to demand assessment for the greater Kafue National Park (KNP) area, which is the second largest National Park in the world. Currently, tourism has not reached its potential but is a major tool to promote and strengthen sustained economic growth and poverty reduction in the greater KNP area. This study proposes to examine demand based on current visitors that have visited the KNP area and/or those that have visited other national parks. This study will provide baseline information needed to position the region relative to other regions in the country. The study will also analyze determinants of demand to aid policy makers and the tourism industry to improve the identification of potential new markets and provide and improve the tourism opportunities that play a key role in a tourists choice in their trip selection. Additionally, it will assist in the development of comprehensive marketing strategies to showcase the greater KNP region.

2010 FIFA World Cup: Resident and Visitor Perspectives (2010-2011): Understanding the social legacies of a mega-event necessitates a focus on the residents of a nation. This research has multiple phases with the primary goal of identifying the social legacies (e.g., identity, social capital, and tourism) associated with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This focus will help to inform local and national level policy to facilitate the nation building goals of South Africa. Data were collected (five host cities) three months prior to the event in mid June 2010, while a follow up will be conducted in Spring 2011. Given the importance of the event for the South African Tourism brand, an additional objective was to evaluate destination and event image perceptions and tourism behaviors of spectators. Data were collected among visitors at all the nine host cities during the World Cup which will provide a major source of information about visitor profiles, market segmentation, perceptions and experiences. This project is conducted in partnership between the University of Florida (UF) and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in Pretoria, South Africa.

The International Olympic Committee, the Organizing Committees and the host cities of Olympic Games underline the importance of the concept of legacy as it relates to the quality of life of local residents. However, there is a lack of research in understanding the importance of the various legacy aspects from the residents’ quality of life perspective over time. The purpose of this project is to examine the importance of the various legacy aspects as they relate to the quality of life of host city residents. This information is of critical importance to the IOC as the legacies derived from the Olympic Games can not only impact the host cities’ levels of quality of life but also sustain and enhance the Olympic Games image. Furthermore, gaining an understanding of the important aspects of Legacies can provide a framework, which future Olympic bidding and host cities can use to address public concern regarding issues related to the hosting of the Olympic Games.

This competition will bring together teams of MBA students from 11 domestic and international institutions for a challenging international business strategy case. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for International Business Education and Research will host this event on April 7-10, 2010. If you are interested in participating please check the competition website and contact Ms. Karen Watts. (Note: The Smith School team placed 2nd in the last competition).

The main goal of this project is to build capacity to improve tourism curriculum, research, and industry outreach through collaboration between academic institutions and the private sector. In addition, the partners will engage in collaborative research initiatives and participate in industry outreach via the proposed Center for Tourism Management at the State University of Nizhni Novgorod (UNN), Russian Federation, which is likely to be the first university-associated tourism research center.

The University of Florida College of Health and Human Performance has received a significant gift to name the current Center for Tourism Research and Development (CTRD) in the College of Health and Human Performance. The gift made by the Eric Friedheim Foundation of Jacksonville, Fla. will rename the center as the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute, which was approved Friday by the university’s Board of Trustees. The institute marks the first named center at the college and will provide critical support for research on tourism, including economic, environmental and cultural issues with special focus on the state of Florida.

The  FY2011 BIE Closing Date Notice (CDN) WILL BE PUBLISHED in the Federal Register ON THURSDAY JAN 13.  THE APPLICATION WILL BE AVAILABLE IN GRANTS.GOV ON JAN. 13.  THE DEADLINE WILL BE MARCH 2.  Funding priorities and application instructions are in the CDN.  ED WILL USE GRANTS.GOV  for the electronic application process, so please check with your grants office to familiarize yourself with those procedures, with the time it might take for the application to be approved at your institution, and the time needed to upload.  ED always recommends uploading the applications early as per the instructions in the CDN.

Susanna C. Easton
Senior Program Specialist
International and Foreign Language Education
Office of Postsecondary Education
U.S. Department of Education
1990 K Street NW, Sixth Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006-8521
Phone: (202) 502-7628
e-mail: susanna.easton@ed.gov
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/iegps/index.html

The Business in Brazil four-week summer program takes place in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, combining coursework on Brazilian business practices, site visits to companies, training in Brazilian Portuguese and immersion in Brazilian culture. Given the specialized and intensive nature of Business in Brazil, it draws participation from a national pool of students. Students studied business-oriented Portuguese language at the Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos, attended academic lectures and lively discussions in English at the School of Business at the Catholic University (PUC-Rio), combined with visits to prominent local companies, stayed with local families, and experienced excursions to Paraty and Corcovado. They also visited several companies, including national oil company Petrobas, media giant Globo, the National Development Bank, and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce.