With an economy that is becoming increasingly globalized and vastly inter-connected, business all over the world is changing. This gives rise not only to new opportunities, but also to challenges in business education that needs to cultivate future business leaders with global mindsets. Today business schools need to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit that stimulates innovation, drives productivity and promotes an on-going commitment to learn and grow.
It is in this spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that the HKUST Business School has partnered with two highly regarded business schools to pioneer the launch of World Bachelor in Business (WBB) program, a multi-institutional undergraduate degree program that fosters innovative and cross-cultural thinking within the context of the global economy.
Designed to meet the business world’s growing demand for talent with professional knowledge, language competence, cultural sensitivity and international networking, WBB allows students the opportunity to live and study on three continents and earn degrees from three universities. The universities forming the strategic partnership that makes WBB possible include HKUST, The University of Southern California, a top-tier research institution in the U.S., and Bocconi University, Italy’s first economics university.
According to Professor Angela Ng, WBB Program Director of the HKUST Business School, “WBB is a ground-breaking program that epitomizes a truly global approach to undergraduate education in a business world where the distances between people are becoming shorter and global perspectives are increasingly demanded of business leaders.”
Targeting future business leaders who embrace the increasingly global language of business, the one-of-a-kind WBB sets a new definition in business excellence by emphasizing global vision, international network, in-depth business knowledge and hands-on experience across continents.
Specially structured to allow students immersion in a variety of regions, WBB aims to expose students to diverse cultures and challenge them to think and learn from broad perspectives. Each cohort will be studying together which aims to develop their cultural sensitivity and build their global network.
The WBB curriculum, taught by internationally renowned faculty and scholars, has been developed to provide a solid basis in business and economics while also delivering on the distinctive strengths of each university. Business and legal courses will be taught with regional emphasis to help students gain command of the nuances of doing business in different global environments. The addition of language courses will allow for a truly cultural immersion and facilitate a higher level of networking and relationship building.
“At HKUST Business School, we have been actively exploring new learning experiences that meet today’s ever-evolving business education needs. With WBB, we hope to provide the kind of real world experiences that will help aspiring students to become real world business citizens. You might say that we are daring to redefine business education” said Professor Ng.