Campus Abroad, a Cooperative Learning Experience

EIGHTYTHREE BOCCONI STUDENTS ARE LEAVING FOR A THREEWEEK STINT IN SYDNEY, DUBAI OR MUMBAI. THEY WILL LIKELY COME BACK MORE OPENMINDED AND WITH A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF GLOBAL PHENOMENA, SAYS STEFANO CASELLI, VICERECTOR FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

The Sydney University of Technology, the American University in Dubai and the Mumbai International School of Business Bocconi (MISB) are the destinations of the Campus Abroad Winter 2015. For three weeks, from 18 January to 7 February, 83 students will follow a Bocconi elective course at one of the three partner universities and will be involved in country specific seminars and visits to institutions and companies. Out of the 83 students, 58 are undergraduate, 21 graduate and 4 come from the School of Law.
 
“Since about fifteen years”, says Stefano Caselli, Vice-Rector for International Affairs at Bocconi University, “the Campus Abroad offers intense learning and knowledge experiences. Students face new realities and confront themselves with different country systems. They come back more open-minded and with a better understanding of global phenomena. Campus Abroad is a good starting point for student exchanges, double degrees and internships”.
 
Campus Abroad is one of the opportunities to study abroad managed by the International Relations Service.
 
The destinations in a less complex environment are reserved for undergraduate students. In Sydney they will attend the Gaia Rubera course New Products and Product Management and will learn how to develop products in countries other than those of the head office. Meetings are scheduled with companies such as Fuji Xerox and Red Garage Ventures, the accelerator backed by The Coca-Cola Company. Rubera, who took part in the Campus Abroad in Shanghai in the summer of 2013, says that in such a context “learning and teaching change. Classrooms are more cooperative”. The learning activities will continue outside the classroom: students will be asked to tweet using the hashtag #NPDbocc.
 
“In Dubai there will be a full immersion in a different economic environment”, assures Cinzia Parolini, a veteran of the Campus Abroad. She and Irene Dagnino will teach undergraduate students how to make a business plan. “Living together for three weeks will create a strong bond between teacher and students, a bond that the latter appreciate”. Parolini will adjust her course and ask students to do a business plan for a company located in Dubai or in the United Arab Emirates and lead them during on-site visits and meetings with Expo Dubai 2020, Greenline Yacht Interiors and THE Ministry of Culture. “They will collect data and information on local opportunities and restrictions. They’re going to end up knowing more about the place”.
 
Undergraduate and law students will move to MISB and follow Cesare Conti’s Corporate Financial Risk Management course with some colleagues from Mumbai. “It’s a new way to experience a course”, Conti says. “It will be important to be focused and prone to teamwork”. Meetings are scheduled with managers of corporations and banks that deal with financial risk management. There’ll be a tour of the Mumbai slums too. “It will not be a copy of the course I teach in Milan. I will account for the ongoing relationship with the students and the participatory spirit of the Campus Abroad”.

by Claudio Todesco