Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration is working to expose more of its students to international cultures and conventions by expanding its signature Classroom to Classroom program.
Classroom to Classroom partners SHA students with universities and faculty around the world and matches classes at BU with similar classes offered at those other universities. Once matched, students from both schools are put into groups to work on collaborative, international projects.
At the end of the Classroom to Classroom experience, groups jointly present their final project with the aid of Skype to faculty and students of both universities.
SHA requires that its students fulfill an international experience in order to graduate, and Classroom to Classroom is one of the ways a student can meet that requirement.
This is the second year SHA has run the official Classroom to Classroom pilot. SHA Dean Arun Upneja said in a phone interview that implementing a program like this one has many benefits for students.
“In this day and age, it is very, very important for students to have a global mindset when they graduate.” Upneja said. “They can obviously put it down on their resumé and show to their employers that they have the capability of interacting with a diverse group of people regardless of time and distance constraints.”
Upneja said SHA hopes to expand Classroom to Classroom to more courses within SHA’s curriculum and to partner with more schools from around the globe.
Clinical assistant professor Suzanne Markham Bagnera is SHA’s undergraduate program coordinator, and has been spearheading most of the recent transformations to the Classroom to Classroom program. She said in a phone interview that she hopes students walk away from the Classroom to Classroom program with the skills necessary to succeed after college.
“When [students] get out into the world, they’re going to have to integrate with others and connect with people from other cultures and be impacted by diversity,” Markham Bagnera said. “This gives them a great strength to that.”
Markham Bagnera said small cultural differences can make the adoption process of the program a challenge, but they are usually overcome.“It’s great to have a school or a dean or administrator that wants to see the program happen, but it’s a matter of finding the right faculty member that’s committed to working through the project,” Markham Bagnera said.
SHA senior Gina Hock works as a teacher’s assistant and helps with the Classroom to Classroom program. Hock wrote in an email that the program gives students a learning experience unlike any other.aaa
“We have worked with schools in Hong Kong, France and New Zealand, and the school is always looking to expand and work with others,” Hock said. “It can prepare students for their careers by teaching them some of the most important human resource topics of the time and how different cultures approach these issues in different ways.”
SHA Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Peter Szende said in a phone interview that Classroom to Classroom is just one way SHA aims to meet its vision of becoming the leading hospitality management school globally. He said that because many American students have not traveled internationally, Classroom to Classroom serves as an opportunity to gain exposure to different international cultures.
“This will be an opportunity for [students] to sit in their armchair and travel at the same time and get the perspective so that they realize that local issues are shared by our colleagues thousands of miles away,” Szende said.
Szende said he would personally like to see the program expand into SHA’s graduate program.
Several SHA students acknowledged the challenges associated with Classroom to Classroom, but were optimistic about it.
SHA senior Giulianna Rubin is a teacher’s assistant who is involved in the Classroom to Classroom. Rubin wrote in an email that several challenges, including time zone differences, language barriers and differing social norms and work ethics, can arise through the program, but that it has many benefits.
“This is a great opportunity to learn about how working in the U.S. compares to working in another country,” Rubin wrote. “It also makes students more open-minded and knowledgeable from a semester with international counterparts.”
SHA sophomore Gretchen Ho said in a message that she was neither excited nor deterred by the program. Ho said she could see the program being useful because she has family members whose jobs operate similarly to Classroom to Classroom.
“Many of us may end up working on projects with other people who aren’t in the same place,” Ho said. “So even though the project that I think the program refers to seems like a pain in some ways, that’s kind of real life.”
