Study Tours
International Study Tours are University of Alberta faculty-led courses that combine lectures and assignments at the U of A in Edmonton with two-week guided field trips to international destinations. Unlike exchange programs, these courses are organized and taught by U of A faculty and count as direct U of A credit. They are a great option for those students who want to incorporate an international component into their degrees, particularly if you have a limited timeframe or available transfer credit. It is also a good way to gain international experience without heavy personal investment as the Study Tours are fully facilitated and students travel and learn alongside fellow U of A participants in a group setting.
Tour destinations can change year to year. The tours are built around a mix of business visits, academic content from local partners, and cultural exploration. The tours are intended to provide students with exposure to different cultures, approaches to business, and industries.
European Family Business Study Tour
BUEC 444 / SEM 648
Course Overview
This tour is open to both BCom and MBA students. This tour offers students the unique opportunity to participate in an international study tour to Europe during the spring. This 3 credit course combines lectures and assignments at the University of Alberta during the Winter Term and a two week on-site study tour in May. On-site, students participate in company visit, workshops at local universities, and cultural and sightseeing activities. The tour component is intended to give students first-hand insight into European business with a focus on family businesses, their governance structure, corporate strategy, and performance.
Course Information
This 3 credit course consists of 2 components; a classroom component and the on-site tour component. The course combines lectures, company visits and sightseeing locations in Germany and Italy.
Classroom Component
The classroom component will focus on understanding the political and economic dynamics of Europe, its culture, and role in the global economy. It will also cover Europe's business environment and how governance differences within Europe impact family business entrepreneurship. This component will take place during the Winter semester at the Alberta School of Business.
On-site Tour Component
The ~13-day tour will occur during the first two weeks in May. During the tour, students will participate in numerous company visits, lectures, workshops at local universities, and sightseeing activities. Specific destinations and companies visited do vary year-to-year. For the 2024 tour, the tour will begin in Frankfurt, Germany. From there, the group will travel to Verona, Trieste, and Bergamo in Italy.
Scheduled visits include:
Business on the front lines
SEM 686
Course Overview
This course is open to MBA students. The Business on the Frontlines (BOTFL) course serves our partners in creating lasting fundamental changes in frontier markets while providing students with life-changing front-line experiences in global markets. Led by Professor Emily Block, students work as teams to serve their partners in the following activities: investigative research, interviews, analysis, and the creation of a business development model specific to their partner organization. Class assignments are a combination of readings, project deliverables, and case study write-ups and are designed to help students prepare for their partner project in-field.
Course Information
Client projects and destinations vary each year. Previous destinations have included Ethiopia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Colombia, and the Philippines. Prior projects have included developing a business plan for a regional cancer care centre in Ethiopia, working with World Vision Philippines to research and support out of school urban youth, and exploring opportunities in the IT sector in Kyrgyzstan with the Aga Khan Foundation.
New York Tour
BUEC 444 / SEM 648
Course Overview
This course is open to both BCom and MBA students. The overall theme of the course is a project-focused course dealing with issues in Finance. The travel portion to New York will be built around company/industry meetings and a business challenge. Visits/meetings will be primarily Finance and Financial Services focused. Outside of the trip itself, students can expect to have 1 or 2 class sessions prior to the trip. This is a graded course. Students can expect to complete some work prior to the trip and participate in a business challenge on the trip.
Course Information
This course is designed to run over the November Reading Week. The exact schedule for each visit will be determined close to travel dates. Previous visits have included:
- Deutsche Bank
- J.P. Morgan
- EY
- Intermediate Capital Group
- Endeavor Global