Global Outlook
An International Education
Columbia Business School is widely acknowledged as one of the finest international business schools in the world. Businesses worldwide need MBAs who have the tools to succeed globally, including leadership skills, cultural awareness, foreign-language proficiency and an understanding of the intricacies of the world marketplace. Columbia Business School prepares students to meet those demands.
Cosmopolitan Culture
Columbia Business School students are at home around the world. More than a third of students in recent classes hold non-U.S. passports; more than 40 percent were born outside the United States and most have lived, worked and studied abroad — making internationalism a personal, as well as an academic, exercise. Current students come from more than 60 countries and speak more than 40 languages.
Worldly Experience
Teaching and research at Columbia Business School are oriented to the global economic environment. The School’s 116 full-time faculty members integrate an international component into their academic research and teaching. The faculty members themselves are citizens of the world — more than half have lived or worked abroad, and one-quarter spend several weeks teaching or consulting overseas in any given year.
Worldwide Beacon for Business Education
The Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business, founded in 1991 with a gift from Jerry Chazen, MBA ’50, chairman of Chazen Capital Partners and chairman emeritus of Liz Claiborne, is the focal point for international programs at Columbia Business School. Among its initiatives is the annual Chazen / CIBER International MBA Career Services Conference, the first global forum devoted specifically to international career and employment issues.
Another hallmark of the Chazen Institute is its Language Program, which offers eight-week courses for students, faculty members, staff and their spouses. The courses are built around two hours of language immersion each week in small classroom settings of no more than nine students. Advanced levels emphasize business terminology. The Chazen Language Program is available in the fall, spring and summer semesters.
For more information, visit the Chazen Institute Web site.
From New York to the World
Because there is no substitute for personal experience in learning about language, culture and international business, Columbia Business School’s exchange programs and study trips take place in almost every part of the world. More than 250 students have spent a semester at one of 24 leading business schools worldwide through the Chazen MBA Exchange Program. MBA and Executive MBA student study tours have explored business practices and innovation firsthand in more than 25 countries, most recently in India, China and South Africa.
International Connections
Half of the School’s recent graduates accepted jobs that include a significant international component or are based outside their home country. Some 6,500 MBA graduates — about 20 percent of the School’s total alumni population — live and work abroad, and dozens of alumni clubs span the globe.
