A new MBA program will see Carleton team up with a Colombian university to offer students in Colombia the chance to get a Carleton degree.
The agreement between Carleton’s Sprott School of Business and the Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administración (CESA) in Bogotá, Colombia was announced Feb. 24.
Carleton also has an MBA program at a university in Shanghai, China, which started in 2005.
Jerry Tomberlin, Sprott dean and one of the people behind the agreement, said the agreement came to be because he wanted to see Carleton expand into other countries.
“I said that I think we should start to focus our attention North-South, on Latin America, rather than being completely Asia-oriented or Europe-oriented,” Tomberlin said.
CESA had been looking for a university to partner with at the time, and had several candidates in the United States, as well as in Alberta.
CESA president José Manuel Restrepo Abondano said they chose Carleton as the winner because of the school’s focus on providing an international education.
“This is a truly international-oriented institution, and it is very diverse. You can see people from around the world,” Abondano said.
Adondano called Carleton a “very prestigious institution.”
When the program launches in April, Tomberlin said two-thirds of the program will be taught by Carleton faculty. If the students write a research paper, he said they would receive an MBA degree from CESA, as well as Carleton.
Apart from the collaboration between the two universities, Tomberlin said he hopes the program capitalizes on a recent free trade agreement between Colombia and Canada.
He said he hopes the program increases research on business between the two countries.
“Right now we have a joint research project going between faculty here and faculty there looking at some of the effects of the new free trade agreement,” Tomberlin said.
On CESA’s side, Abondano said having an international agreement helps not only the university, but also Colombia.
“We are taking advantage of these relationships between Canada and Colombia,” he said.
With more companies looking at opportunities in both countries, Abondano said the program will be able to seize on the opportunity to educate people for those jobs.
“It has a lot of benefits in how to educate managers [who] can take advantage of these economic relationships,” he said.
