Running head: GLOBAL ISSUES REPORT 1

Global Issues Report:

Business Education

Llancy Aguilar

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

November 13, 2019

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Abstract

The curricula for business education at universities it the united states and especially in

UTEP is being compared to those in other parts of the world that has chosen to follow alternative

ways to prepare students. These methods are being explained while the importance of having the

most efficient higher education for the workforce in the business field is address.
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Global Issues Report:

Business Education

The University of Texas at El Paso offers a lot of opportunities for students of any major.

However, UTEP lacks hands-on practices for students to be more prepare for the real working

environment and it presents a big issue, not only in El Paso, but in many countries. Since

employers are not satisfied with how graduate students are not really prepare for the jobs they

were supposed to be training during college. This issue is so important that it needs to be address

by many universities in the United States by learning from others in the world, such as the Asia

school of business, which strongly encourage students to work on more real-world training and

experiential projects.

Discussion

Asia School of Business is moving forward to offer a better higher business education.

According to Lumpur (2019), the Asia School of Business is going to merge with the Bank

Negara Malaysia in order to expand their majors offering and improve their program to a more

global level and thus create a bigger impact (Lumpur, para. 7). These business school was

created in 2015 with the purpose of form new leaders ready and capable of handle real world

problems and respond to business issues at a global scale (Lumpur, para. 10). According to Shinn

(2019), the founders of the university strongly focus on address on of their potential sponsor’s

concern (Shinn, para. 1). This individual believed that when graduate students enter the

workforce, it takes up to two years for them to be valuable for the company (Shinn, para. 2). This

evidence suggest that the world is already starting to respond for the needs of an education that

involves more hands-on training and innovation.

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A key factor to succeed in the business field is to get involved in on-hand activities and

practices rather than just rely on the theory and concepts. According to Davis (2013), one of the

challenges that business schools are struggling with is the lack of integration programs or

activities for students (Davis, p. 29). This issue becomes a problem when it comes to seeking for

job opportunities because employers look for employees that can truly integrate and be able to

rapidly adapt to the real-world experiences (Davis, p. 30). This is important because it proves

that schools need to improve their curricula and that students need to find opportunities to gain

experience that will help them to develop the appropriate skills. At the Asian School of Business,

students are encouraged to participate in projects host by companies all over the world (Shinn,

Par. 6). As shown in figure #1, the university holds projects in countries from different

continents such as the Americas and Africa.

Practices and methods for business education needs to be updated, as a response for

demand. Miles (2017) insisted that most universities nowadays still have some characteristics of

education from 800 years ago (Miles, p. 246). Besides, critics argue that most of the research that

has been done in business education do not satisfy the needs of the practice of business and

therefore is irrelevant for practitioners and companies (Miles, p. 250). Consequently, business

students lack interest in education itself and end up going to college believing that all they need

to succeed is a degree (Miles, p. 249). This evidence suggest that graduate college students are

being introduced to the business field without the appropriate education and preparation. Unlike

most American business universities, the Asia School of Business’ students spend up to 1/3 of

their time on projects that allows them to experience new situations that they will most likely

experience on the workforce (Shinn, Para. 5). As part of their methods, students are asked to

follow a procedure called the cycle of learning in action (shown on figure #2) and is applied on
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every project they do in order to obtain better results. This evidence suggests that if more

universities realize the need for action learning more graduates can be ready to give value to a

company to the moment they begin.

Business higher education can be a key for a big change. According to the Association to

Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), universities can produce a huge impact in

future business society by expanding and look for different approaches to obtain better results

(AACSB, n.d, “Be a driver of innovation”). The AACSB emphasize in 5 approaches which

business schools should pay attention to. By following these approaches, business schools should

be able to promote innovation and effective leadership among students, partner up with

practitioners, educators in other fields, as well as other educational institutions to be more than

just researchers of business theory and be suitable for a variety of business students (AACSB,

n.d, “Five opportunities to thrive”). This evidence suggests that by evaluating the challenges and

opportunities of business education, universities can find ways to improve their methods and

therefore their outcomes. Duran and Dameron (2008) argue that in the past years north America

has become leader in business education (Durand & Dameron, p. 1). As part of that, universities

of the united states had been influencing other countries. For instance, Harvard university has

contributed on create more institutions to promote management and one of them has been the

Asian Institute of Management in 1968 (Duran & Dameron, p. 328). This evidence demonstrates

how the interest in business education has been developing and spreading globally.

UTEP provides great opportunities for students to travel and expand their knowledge. By

citing NAFA: Association of International Educators, Acosta (2019) claimed that UTEP students

get involved in study abroad programs that allows them to upgrade their concerns in a global

level, develop communication and social skills as well an intercultural knowledge (Acosta, para.
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7). Throughout the article the author presents a variety of testimonies from students of different

majors who formed part of these programs and obtain life-changing experiences that motivates

them to engage in important researches and projects that involved international issues. One them

is a program started by the Ph.D. associate professor at UTEP Ablanedo-Rosas and the Ph.D.

professor Zang at ZUFE’s School of Information (Acosta, para. 43). This program let students

learn about Chinese business and the market opportunities in that country (Acosta, para. 45).

Figure #3 shows the students that participate in the program. This suggest that students at UTEP

have the opportunity to get out of their comfort zone and network with people through the world

due to the study abroad opportunities offered at the faculty. These kinds of activities are required

at the Asian School of business and provide great opportunities for growing as student.

According to Shinn (2019), when students are exposed to experience real situations and asked to

present their findings, they get more confidence and a better understanding of the content they

need to learn (Shinn, para. 8-9). If UTEP continues encouraging students to go beyond and work

on projects that involved real actions and decisions that can cause an impact the outcomes can be

favorable for the university.

Business students that graduate from the University of Texas at El Paso had shown a big

potential since years ago now. To illustrate this point, Shelley (1991) talked about Frank Hoy,

UTEP graduated dean of the college of business administration. Shelley mentioned all the

achievements he got after graduation and the opportunities offered to him after college (Shelley,

para. 3-5). A long with the accomplishments the author also mentions some pieces of the

interview made to the dean of COBA in which he express the huge potential he sees on the

business program of UTEP and how it can be very useful for the students who wanted to succeed

in the business field (Shelley, para. 7-9). This evidence suggests that even though business
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administration wasn’t one of the first majors offered in UTEP, the university still being a good

option for business students.

Conclusion

Even though, the potential for business administration students is huge, the curricula of

the University of Texas at El Paso is not providing students with enough tools to be capable of

solve real life issues that employees encounter nowadays. This can really affect the university,

since many universities around the world are getting aware of the problem that employees see on

graduate students and are preparing their students to be ready for the workforce. In order for

UTEP to not fall behind, it will need to partner with more companies and look for ways to

engage students to more active training activities and projects in which they face real life

problems that most likely will face in the future and that will not be able to truly understand by

just getting lectures. Another way to improve graduate outcomes in UTEP is by focusing on the

organizations and help those to look ways to participate in local business by making them

business plans, marketing plans or do financial statements as projects for some small businesses

as well as nonprofits willing to accept UTEP business students’ participation.

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Reference

AACSB. (n.d.). A New Vision for Business Education. Retrieved 2019, from

https://www.aacsb.edu/vision.

Acosta, L. (2019, July 12). Oh, The Places Miners Will Go. Retrieved from

http://www.utepmagazine.com/fall-2019/2019/7/10/oh-the-places-miners-will-go

ASB Marketing. (2019). Integration of Iclif with the Asia School of Business to provide broader

set of business education offerings. Retrieved from

https://asb.edu.my/2019/11/05/integration-of-iclif-asb-2019

Business education. (2018). Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 1; Retrieved from

http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=funk&AN=bu213800&sit

e=ehost-live&scope=site

Damast, A. (2014, July 9,). The astounding boom in undergrad business education. Fortune

Retrieved from https://fortune.com/2014/07/09/undergraduate-business-education/

Durand, T., & Dameron, S. (Eds.). (2008). The future of business schools: Scenarios and

strategies for 2020 Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04704a&AN=nug.b220

5091&site=eds-live&scope=site

Hardy, G. M., & Everett, D. L. (2013). Shaping the future of business education: Relevance,

rigor, and life preparation Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04704a&AN=nug.b269

8527&site=eds-live&scope=site
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Miles, E. W. (2017). Historical context and insights for criticisms of the 21st century business

school. Journal of Education for Business, 92(5), 245.

doi:10.1080/08832323.2017.1335277

Shelley, K. (1991, Sep 10,). New dean of business college looks to future  El Paso

Prospector Retrieved from https://theprospector.newspaperarchive.com/el-paso-

prospector/1991-09-10/page-6/

Shinn, S. (2019, April 22). Into the World. Retrieved from

https://bized.aacsb.edu/articles/2019/may/into-the-world.
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Figures

Figure #1: places where the Asian School of Business held their active learning projects.

Retrieve from https://asb.edu.my/action-learning

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Figure #2: learning process used in the Asian School of Business during their active

learning projects. Retrieve from https://asb.edu.my/action-learning

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Figure #3: students of The University of Texas at El Paso in a study abroad program in

china. Retrieve from http://www.utepmagazine.com/fall-2019/2019/7/10/oh-the-places-miners-

will-go
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Instructor Comments

CBFA #1: Satisfactory progress