|
 Ingredient #5: Partnership with
the Private Sector
The Rhode Island IEP could not exist without close
collaboration with business and industry, i.e., with
those persons and organizations for whom the students
will intern and ultimately pursue their international
careers. For this reason, the IEP faculty worked from
the beginning to establish relationships with
subsidiaries of foreign firms in the Rhode Island
area, and with American firms heavily involved
abroad. Because global work is the reality of
business today, finding internationally involved
companies was not a problem. Also, because the
success of global companies is dependent upon
reliable cross-cultural and cross-lingual
communication, there was little problem in finding
firms which recognized the importance of the goals of
the IEP.
The IEP established an Advisory Board in order to
involve companies in the process of building the
program and in order to develop internship and
long-term employment opportunities. The Board is
active today in many ways: advising faculty,
coordinating internships, recruiting students,
raising funds for scholarships, and in other aspects
of program development and support. The Board meets
annually, either at URI, at a company location, and
occasionally at a European location. (For information
on the most recent meeting, click HERE.)
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