Having a home base to call your own is good. And as in love as I am with travel, one of the best feelings ever is the moment you get home and walk back in the door. It’s strange and new and comfortably enveloping and familiar all at once.

As marvelous as coming home to the place that’s yours in the world, the most profound bit a trip abroad can offer is a better understanding of a whole new group of humans. I don’t care how educated someone is or isn’t, or how much political-correctness training they’ve had; leaving home base and finding yourself among people you don’t consider familiar or anywhere near your own will open your eyes a smidge and will wedge some new information and thought processes into your noggin.

It doesn’t have to hit the “It blew my mind!” level of experience intensity; subtle works too. The more we humans grok the fact that the planet is full of other humans who are basically just like us, the better things will be. Global knowledge and understanding is good.

Even if their reasons aren’t planet-saving or brotherly love, I’m still glad UCLA’s Anderson School of Management will have an international requirement for their MBA students. Starting with the Class of 2012, students will have three requirement-fulfilling options:

1) Take an international elective.

2) Spend a term abroad at one of more than 50 premier global partner business schools.

3) Complete an international Applied Management Research (AMR) project.

It’s possible the business types are hoping to use their powers for global economic rule, but they’re still going to gain insight into other earth-dwellers—in non- business-y ways—whether they want to or not.

Further Reading:

UCLA Anderson: Compare MBA Programs
Business Week: UCLA Anderson School of Management
The Cheapest MBA Program for Computer Science Students…
UC Davis Working Professional MBA Program
UA’s Two New Dual-Degree MBA and Engineering Programs
Washington State Univ. Announces New Online MBA Program
Saving the Planet is a Solid Career Choice
Consider a Well-Rounded MBA
AllBusinessSchools.com

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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