Project Chile

Purpose

With one third of U.S. corporations engaging in international business, and the state of Ohio a leader in the export of manufactured goods, it was clear to the faculty at Wright State's College of Business and Administration that the preparation of their students had to change to reflect these circumstances.

Based on intensive preparation leading to an international internship, Project Chile was intended to give students technical import-export skills, fluency in Spanish, an acquaintance with Chilean culture, and professional work experience. The project's creators also wanted to benefit participating companies, in the hope of eventually increasing the economic development of Chile's Lake District or ninth region and of Miami Valley, Ohio, where WSU is located.

Innovative Features

Project Chile was developed in collaboration with the Corporaci&#oacute;n de Desarrollo y Energ&#iacute;a-a Chilean organization that served as a link to Chile's business community-and the University Studies Abroad Consortium of which Wright State University is a member and which has a site at the Universidad Andr&#eacute;s Bello in Santiago.

After being accepted into the program, each student was assigned a Chilean company to research as part of two preparatory courses at Wright State-"International Trade Management" and "Chilean Culture and Commercial Spanish." Students then went to Chile, where they spent the first four months in a language immersion program at the Universidad Andr&#eacute;s Bello. The program culminated in a six-month international trade internship with the Chilean company that each student had researched.

Interns performed such tasks as analyzing the effects of Mercosur (a common market agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay and, by the year 2000, Chile) on various Chilean industries; developing import-export manuals; participating in negotiations to establish joint ventures between Chilean and U. S., Canadian and Spanish firms; negotiating and processing letters of credit for international shipments; and analyzing the potential of overseas markets.

Evaluation and Project Impact

Although more than 100 students expressed interest in Project Chile each year, and 67 took the International Trade Management course and participated in domestic internships focusing on international trade, only eleven-three of them from other institutions-undertook the full project experience.

Language competency gains were measured by written and oral pre- and posttests. The pretest scores were higher in the written than the oral examinations, an outcome to be expected given the emphasis on written communication in college foreign language courses. After the Chilean Culture and Commercial Spanish course, students scored at the "Intermediate-mid" and "Intermediate-high" levels on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) business writing examination. Upon returning from Chile, all but one scored at the "Advanced" or higher levels. Students also made significant gains in oral communication-two to four levels on the ACTFL scale, as measured by the Video Oral Communications Instrument. A full set of scores was not available for every student.

An intercultural adaptation instrument was especially designed for the project, to be used as a pre- and posttest. The instrument was filled out for every student by the director of the University Studies Abroad Consortium program and by the internship supervisor at each company. Although students achieved high intercultural scores in the pretest, indicating that they had been well prepared at their home campus, they made further gains both after the language immersion and the internship periods.

Host companies reported that the work of the interns exceeded their expectations and proved their appreciation by accepting subsequent interns.

Lessons Learned

Project Chile's paramount difficulty was in attracting students. Staff surmise that the low participation was principally due to the program's length-two years from application to completion, with one full academic year spent in Chile. And because the business school had no foreign language requirement, most students lacked the necessary language skills for the project, and had to add a full academic year and a summer of language study to their preparation time. Such a schedule clearly requires careful planning by students from the beginning of their undergraduate careers, at a time when they may not be certain of even their major, much less that they want to study abroad. It is likely that the newly created international business major, which requires over two years of foreign language, will lead to increased participation in Project Chile.

Because so few students went abroad, project staff offered to those who remained on campus the opportunity to participate in J.A. Globe, an international trade simulation. Conducted in collaboration with a Chilean university, the simulation attracted 24 U.S. and 40 Chilean students. Ten Wright State students also participated in domestic international trade internships with local companies.

There were also difficulties in collecting evaluation information. Host companies were extremely reluctant to submit written evaluations of students, fearing that students would have access to them and that negative evaluations would reflect on the companies. After staff explained the confidentiality of the process, however, the companies fully complied.

Several of the students who went to Chile failed to complete the posttests. Students are now required to sign a contract committing themselves to completing all tests or face expulsion from the program.

One of the project's original goals was to demonstrate that participants would be hired in positions requiring international trade experience and language skills. However, because most students elected to go on to graduate school, this goal could not be achieved by the end of the project. In the case of five of the students, nevertheless, Project Chile opened the doors to various opportunities related to the study of international business.

Project Continuation, Dissemination and Recognition

At the end of the FIPSE period, a grant from the National Security Education Program provided an additional two years of funding to enhance Project Chile. A modified version of the project will continue in collaboration with the University Studies Abroad Consortium and the Universidad de Concepci&#oacute;n, Chile. The consortium offers increased publicity and a larger pool of participants, as well as the possibility of expansion to other countries. Although Wright State University will continue funding staff salaries for Project Chile, after the National Security Education Program ends programmatic moneys will have to be raised from external sources.

The project was recognized with several group and individual awards for its results.

Available Information

Additional information may be obtained from:

Robert F. Scherer
Division of Community Programs
College of Business and Administration
3640 Colonel Glenn Highway
Dayton, OH 454324-0001
Telephone: 937-775-3718 or 937-775-2814

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