For International Delegations, A Chance to Learn Entrepreneurship from Nation’s Best

Last week, Babson welcomed another 20 delegates from around the country and Latin America as part of a series of conferences on entrepreneurship education for international university and college representatives.

What are they looking for? Insight into Babson’s entrepreneurial education ecosystem.

Bringing it Home

Patricia Ruiz, director of international relations at Universidad Anáhuac México, came to Babson to learn the College’s entrepreneurship education model and mission. She also hoped to open doors for collaboration.

“It’s very new and creative, how they define entrepreneurship,” she said, adding that she will return to Mexico with new ideas and perspectives.

Jose Tavarez is chancellor for Instituto Tecnológico de las Américas in the Dominican Republic, a school that specializes in engineering, technology, and entrepreneurship. He said he learned more about the College’s method of teaching entrepreneurship.

“The practical approach, the idea to help students, real experience,” Tavarez said. “That is the way, the methodology that you use to help change the mindset of entrepreneurship in the students.”

Linking the World to Babson

Referred to as Visitor and Opportunity Management, the program has hosted 141 delegates from 22 institutions in 20 countries in its inaugural year. In the past month alone, the College hosted about 10 delegations.

The latest conference included sessions on internationalization and entrepreneurship education, led by Dean of Babson Academy & Global Education Amir Reza. Another was led by Nan Covert and Jamie Kendrioski about the Babson Academy for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurial Learning .

Session themes also have, to date, included women’s leadership, technology, and innovation.

Coordinator of Visitor and Opportunity Management Jocelyn Lyons considers the early results of the program to be a success.

“The people that we have in the room are people that are interested in internationalization, people that have roles within that realm,” Lyons said. “They want to know how Babson has paved the way for internationalization, in a school that has focused on something completely different.”

The program also has led to more than 20 faculty or student exchange partnership requests.

“It seems in the summer months, we’ve been getting the most traction,” Lyons said. “People come here when they’re in the area.”

In addition, it has helped Babson identify what professionals are seeking from Babson Academy and Executive Education.

“We’re trying to leverage our relationships to see what we can learn from them, what we can gain from them,” Lyons said.

Those interested in visiting can contact Jocelyn Lyons at visitors@babson.edu.

Posted in Community, Insights

Tagged Entrepreneurship Education, Faculty, Global

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