Six students at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University recently spent over two weeks in India, gaining new insight into the country’s business, educational and social structures.
The trip was the culmination of the Global Enterprise in India course, an immersive global business leadership 300-level class. The goal of the course was to deepen students’ understanding of international business practices and the economy, culture and history of India, as well as helping them to develop skills needed for success in an increasingly global marketplace.
The students – accompanied by course instructor Kingshuk Mukherjee, the chair of global business leadership and Ralph Gross Chair of Liberals Arts and Business at CSB and SJU – departed on Jan. 3, and returned Jan. 18.
The party started in the commercial hub of Mumbai before going on to the city of Pune. There, they met with students from Symbiosis Skills and Professional University, with whom they had been collaborating on a 40-page research project that they presented jointly at an international conclave hosted jointly by Symbiosis Skills and Professional University and CSB and SJU. That event featured discussions on emerging trends in global supply chains, artificial intelligence (AI), entrepreneurship and leadership.
The students were also able to spend time in Goa, an Indian coastal state on the Arabian Sea, before returning to Mumbai. In addition, the trip featured numerous industry visits, including to the National Stock Exchange, a Bridgestone Tire factory and corporate offices of J.P. Morgan (marking the first time students had been allowed that kind of access there).
“I think one of my biggest takeaways from the trip was just getting comfortable with being uncomfortable,” said CSB junior Malia Tessum, a global business leadership major and global health minor who is part of the Fighting Saints ROTC Battalion at CSB and SJU.
“India is a completely different culture than our own, and that took some getting used to. But being a little uncomfortable is the best way to grow and learn.”
This marked the first year of the course – which ran from the end of October through mid-December, before concluding with the international trip.
“We’d previously had a study abroad program in which students spent a semester at St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata,” said Mukherjee, a native of India. “That ran from 2012 to 2017, so it stopped even before COVID. I started looking for a shorter-term collaboration and program, and in January 2023, a colleague and I took a trip to India and met with professors and the owner from Symbiosis. We felt like they were the right organization to start a short-term program with.”
Symbiosis Skills and Professional University has confirmed principally a return visit to the CSB and SJU campuses and businesses in late October and early November of this year as the course continues to evolve.
For now, though, Mukherjee was very pleased by how things went.
“I felt like we experienced two months’ worth of activities in two weeks,” he said. “It was important for our students to be able to spend a few days in Mumbai, which is really like New York and Los Angeles rolled into one. You can see the financial market, then also see Bollywood, which is the hub of the entertainment industry there.
“Being able to work with students from Symbiosis was also valuable because our students learned how to develop a global mindset and enhance intercultural competencies”.”
Students also received experiential learning (EX) and Global experience (GLO) credit/designation through this embedded course.
“I think that was one of the most valuable parts of this experience, learning to understand international communication and how that process works,” Tessum said. “By partnering with students from another school, we had the chance to see how business and academic culture varies across the world.
“That will be important in the future when we have a chance to work in international business.”
