Engaging students to build global perspectives.
In an ever-changing world where cross-cultural cohesion and collaboration are more important than ever, UW-Whitewater’s Institute for the International Business Collaboration (IIBC) exists to help students better prepare to face the challenges of a global work environment.
The IIBC works with students, faculty, and staff to develop their intercultural competencies through customized, cooperative experiences both inside the classroom and out of it. We create course assignments and extracurricular activities that connect students across borders and require virtual collaboration.
UW-Whitewater is a place that offers meaningful student-faculty interactions through practical learning opportunities, and the IIBC is no different. We recognize that culture and the differences that impact business success are best learned through hands-on experiences.
What does the IIBC support?
Course collaboration
Extracurricular activities
Research projects
Our work
For nearly 20 years, the Institute for the International Business Collaboration has worked with students to provide them with the skills they’ll need to succeed in the business world.
Course collaboration
Students collaborate virtually with students from foreign partner schools to work on course assignments and simulations. The IIBC maintains:
- A database of interested parties by institution and discipline
- A repository of assignment ideas that can be adapted to fulfill intercultural skill development objectives
Through a participant database and assignment repository, the IIBC can connect interested parties from different institutions. The institute continues to work to expand program offerings to all continents and to create collaborations in every discipline from college freshmen to doctoral candidates.
Extracurricular activities
UW-Whitewater students travel abroad to participate in intercultural team sales competitions and international marketing competitions. Students from former partner universities have traveled to the United States to attend regional conferences, including the American Marketing Association Regional Conference.
One such project is the X-Culture program, an international, live, real-world competition that includes students from more than 150 universities in more than 40 different countries. Itzuri Contreras, an international business major at UW-Whitewater, attended the X-Culture Symposium in July 2024. The symposium is a week-long professional development event where the best X-Culture students compete on a live, real-world client consulting project challenge, attend professional development and academic sessions, and experience cultural visits and events. (All while collaborating with other X-Culture students and faculty.)
Partner universities include:
- University of Hertfordshire (Hatfield, United Kingdom)
- Assumption University of Thailand (Bangkok, Thailand)
- HAN University of Applied Sciences (Arnhem, Netherlands)
- Justus Liebig University Giessen (Giessen, Germany)
- Cologne University of Applied Sciences (Cologne, Germany)
Research
We collect data from students, faculty, and business participants for research publications and conference presentations.
What our students say
“International Business is super important, being able to connect and network with people from different countries and backgrounds opens a huge new world of opportunities! You’re also able to build connections that will last a lifetime. I gained new perspectives and now I’m more open minded about certain topics and I learned how to approach things differently, which is amazing both in professional and personal settings. At the same time, learning about different cultures and languages in the process was — and still is — my absolute favorite part.” - Itzuri Contreras, international business major from Manzanillo, Mexico
Contact us
Would you like to connect with UW-Whitewater about international exchange opportunities? Do you have a general question about the IIBC?
Contact Andy Ciganek for more information | 262-472-6946 | ciganeka@uww.edu
