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Information for Sponsoring Inbound Rotary Clubs Sponsoring Outbound Rotary Clubs
Rotary Club # 25 |
International Business Student Training in America through Rotary
Program Description for Sponsoring Outbound Rotary Club
IBSTAR contributes to Rotary's goal of enhancing world peace through understanding, as people from one country experience another, exchanging cultural and personal perspectives. This service project assists students from a country having a centrally planned economy as that economy transitions its economic structure toward Western style capitalism as practiced by profit and non profit institutions. The goal is to expand the economic experience of aspiring business professionals from cultures that are in transition to a free market business structure and philosophy. The program provides an immersion experience to upper level students or recent graduates of business universities in Eastern and Central European countries and Russia.
The goal of IBSTAR is to provide a 'live in' experience in a country which operates its economy under the free market philosophy, to aspiring business professionals from cultures that are moving into the western style of business structure and philosophy. The program has provided cultural and learning experiences to upper level undergraduate or graduates of business universities in former Eastern block countries or for that matter, from any centrally planned economy which is in transition to a market economy. The eight to ten week experiences have been in institutions selected to match the interests of the participants. For example: a participant interested in the hotel and food industry was sponsored by the Radisson Hotel, and a participant whose focus was utility management was sponsored by the Water and Gas Department of the City of Duluth. Non profits such as the University of Minnesota Duluth's Labovitz School of Business and Economics, the local Red Cross Chapter, and the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center have also served as sponsoring institutions for participants whose interests lie in similar areas.
The Rotary Clubs in the participating Eastern European countries have recruited students completing their studies in business or professional areas for this free market economy experience. The applications are screened by the Eastern European Clubs and those acceptable are forwarded to the Rotary Clubs in Duluth, Minnesota that sponsor this program. The Rotary Clubs then match the candidates with institutions that have volunteered to open their operations to a trainee. The final selection decision is made by the institution "hosting" the participant in a professional setting and is based upon the information submitted with the application.
The participants must have reached their 21st birthday prior to arriving in the US, and should be in or have recently completed their 4th year of University or College level study toward a professional degree in an economic or technical field. Participants who have previously participated in cultural or exchange programs in the US or Canada are not likely to be selected for this program.
