Thursday, June 15, 2000

WILMINGTON, NC -- Utilizing interactive video conferencing, officials at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the Centre d'Etudes Superieures Europeenes Management Mediterranee (CESEM) at Marseille, France, today jointly announced the formation of an innovative dual degree program. The dual degree agreement will enable students in America and France to earn both a bachelor of science degree in business administration from UNCW and the diploma of the CESEM Mediterranee.



"This is the first dual degree program in North Carolina and one of the few in the country," said Dr. Howard Rockness, dean of the Cameron School of Business at UNC Wilmington. "It is also the first in France with an American business school."



Participants will study two years at UNCW and two years in Marseille. The program begins in September 2000.



Several years in the making, the initiative is an outgrowth of a transatlantic alliance formed in 1998 by UNCW's Cameron School of Business with four European Union business schools and two other United States business schools to develop and implement a model international business education program. The first agreement is anticipated to pave the way for similar arrangements with the other participating schools in the transatlantic alliance.

"This program represents a significant new phase for our international programs and is a reflection of the globalization of business," said UNCW Provost John C. Cavanaugh, who is in Marseille for the formal document signing on June 16. "This is the first time we've had a situation where students can earn a degree here and at an international institution. These American students will be fluent in French and studying in an international environment. Imagine the job offers they will have."



In addition to CESEM, the European members of the alliance are the Hochschule Bremen in Bremen, Germany; the University of Westminister's Harrow Business School in London, England; and the Universidad de Valencia in Valencia, Spain. Along with UNCW, the U.S. members are East Tennessee State University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

The alliance is funded in part by a $206,000, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Funding for the European Union schools is from a Euro 100,000 grant (approximately $80,000) from the European Union, supplemented by local country education grants. The program has been supported by the universityís Office of International Programs.



The program will work like this: Students from both countries, who have completed their secondary education, will have the opportunity to pursue a business administration program with majors in human resources, finance, or marketing. Students will do an intensive full-time, 40-hour-a-week, four- to six-month internship in their home country before going abroad and one in the host country before returning home.



The first cohort of students will start their studies in September 2000 at their home institution and begin study abroad in fall semester 2002. The initial objective is for five students per year to start in each school. There should be 10 students from each school in the other school at any time after the second cohort goes abroad in 2003. The objectives may be increased over the years by mutual agreement.



In addition to the dual degree program described above, UNCW students may choose a CESEM summer program that awards 12 credits for 8 weeks' work in French language, European business, and culture, including an internship in a local company. These students will not earn the CESEM diploma but will help balance the exchange, as it is expected that there may be more French students prepared to study in the U.S. than vice versa.



Students will take classes and exams in the language of the school they are attending (UNCW classes will be taught in English, CESEM classes in French except for the summer program). Thus, language preparation is crucial to student success.



As is customary in most university international exchange programs, students who participate in this program will pay tuition and fees to their home institutions and take care of living expenses on the local economy. Because of strong language abilities required for this program, UNCW will seek to identify students at the high school level who might be interested and recruit them into the program.



For more information about the program, contact Dr. Sheila Adams, associate professor of management at the Cameron School of Business and chair of the schoolís international committee, at 910/962-3745 or e-mail adamss@uncwil.edu.





Howard Rockness, dean of the Cameron School of Business, pours champagne in preparation to toast the formal announcement of the dual degree program with CESEM. Looking on is UNCW Chancellor James R. Leutze.