Trip to India opens eyes for BU students

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Trip to India opens eyes for BU students

The sight of India's teeming masses spilling out of trains and streets choked with pedestrians was initially unnerving for a group of Bradley University students who recently visited the country.

"There were people everywhere," said Kara Mauser, a second-year business management major from Peoria. "The traffic was ridiculous, and they don't drive in their lanes at all."

Charlie Lordo, a senior from St. Louis, agreed: "I was struck by the number of people, the poverty as well as the other side, the wealth of downtown Mumbai."

The overall experience of their 10-day trip left a lasting impression that will extend long after they've turned in their final project on Doing Business in India.

Mauser and Lordo were among 14 Bradley students who participated in a trip to the Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai as part of a course developed under the auspices of Project Asia. It was funded in part by grants from the U.S. Department of Education and a $200,000 grant.

This is the first time an undergraduate class has taken the trip.

"Because of the emerging role of India and China in the world economy, we have developed courses of study for this region," said Jim Foley, director of both the International Trade Center and Project Asia. Also accompanying the group was assistant marketing professor Raj Iyer, a native of India.

The objective of Project Asia is to increase international awareness and business skills of students through development of faculty and new curricula and provide research opportunities for students in Asian countries.

"This is an embedded study abroad program, where the trip occurs in the middle of the course," Foley said. "We hope the trip does impact their beliefs, which were both challenged and supported, and we hope it leads to more study abroad."

That already has occurred because some of the students who went to India had already visited China.

"And one student is going to study in Spain for a whole semester," Foley said.

The Indian trip also was facilitated by CGI Inc., which has offices in Peoria and India.

While they already had talked about the culture and customs of the country, it is quite different to actually experience it, Foley said.

"They're very entrepreneurial," Lordo said, referring to the hundreds of stores selling food.

Mauser said she was impressed by "how they can do so much with so little. In the studios, the most they spend for a movie is $50,000. Over here, we spend millions."

The students also had an opportunity to see Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, who played a young Jamal in the Oscar-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire." They also interacted with their peers at Vellore Institute of Technology. Bradley is expected to participate in an exchange program with the institute involving students and faculty.

Source:pjstar