UMSL's International Business Program garners national recognition from U.S. News & World Report

By Scanews staff

The International Business Program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis has been ranked 18th by U.S. News & World Report in the magazine's 2004 ranking of undergraduate international business programs.

U.S. News surveyed deans and senior faculty at undergraduate international business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Participants rated the quality of program features on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished).

The ranking is the first for UMSL's International Business Program, which began in 1999 in collaboration between the College of Business Administration and Pierre Laclede Honors College at UMSL. The director is David Ricks, Curators' Professor of Management and International Business.

Program highlights include:

* More than 70 study abroad programs are available in more than 40 countries. In addition, the program has a large contingent of students from China, Japan, Europe, Latin America and India.

* Annual study tours have led student groups to locales around the world.

* American students have interned at the overseas offices of companies such as Japan Airlines, Emerson Electric and General Motors. Foreign students intern in the St. Louis area at companies like Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. and Monsanto Co.

International business is a key program at UMSL's business college, according to Thomas Eyssell, interim dean.

"It's also one of the fastest growing programs we have, and it's staffed by some truly world-class faculty," he said.

To learn more about the International Business Program at UMSL, visit the College of Business Administration's Web site at www.umsl.edu/divisions/business.