Wharton sets curriculum in a new global direction

Wharton students will return school next semester to find that their core classes will include a greater emphasis on global issues and the world business market. Several weeks ago, the faculty of the Wharton School voted to continue the school's increasing emphasis on globalization by revamping the Wharton core curriculum and adding a new concentration in global analysis. Wharton Undergraduate Dean Richard Herring said the school's initiatives are consistent with the national "curricular reform which occurred at the beginning of the decade." He explained that the reform stressed the importance of adding a "global dimension" to education. The core courses that will undergo significant changes include Insurance 205, Risk Management; Legal Studies 210, Corporate Responsibility and Ethics; Management 101, Introduction to Management; Management 104, Industrial Relations and Human Resources Management; and Marketing 101, Introduction to Marketing. Recent Wharton graduate and Undergraduate Advisory Board member Kumar Valliappan helped administrators choose which courses to modify. He noted that the curriculum changes are important because they replace the "ad hoc" efforts made by some course instructors to incorporate a global outlook. The changes will primarily affect case studies -- learning materials which apply theoretical principles to real-life business situations -- discussed in the revamped classes. For instance, beginning as early as next fall, students will analyze how multinational companies adjust their day-to-day operations to fit in with their surroundings and other issues affecting international commerce. Herring stressed that despite the scope of the curriculum changes, current course instructors will continue to teach the subjects. In addition to revamping many of the core courses, Wharton faculty members voted to approve a new secondary concentration in global analysis. Students who chose this option will still be required to take an existing four-course primary concentration, such as finance or management. Students in the global analysis concentration will be required to spend a semester studying abroad and to take at least one upper-level foreign language course. Among the other requirements is that students take three courses in international business offered by the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business. Herring noted that the global analysis concentration is "consistent with University interests," because it "creates demand for higher-level language courses." He added that the 20 percent of Wharton students already spending a semester abroad "will have a good bit of the concentration already completed." The recent initiatives taken by Wharton faculty members mark the end of an academic year characterized by the school's push toward formulating a global outlook and increasing students' educational options. In addition to hosting major conferences on the Asian crisis and the future of India, Wharton also formed a partnership in February with the Singapore Institute of Management to establish a private business university in Singapore. Administrators also approved a dual concentration in Marketing and Communications and a doctoral submatriculation program for undergraduates. Herring said that "a lot of things have come together" this year for the business school, which has been ranked at or near the top of its field by publications such as Business Week and U.S. News & World Report.