Malawi and  Zambia are two of the poorest countries not just in Africa, but in the world. A variety of efforts are ongoing to alleviate the poverty there, both from governmental and international agencies. Walker College is now accepting student applications for a 16-day study abroad opportunity there, with the goal being understanding and exploring the challenges faced by both citizens and the groups trying to help them.

Learn about the economic, social and environmental challenges Malawians face and the ways that entrepreneurs, NGOS, the government and communities are attempting to address them while mindful of the importance of sustainability. Learn about non-profit management.

You will also visit NGO, government and community-based projects focused on addressing environmental and social issues, as well as entrepreneurial and business. We will visit Wimbe village, home of the author of “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.”

Experience the culture of Malawi firsthand during a short homestay and the natural beauty at Lake Malawi. Go on safari in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia.

Scheduled for January 1-16, the trip is officially listed as BUS 3540: Business & Society in Malawi: Sustainability in the Developing World. It fulfills three semester hour of an international business major or approved electives. The cost is $3,850, and includes airfare, local transportation, lodging , a safari drive, group activities and most meals. Scholarships are available.

For more information contact Assistant Dean Martin Meznar via email or call 262-6236, or International Programs Coordinator Meredith Church va email or call 262-7727. To complete the program Walker College is partnering with World Camp, a non-profit that has worked in Malawi for the past 11 years providing HIV prevention education and environmental awareness programs in Malawian public schools.

The New York Times recently profiled "Malawi's Man at the U.N.", Ambassador Brian G. Bowler. He has been at the UN since June 2010. He discussed the challenge of addressing one of his country's chief crops.

Mr. Bowler, who said Malawi was a major producer of burley tobacco —a light-colored variety also grown in parts of the United States— said that he had not met Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who addressed the General Assembly last week and mentioned, among other things, the city’s efforts to fight smoking. The city says 14 percent of New Yorkers smoke now, compared with nearly 22 percent in 2002.

“We support the drive to fight cancer,” Mr. Bowler said, “but we’ve got a double whammy. Our main foreign currency earner is tobacco. Having to come up with an alternate crop, it’s like going to the Caribbean and telling people, ‘Don’t fish.’ But the warning shots have been fired. Tobacco is on the way out.”

Zambia recently held national elections and has a new president. As President Michael Sata takes power, his country recieved positive news with regard to its credit rating, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Standard & Poor’s affirmed Zambia’s foreign and domestic credit ratings at B+ with a stable outlook, saying the country’s economic prospects are promising and newly elected President Michael Sata is likely to continue to court foreign investment.

Sata defeated incumbent Rupiah Banda in a Sept. 20 vote. Since taking control of Africa’s largest copper producer, he has fired the governor and board of the central bank, dissolved the boards of four state agencies and scrapped the sale of a local lender to FirstRand Ltd., a Johannesburg-based bank.

Next week a group of Walker College students is scheduled to return from a month in Vietnam. The study abroad trip is focused on entrepreneurship, and done in conjunction with Duy Tan University. Students are staying in Hoi An and touring nearby DaNang and Saigon. Duy Tan recently posted online a report on the Appalachian students meeting their Vietnamese peers. It included a musical performance. (excerpt edited after translation via Google). 

Through a few pictures, students from both schools described their learning environments as well as extracurricular activities. Sessions were made more lively with the students performing music.

ASU students had the opportunity to learn more about the country, people and culture of Vietnam through a presentation by Vu Van Thinh, professor Faculty of Foreign Languages. By way of witty talk, the cultural characteristics of Vietnam were explained to the ASU students. The exchange included the performance of a folk song, "Through the wind to Fly," by Thinh and a singing teacher.

The trip is a collaboration between Appalachian State and Duy Tan University, which was signed last November. The current study abroad course started May 24. Students are scheduled to return June 28. The venture is the latest example of Walker College bringing the global opportunities of tomorrow to Appalachian today. Last year, Business Week considered Vietnam a prospect for strong growth in international investment.  

Vietnam's $96 billion economy is far less centrally controlled than last decade, and the country, which boasts one of the youngest workforces in the world, managed to gain membership in the World Trade Organization in 2007. The country last year exported $12.3 billion of goods to the U.S., its biggest overseas market. Foreign direct investment is on the rise and could double, to $15 billion this year according to a May 31, report analysts at Standard Chartered Bank.

This fall, Intel will open a $1 billion chip assembly and test plant near Ho Chi Minh City. Taiwanese laptop PC manufacturer Compal also has a new factory in Vietnam. Arthur Chiao, chairman of the Taiwan Electronics & Electrical Appliances Assn., on June 7 said his group is helping Taiwanese companies find new manufacturing sites in Vietnam in the wake of rising labor costs on the mainland.

Walker College has already announced one study abroad opportunity for the fall, a nine-day course in Spain.

One of the three recent spring break study abroad trip included one to China. Students traveled to Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong. The focus was developing an understanding of Chinese cultural differences and aspects of conducting business in China. Several of the students blogged about their experiences.

The blog annsnider has several almost daily posts, along with photos. She describes the visit to Shanghai Volkswagen.

Wow! We just finished our tour of the Shanghai Volkswagen. What an amazing facility. In 1984 Volkswagen entered a partnership with the Chinese to build cars. The result is Volkswagen cars built to fit the needs and desires of the Chinese market. The cars are designed and made here specifically for the Chinese market. The cars are all “green” and also work towards a green, sustainable China.

The facility was first class. Much of the assembly line was automated, and other parts were finished by hand. The cars are known for their reliability and high quality. Seeing the integration of the German car making with the Chinese market was amazing.

Annsnider also mentions the immense air pollution - "the air here is arid and there is no haze, just smog".

tjwilliams133 has several photos posted along with many observations. Among them is getting lost. Not just lost, but "MEGA lost." He was very impressed by one specific stop in Hong Kong.

As we arrived at the city university of Hong Kong the first thing I noticed is that it is connected to a large mall! Just think if App state was connected to a mall!? Everything is so modern, I’m sure this is due to us being in one of the largest city’s in the world. Anyways, we talked with Professor Vogel who is an IT professor at the university. He intended to talk with us about sustainable IT development within the city. Unfortunately we were so excited about finally getting to talk about the environment (typical boone hippies ) that we never really got around to IT! The questions were flowing and our 2 hour window was over. After that it was off to lunch at the same mall the university was attached to.

After lunch, we went to the waste reduction facility where we talked with the CEO about his efforts to reduce waste, increase recycling efforts, and promote sustainable development in Hong Kong. First off, this man is SMART! Any thought, or question we had concerning implementation efforts was quickly rebutted, discussed, and disclosed. I can tell that they are fighting a losing battle, with the heavy population and changing culture of the city, waste is going to become a serious problem (and soon).

EcoGuy Travels picks up on the environmental theme when discussing a visit to Anadarko, a company seeking to build an oil field. He also mentions the obstacles foreign companies encounter when operating in China. 

The manager spoke about how the government has become more concerned about the treatment of the environment. The oilfield is processed in a unique way. The crude is pumped in pipes along the bay floor to a floating processing station. Part of the problem is the oil/water separation process. The limits on ppm (parts per million) for oil in the processed water continually drops. Anadarko worked on this problem by continually improving their technology to stay ahead of the next emission mandate.

They are investing in building a natural gas pipeline to control and reduce the emissions caused by flaring of natural gas. One reason many companies simply flare the gas is that it is not economical to bottle or pipe it to market. Anadarko is using the gas to power their platforms and processing equipment, but this is not enough alone to reduce emissions, thus the reason for the pipeline. One concern mentioned was that state-owned companies could get waivers for the emissions while foreign companies could not.

Along with company tours, students visited many historical sites. appchina2011 details such travels while the group was in Beijing. 

Today is Saturday and we visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.

Tiananmen Square is the largest square in the world (440,000 m² – 880m by 500m). It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history. The square was the center of the 4 June 1989 protests, where soldiers used force to disperse the protesters. The images from the event were spread all over the world causing international outrages against the Chinese government.

At the time we visited the place the Central Party was having a national meeting and we were only able to walk on the sidewalk beside the square.

After crossing the square we started walking through the gates toward the Forbidden City. The first gate we crossed was the Tiananmen Tower, famous by the portrait of the leader Mao Zedong.

After the Forbidden City we took a rickshaw ride to a traditional family house where we had lunch.

Business today has no borders. There's as much, if not more, opportunity found outside the United States then within. 

Sounds exciting. But how does one begin seeking, much less planning, for a career located ... anywhere?

Offering potential answers is the goal of the annual Global Opportunities Conference (GOC), a forum for business professionals, students and the academic community. Discussion will focus on trends within international business, as well as opportunities to increase international connections.

The 2011 GOC is scheduled for Friday, April 1, from 9:30 to 2 p.m., at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center. Attendance is limited to 250 participants, so online registration is required. Lunch is included.

The theme is "Getting Connected: Strategies for Going Global." There will be two panel discussions, followed by a keynote speech delivered by Greg Raty, Vice President, Domestic & International Sales, with Slade Inc. The winner of the 2010 President’s E-Award for Excellence in Exporting, he will discuess the challenges businesses face in going global, and the many resources available to assist them.

The Global Opportunities Expo will then open, from 2 to 4 p.m.  It will feature representatives of companies and organizations offering international internship, career and volunteer opportunities.

The conference will open with comments by Walker College Dean Dr. Randy Edwards. The two panel discussions will begin at 9:45 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively. The panelists include:

- Erika Vass, Vice President of Finance with AEISEC Appalachian. She will speak on the value of businesses hiring international interns and discuss outgoing international internships. 

- Shannon Meadows '05 MKT, Manager of Business Development-Southeast region for UTi Worldwide in Charlotte. Her presentation is entitled, “Global Supply Chain Management- Where do you fit in?”

- Sarah Green '10 MKT, Director of Events and International Expansion with Extreme Entrepreneurship Education. She will talk about pursuing her international career goals – what worked and what did not.

- Steve Jesseph, President and Chief Executive Officer with WRAP. He will discuss how students can make themselves marketable for an international career. 

- Al Ernest, Executive with East West Associates and a Blowing Rock business owner who imports Chinese artifacts and prepares executives who travel to China. He will be speaking on keys for success in an intercultural environment.

- Grace Palacios-Will, former CEO Publicitas Americas and co-founder of Charney/Palacios & Co, a firm that became the leading US print media representative company. Her presentation is titled “Key Points to Marketing Internationally.”

For more information, contact GOC organizer Meredith Church. GOC is sponsored by Walker College International Programs and WRAP, an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the certification of lawful, humane and ethical manufacturing throughout the world.