Teaching Through Travel
By Nick Greenhalgh
Sitting around a grand table atop a baroque restaurant in Singapore’s city center, a group of Daniels College of Business Professional MBA students reflected on a whirlwind adventure.
It was the culmination of nearly a week in the country, adorned with business visits, cultural experiences and crucial lessons on global commerce. Like a spinning globe, the 13 students went around the table answering three questions assigned by professor Pallab Paul.
What was your biggest surprise of the week? What is the biggest difference between Singapore and the U.S.? And what is your primary takeaway from a transformative week?
Answers included the ease of communication, despite being in Asia, Singapore’s dedication to sustainable construction and the government’s desire to support business.
By the end of the night, after three rotations around the giant, round table, most shared their sincere gratitude for being able to spend this time with the members of their cohort. This group had been together for nearly 18 months, working alongside each other in evening classes in pursuit of their MBA degree.
“Traveling together is great for camaraderie; you get to spend time together doing things other than sitting in class. You get to know each other deeper and experience the culture together,” said Cohort 33 co-leader Ben Hepler. “We got to go do this together and combine everything we’ve learned.”
Stepping outside of the classroom and into a unique business environment also stretches people in a personal sense, bringing the cohort closer than ever before.
“Seeing how we can interact on a personal level, I really want to be friends with all of you after this,” said Cohort 33 co-leader, Lily Allish. “For me, this trip solidifies a lot of the relationships and friendships I’ve made.”
This was the finishing flourish on a quarter-long journey focused on the value of international business.
Preparing for the Lion City
Located on the southern tip of Malaysia, cut off from all natural resources and half the size of Rhode Island, Singapore’s rise to international business power is unexpected.
Despite those shortcomings, the southeast Asian nation boasts a top-40 global gross domestic product, one of the busiest ports in the world and an unprecedented pro-business climate.
So, how did they do it? Well, many say the country itself is run like a corporation.
There are few better places to learn about international business than Singapore, which is why the Daniels College of Business recently sent a group of Professional MBA students to the country as part of their global business course.
The weeklong trip showcased Singapore’s cultural history, introduced students to businesses operating on the ground and broadened the group’s horizons to the opportunity of business on a global scale.
But before PMBA Cohort 33 could make the nearly 16-hour flight to Singapore, there was work to do in Denver.
The global trip is built into the MBA curriculum at Daniels. Students first spend time in the classroom, learning about their destination and working on a consulting project with a global business headquartered in their destination.
Cohort 33 worked with Collins Aerospace on a project to provide recommendations in three key business areas: finance, management and marketing. Students met with a Collins representative via Zoom before the trip and visited the company’s office in Singapore twice. Then, once back in Denver, they made a final presentation to their client, class and professor.
Daniels Across the Globe
Global travel is a crucial component to education at the Daniels College of Business, as it provides an opportunity for students to take lessons from the classroom with them into the field. In the past 15 years, more than 2,000 MBA students from Daniels have traveled to nearly 40 countries as part of their program.
In addition to Singapore, students have explored places like Dubai, South Africa, Chile, Morocco, Italy and Japan, among many others. And, in most cases, the students themselves chose the location of travel.
“It makes for a more customized experience,” said Megan Reilly, the director of MBA global and experiential learning at Daniels. “We are small by design at Daniels. We aren’t your typical 300-person-in-a-cohort MBA program. We want you to get close with your cohort and we want you to have the experience you came for.”
“There’s no substitute for firsthand experience. To come over, spend a week and get firsthand accounts of what it’s like to live and work here, seeing it for ourselves. It’s invaluable.”
20 Years of Global MBA Travel at Daniels
Countries
Cities
Cohorts
Students
A year before they landed in Singapore, PMBA Cohort 33 was given a dozen options to choose from for its global trip. Options spanned the entire globe, from South and Central America, to Europe, Africa and Asia. After a competitive voting process that included a bracket and impassioned pitches at a Denver brewery, the group decided on Singapore.
Then, Reilly got to work planning every aspect of the trip. With all global travel, Daniels is looking to deliver a memorable experience to its students. These trips often include a mix of cultural excursions, business visits with prestigious local companies and time for students to relax and bond. And once the trip is over, Reilly is hoping students leave with something they can use in the future. Singapore was no different.
“Some of the best learning happens just getting out of the hotel room, wandering the streets, talking to people, seeing what’s different and what’s similar.”
“I want the students to feel like it was worth the time and the money that they spent to go,” Reilly said. “A trip to Singapore on paper always seems like it would be worth it. But did you get what you wanted out of it? Did you get something that you can use to talk about in an interview or help you be better at your job? Maybe the trip gives you a totally different way of looking at problems.”
For each trip, students are surveyed to determine what they’d like to learn and what industries they’d like to hear about. Reilly matches those needs with local companies, ensuring each trip is designed with its attendees in mind. She’s also sure to leave some time for personal exploration.
“Some of the best learning happens just getting out of the hotel room, wandering the streets, talking to people, seeing what’s different and what’s similar,” she said. “The experience of just being a tourist in Singapore is something that I think gives you a different perspective than even some of the business visits.”
Consistent with Daniels’ vision and mission, each of these trips include a social impact and public good aspect. In an Online MBA trip to Prague, students worked with an organization supporting refugees from Ukraine. In Singapore, students met with a coffee company dedicated to employing people with a disability or having a mental health need.
“This focus on social impact is what makes Daniels different,” Reilly said. “We want to make sure that it is in alignment with our travel. We want to model that for our students to always be looking for that way to connect with the impact of your business.”
Time in Singapore
Each day for Cohort 33 in Singapore taught crucial lessons on the local business climate and culture. Morning and afternoon business visits were broken up by lunch, often curated by their local tour guide. Students met with companies across the business spectrum, from health care to hotels, learning from leaders about what makes their organization tick.
“[The business visits are] invaluable,” said Allish, the cohort co-leader. “I don’t know if we’re ever going to be in front of that many high-level people in a given week ever again.”
Consistent with the Daniels mission, the group spent one morning meeting with Foreword Coffee, a Singaporean coffee company dedicated to employing people with disabilities. Co-founder and director Lim Wei Jie shared the company’s journey from one shop to eight, stressing the importance for businesses to balance profit with the public good.
Lim Wei Jie, co-founder and director of Foreword Coffee talks about business with purpose.
Singapore Company Visits
The Capitol Kempinski Hotel
Swisslog Healthcare
American Chamber of Commerce Singapore
Collins Aerospace
Foreword Coffee
Antler
VF Corporation
At the end of a busy week, the members of Cohort 33 had grown as students, professionals and people. The global trip challenged them to think differently, be open to new experiences and embrace a new mindset as businesspeople and their everyday selves.
As the group circled around the table that final night, toasting each answer with a customary “yam seng,” the symbolism was clear. They had circled the globe together to be here, putting their lives on pause for this academic adventure. Now, at the close of the trip and near the end of their program, they were tighter than ever before. Getting out of the classroom and into the field provided more value than they could ever have dreamt.
“There’s no substitute for firsthand experience,” Hepler said. “To come over, spend a week and get firsthand accounts of what it’s like to live and work here, seeing it for ourselves. It’s invaluable.”
Additional Travel Reports
Experiential learning is a key pillar of the MBA experience at Daniels; many of the College’s students travel during their time on campus, both within the United States and abroad. Read about more of their travels below.
Daniels MBA Students Travel Across the Globe This Summer
“Life is short, but life is long as well”
MBA Alumni Get Second Chance at COVID-Canceled Trip
Graduates traveled to South Africa to experience “the human side of business.”
