In miner's hats, jackets, belts, and boots, business students from Nampa, Idaho's Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) toured El Teniente, the world's largest copper mine, located outside Santiago, Chile.

From Nampa to Santiago, local business students traveled more than 6,000 miles last month to complete a three credit hour course. In addition to exploring some of more than 1,000 miles of roads in El Teniente, the group also studied the macroeconomics of Chile, visited with government officials, observed the Chilean stock market, and toured shipping facilities.

Mollie Sweet, MBA graduate and NNU business professor, was surprised by the expansive open spaces and self-contained operations of the mine, including a restaurant and offices.

MBA graduate Lindsay Horlacher described her 14-day trip to Chile as an "awesome and invaluable experience."

"I'd never seen anything like it," said Melissa Hartman. "It's a completely different business model than you'd normally look at."

"It was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime trip," Hartman continued. "I finished my MBA degree and then saw the concepts we learned on an international scope—visiting companies and seeing things you wouldn't normally get to see as a tourist."

This capstone course in the MBA program helps students think globally, said Ron Galloway, dean of the School of Business. "You can hardly do business anymore without thinking globally," he said. "We think that is a vital part of education today. You can't really be properly educated in business without understanding the global consequences."

The international experience has been part of the NNU curriculum since 1998. The course deals with strategic business planning. It allows students to see how the things they learned in other courses—in marketing, management and economics—apply to real-life companies. Students did several case studies. In one, students looked at a shipping company in Pakistan and had to decide what the company should do to enlarge its business, internationalize, and still serve current customers.

In a typical year, 40 to 60 percent of the MBA students participate, Galloway said. The cost of the trip averages $1,200 to $1,500 (US) for travel, airfare, and hotels. Students also pay for additional food expenses, country entry fees, and miscellaneous costs. In November, the program will expand. Students will travel to South Korea and China for the first time.

After being in school for 16 months, the Chile trip was a great ending to her studies, Horlacher said.

"It's one thing to study it, and it's another thing to see it in the real world," Hartman said.
—Idaho Statesman