Darden’s Center for Global Initiatives recently hosted a group of 24 MBA students and staff from the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics (SUFE) in China for an international partner program focused on leadership and innovation. Students were joined by Doris Cao, Darden’s director of China initiatives based in UVA’s China Office in Shanghai, for a portion of the program. The program began on Darden grounds in Charlottesville with class sessions and local company visits and ended with a visit to the nation’s capital. While in Charlottesville, students learned about operations and lean management, design thinking, data analytics and e-commerce, among other topics, taught by the faculty and staff team of Alan Beckenstein, Tim Laseter, Michael Albert, Elliott Weiss, Randy Salzman and David Touve. The group toured UVA’s rapid prototyping (3D printing) lab and MicroAire, a local surgical instrument company and production facility, to witness the program’s themes in action by industry practitioners. Participants also visited Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello and spent an afternoon touring the Blue Ridge Parkway. During the D.C. portion of the program, students visited the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, where they learned about international capacity development and sustainable development projects in China and around the world, as well as Fannie Mae where they learned more about the economics of the U.S. housing market.
See more photos of the week below:
