Duke University Fuqua School of Business Programs

• Through a variety of partners, an extensive alumni network, and a broad curriculum that includes exchange programs, elective courses on the Global Academic Travel Experience (GATE), and global consulting practicums, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business has long had ties to Sub-Saharan Africa. These programs have given students the chance to internationalize their MBA experience, and they have recently been hard at work laying even more solid groundwork in Sub-Saharan Africa so that they can actually integrate and connect with the region.
• Global Academic Travel Experience (GATE): This course combines classroom learning with global travel to give students a broad picture of the business and economic climate in a region or particular country. Since GATE was founded in 2003, a class has gone to Africa every year. Africa has hosted more than 334 students, making it one of the most well-liked GATE locations. South Africa, Zambia, and Botswana are some of the nations I’ve traveled to before.
• Before visiting a place, GATE students spend six weeks studying the business, culture, economy, and politics of that nation or region. The travel component of the course normally lasts 12 days, during which time students visit international companies, regional businesses, governmental organizations, partner schools for exchange programs, alumni, and other partners. Significant cultural, historical, and social sites visited by students include the Pilanesberg Game Reserve, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, the Robben Island where former President Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (link is external).
• Students organize clothing drives, fund drives, and school supply drives for schools, orphanages, and other organizations in Africa as part of the annual Africa GATE.
• The daytime MBA elective course Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) gives students the opportunity to take part in group consulting projects with a range of companies and organizations. Students provide support to their client organizations as they manage ongoing and new difficulties. There are both domestic and foreign clients. For on-site consultations with their clients who are overseas, students travel to the field, including Johannesburg, South Africa. Social enterprises and international corporations are among the South African FCCP clientele.
• The Fuqua Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (FCCP) builds on prior Fuqua involvement in South Africa (link is external). From 2008 to 2012, 115 students were sent to Johannesburg by CASE’s Global Consulting Practicum in Social Entrepreneurship (now a part of FCCP) to engage in a variety of projects with social enterprises that addressed topics like poverty alleviation, economic development, and social transformation.