When Zaché Alvarado ’22 was in high school in Panama, she dreamed of studying business at an American university. She found her opportunity at Illinois State University—without ever having to leave her hometown of Panama City.
Appears InAlvarado is a new graduate of Illinois State’s Panama-based Bachelor of Science in international business (BSIB) program. She recently began an internship she believes came about because of the qualifications she earned through her BSIB studies.
“It was the perfect opportunity and everything I wanted in a degree,” Alvarado said.
Dr. Barbara Ribbens led the charge to get the program up and running. Classes in Panama began in March 2018, but the groundwork was laid years earlier. The director of Illinois State’s Carson and Iris Varner International Business Institute, Ribbens was asked as early as 2014 to begin investigating the idea of a new international bachelor’s degree.
Ribbens said what makes the Panama program unique is the fact that Illinois State faculty travel to teach students on their home campus in Panama.
“The Panama program is qualitatively different from anything else to this point,” Ribbens said.
Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Curriculum for the College of Business (COB) Terry Noel said programs like the one in Panama are important in helping students understand and experience business as a global phenomenon.
“ISU is working to build its international presence,” Dr. Noel said. “The more international partnerships we have, the more opportunities we have for students to get hands-on experience working with people from other cultures.”
The University’s description of the degree, which includes a concentration in marketing, touts it as a course of study that will “deepen your knowledge of people and cultures, strengthen your communication skills, and master the fundamentals of core business disciplines as well as provide theory and application in both international business and marketing.”
Offering an international degree, taught in English at a university in Central America, has the potential to increase the prominence on the world’s academic stage of both Illinois State University and its College of Business. But that wasn’t the overriding objective, according to Dr. Ajay Samant, COB dean and professor.
“Globalization of our curriculum, promoting diversity among our students, and enriching the international experience of our faculty are all integral parts of the strategy for continuous improvement at the College of Business,” Samant said.
He added that having a presence in Panama City, a major city in the region, is crucial to attracting the best students and offering them the opportunity to earn a business degree from an American university.
“The more international partnerships we have, the more opportunities we have for students to get hands-on experience working with people from other cultures.”
—Dr. Terry Noel
“Being an important global financial and commercial hub, Panama City is an ideal location for a major in international business,” Samant said. “We are delighted with the quality of our Panama students and the professionalism of our partner institution in Panama.”
That partner is Quality Leadership University (QLU). The relationship began through networking between staff members at Illinois State and QLU who had known each other for years.
Luis Canales, Illinois State’s former director of the Office of International Studies and Programs, and Oscar Leon, rector at QLU, had been good friends as college students. When Leon’s first partner school from the U.S. didn’t work out, he and Canales explored the idea of a new partnership between QLU and Illinois State.
QLU is a private university founded in 1997 that offers a variety of academic programs. It has over 1,000 students enrolled in programs at the bachelor’s and master’s levels. It has partnerships with institutions in the U.S. and Europe.
Classes are taught on QLU’s campus by faculty from Illinois State, QLU, and the University of Louisville. The degree is awarded by Illinois State. While teaching in Panama, COB faculty typically live in local hotels. Ribbens said COB faculty have been enthusiastic about the program, and she estimated more than 20 Illinois State faculty members have taught in Panama.
Students usually begin the program in March and study through a summer, a fall, a spring, and another summer before finishing the degree. It’s a little more than a year from start to finish.
“The group starting in March 2023 will typically finish in August 2024,” Ribbens said. “We have two cohorts going most of the time, ranging in size from 27 to 35 students.”
Ribbens described the BSIB as an interdisciplinary major with the same core courses as every other Illinois State business major with courses spread across all functional areas of the discipline. The program has attracted students with varying academic backgrounds, including a few who have studied architecture and law.
“Our students are fascinating people,” Ribbens said. “There’s a diversity of experience and backgrounds that make for a really fun cohort.”
Ribbens said the assumption that classrooms are filled solely by Panamanian students is false. She has taught students from the Netherlands, India, China, Israel, Lebanon, and Venezuela, in addition to Panama.
“I knew I had found the opportunity to study for my degree in English—and from a high-quality university in the United States.”
—Zaché Alvarado ’22
Alvarado, 21, is one of those students from Panama. She graduated in December and is already reaping the benefits of her new degree.
“One of my dreams has always been to work at a multinational company,” she said. “Thankfully, that dream came true when I was accepted for an internship at the L’Oréal Group in Panama. I feel so grateful to have this ISU international business degree because I feel it helped me get my internship at L’Oréal, and it also helped me improve my English speaking and writing skills.”
Studying in the U.S. was not an affordable option for Alvarado. She had studied English in high school and wanted to keep developing her language skills. When she was 17, she and her mother attended a college fair near their home and found the QLU booth decorated with a banner with text that caught her attention: “Obtain a title from the United States without leaving Panama.”
She knew right away it was what she’d been looking for.
“I remember that I was so happy that day,” Alvarado said. “I knew I had found the opportunity to study for my degree in English—and from a high-quality university in the United States.”
Alvarado has visited Illinois State’s campus in Normal—which is not a requirement—where she met COB professors and even some Illinois State students, many of whom she said are now her friends. She’s grateful for the Cross-Cultural Mobility Scholarship at Illinois State that helped make her academic dreams come true.
Alvarado believes her BSIB experience will help create more opportunities to advance her career. Her favorite course was International Marketing taught by Dr. Aysen Bakir.
“I learned a lot about how marketing looks in the real world,” Alvarado said. “Studying at ISU has been one of the best decisions of my life.”
Alvarado’s experience is one that may soon be enjoyed by more students across the globe, according to Executive Director of International Engagement Roopa Rawjee.
“The future of internationalization at Illinois State University is in the incubation stage,” Dr. Rawjee said.
Rawjee, Samant, and Noel visited universities in Vietnam and Thailand in October 2022 to cultivate new partnerships that will expand Illinois State’s international footprint.
“I was struck by how much ISU has in common with the universities we visited,” Noel said. “Everyone is thinking about how strong international connections benefit students and how institutions in different countries can learn from one another.”
