The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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$165K grant to CSUN business

The College of Business and Economics is seeking to expand its international business program with a recent $165,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

The new grant will be issued over two years and will allow students to continue the path of international business studies with an emphasis on global logistics – the process of getting goods delivered from one place to another.

Dr. Rafi Efrat, director of the CSUN international business program, said the goals of the grant are two-fold: to prepare the undergraduate business students for careers in international trade and to provide assistance to local small business entrepreneurs to be ready to compete on a global scale and improve their export readiness.

“It’s going to fund a number of activities,” Efrat said, “including curriculum improvement in supply chain management and faculty research stipends, and it will also provide funding for student consulting of small to medium-sized companies in the valley that need assistance with the global logistics aspect of their operation.”

Efrat said the grant will also provide funding for students to attend workshops and seminars in the field. Students in the college of business and the college of humanities will be encouraged to increase their cross-cultural understanding of issues affecting businesses by participating in a 10-day field study. The anticipated destinations are China and Mexico, to be visited in consecutive years.

The trip to China is expected to cost a student about $2,000 dollars. Efrat anticipates stipends from the grant will cover half a student’s expenses. The trip to Mexico will not be as expensive.

According to Ali Behnezhad, co-director of the international business program, China and Mexico were chosen because of their active trade partnerships with the United States.

“We want our students to get a feel for how business is run in those countries,” Behnezhad said.

Behnezhad also said the proximity of the port of Los Angeles, the largest in the country, is an invaluable training asset to students and faculty at CSUN studying supply chain management.

The international business program, developed two years ago with the help of a prior grant from the U.S. Department of Education, has led to the creation of a new major.

“It’s a more concentrated facet of international trade,” Efrat said. “We are offering students the opportunity to take a major in supply chain management.”

Although international business is currently not a major, Efrat says the new curriculum can add to a student’s pool of knowledge and refocus their undergraduate career choice.

“The College of Business and Economics [has] adopted a certificate in international trade, available to all undergraduate students,” Efrat said. “It’s an opportunity for students who are interested in pursuing a career in international business. They can incorporate the international certificate into their curriculum.”

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