Q:    What inspired the creation of new partnerships in Brazil, China and India?

Paul Christensen: Globalization is a two-way street. Not only do we have to get closer to the markets, where business activity and management practices are evolving very quickly, but we also want to attract the practitioners, faculty and students who operate in that environment to our programs here.

Q:    What types of offerings will you provide through these partnerships?

PC:  People want to have more short-term, but recurring, opportunities to advance their education. So we're going to be leading with executive programs, conferences and possibly certificate programs. Our theory is that you don't have to be present in a traditional sense — with a campus and degrees — to have a presence, be viewed as a thought leader and have an impact on leadership development.

Q:    Why is it important to provide more global opportunities for students?

PC:  Increasingly, students are saying, "Twenty years ago, I could come in and get my MBA and have a career solely in the U.S. But the odds of that happening now are almost nil." At some point in their careers, they're going to be asked to pack their bags and … be part of a team overseas. And if they're not being asked to physically move and manage programs and people overseas, they're having to work with overseas counterparts from multiple countries. So students have to be able to understand cultural differences and what makes each country distinct and the ways that those substantive differences affect how companies operate.

Q:    How do you plan to expand Kellogg's global curriculum?

PC:  We will be looking carefully at the course offerings, international study opportunities and exchange programs. For example, in our U.S. classrooms, students want to study business cases that represent the world — about international companies that are expanding into the U.S. or creating new joint ventures in emerging markets, about companies domiciled in non-U.S. countries reaching out to other international markets. Needless to say, it's a rich time to be in the classroom studying the practice of management.