When Kim Paterson graduated with a Master of Business Administration
degree from the University of British Columbia in 1996, she
joined the ranks of a growing number of students leaving university
with at least a little international experience under their
belts.
In 1995, while enrolled in the MBA program, Paterson spent
four months studying international management at the Copenhagen
Business School.
The importance of experiences like Paterson’s, and other
issues surrounding international educational exchange programs,
are the focus of the Program of International Management (PIM)
Conference taking place in Vancouver Nov. 7 – 9 at the Hotel
Vancouver.
More than 100 deans and administrators from business schools
in Asia, Europe and North and South America will attend the
conference, held in Canada for the second time since three
European business schools formed the program in 1973. McGill
University hosted the conference in 1970s.
The Vancouver conference, which has adopted the theme “Going
Global,” is the 23rd annual meeting of PIM members, a group
which has grown rapidly since it was founded by three European
business schools in 1973. UBC joined the conference as a member
in 1992.
UBC Commerce Dean Michael Goldberg said the fact that the
conference is being held in Vancouver this year indicates
the growing interest of member schools in reaching out to
the Asia Pacific region. The first Asian member, the Asian
Institute of Management in Manila, will be inducted at this
year’s conference.
Among North American members are University of California
at Berkeley and Los Angeles, New York University, University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, University
of Michigan, University of Western Ontario, and McGill University.
Keynote speakers at two of the conference events represent
the conference’s major sponsors. Michael Tretheway, on leave
from the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration,
has been working as a special adviser to the president of
the Vancouver Airport Authority, and Martin Glynn is executive
vice-president of the Hongkong Bank of Canada.
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