Business

Strengthening U.S. Competitiveness

UM’s Center for International Business Education and Research will use a grant to bolster innovative services.
UM News Story default placeholder

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a grant of more than $1 million to the University of Miami to continue supporting its Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER), which has been housed at the university’s School of Business Administration since 2010.

The Center will receive more than $250,000 each year for four years to continue carrying out innovative services and interdisciplinary endeavors to strengthen U.S. competitiveness.

The funding will be matched by the university, resulting in more than $2 million in total funding for programming. The University of Miami is among just 17 universities nationwide, and the only institution in Florida, to receive the CIBER funding in 2014.

“We are thrilled and honored to be among the elite institutions to receive this funding, particularly at a time of increased competition for fewer grants,” said Joseph Ganitsky, director of CIBER. “Our CIBER will deliver results by leveraging Miami’s strengths as a gateway to the Americas, by combining the expertise and competencies of the School of Business and the university’s other schools and colleges, and by focusing on South Florida’s service areas of excellence such as health care and finance, which are key drivers of U.S. competitiveness.”

In this second funding cycle, the University of Miami CIBER will focus on three areas that will help enhance U.S. competitiveness, the common goal of all CIBERs:

• The CIBER will strengthen Florida’s international expertise in order to improve the nation’s capacity to succeed abroad. This will include working with such organizations as Enterprise Florida and the South Florida U.S. Export Assistance Center.

• The CIBER will create international experiences that enhance student employment opportunities. This will include enhancing international business courses, exchanges and experiential learning opportunities such as field study trips, consulting, reverse mentoring, and interdisciplinary projects.

• The CIBER will promote interdisciplinary research and the international business competencies of university faculty members. The Center will sponsor eight interdisciplinary programs that will include breakthrough international business research, academic and professional conferences featuring leading business and academic leaders from across the U.S. and Latin America, and field study trips, among other programs.

“A key part of the strategy of the School of Business is to build our global perspective, particularly as it pertains to Latin America,” said Gene Anderson, dean of the University of Miami School of Business Administration. “This grant will enable us to develop and carry out programs that enhance the international perspective of our students, faculty, and wider business community while helping to achieve the CIBER goal of strengthening U.S. competitiveness.”

The University of Miami CIBER will be supported by more than 50 faculty members from across the university and more than 50 community partners including Miami Dade College, the University of Florida’s Center for African Studies, and several foreign universities.

The CIBERs were created by Congress under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988. Administered by the U.S. Department of Education under Title VI, Part B of the Higher Education Act of 1965. The CIBER network links the manpower and technological needs of the United States business community with the international education, language training, and research capacities of universities across the country.