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Plus3 Study Abroad Program
This course introduces business and engineering students to study abroad after the freshman year via a three-credit optional add-on to either Managing in Complex Environments (business) or Introduction to Engineering Analysis (engineering). The course includes pre-trip workshops, a required international trip and a research paper. The program is designed to develop an interest in international business early enough in students' college careers to be able to affect their later course and program selection. Begun in 2002 with programs to East and West Europe (Czech Republic and Germany), the program expanded in 2003 to include Latin America (Chile) and in 2004 added a fourth destination - Asia (China). France and Brazil were added. The program now includes Brazil, Chile, China, and Germany. The program, which has been completely integrated with engineering since 2004, has about 100 Pitt students participating. Pitt engineering and Pitt business students, and in some cases students from universities in the country of destination, work on joint projects. These projects focus on the analysis of a firm and the global industry within which the firm operates. Upon their return, the student teams write a research paper on the project and make a presentation to faculty and students from the business and engineering schools. The program is directly connected to three of the four National Resource Centers at the University (Center for European Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, and the Asian Studies Center) and extensively uses the substantial resources of those centers. The next Plus3 programs will be taking place in May 2009. The program concept has now been replicated by other schools at the University of Pittsburgh and is used as the model for short faculty-led study abroad programs at the University. Currently, a program in Vietnam is in the planning phase.