Michigan Ross Global Initiatives: Shaping Global Leaders and Expanding Access to International Business Education
As the bridge to international education at Michigan Ross, Global Initiatives connects students to academic and cultural opportunities around the world. The office collaborates with top universities worldwide to offer programs allowing students to experience business outside the United States. These experiences help equip students with the knowledge, skills, and global outlook to become effective leaders in today’s international business landscape.
“Our global programs have a tremendous impact on our students. We help students fully immerse themselves in a different culture, which promotes understanding and awareness,” said Jessica Oldford, managing director of Global Initiatives. “Likewise, we welcome more than 300 exchange students to Ross each year, so in many ways, we’re bringing the world to the Ross community. Our visiting exchange students bring new ideas and provide a non-U.S. business perspective, which benefits everyone.”
Coordinating long- and short-term global experiences for Ross students
Oldford leads a team of eight staff members dedicated to advancing global education at Ross. The team manages a diverse portfolio of programs, most notably the Semester Exchange Program and Short-Term Global Immersion Program. Both programs allow undergraduate and graduate students to take classes at an international partner school while earning credits toward their Ross degree. Students also participate in cultural excursions and visit companies in the region. Additionally, as part of the exchange program, for every Ross student sent abroad, Ross welcomes a student from a partner school to study and experience life in Ann Arbor.
Each year, the team receives and reviews over 600 applications for its programs. They work closely with campus partners, including the U-M registrar’s office, admissions, academic advisors, the International Center, and health and safety officials, to ensure outgoing and incoming exchange students receive full support. GI also works throughout the year to maintain relationships with partner schools and explore new partnership opportunities.
“A lot of effort goes into each of these programs throughout the year,” said Oldford. “We are constantly bringing on new partnerships and ensuring high academic quality and student experiences at existing partner schools. There is also a lot of work behind the scenes, including negotiating the number of student exchanges we make with each partner school.”
Improving operations to reduce costs and expand student access
As travel expenses continue to rise, Oldford and her team continuously look for new ways to reduce operational expenses and function more efficiently. For example, in spring 2025, Global Initiatives introduced a new version of the Short-Term Global Immersion Program. Instead of using a third-party company, the GI team now coordinates directly with partner universities and local faculty to plan the short-term programs.
“Working directly with our partner schools allows my team to get to know the partners on another level and improve efficiency,” said Oldford. “By working directly with the partner institutions to source business visits and plan academic content, we can cut out a lot in terms of staff time and costs to the school and students. This allows my team to create more short-term opportunities, and we can diversify our portfolio using the same amount of staff.”
According to Oldford, this new approach has made their programs more affordable and accessible, especially for first-generation college students.
“Our previous short-term, faculty-led Spring Break program in Italy cost each student around $3,000 to participate,” said Oldford. “With our new model, last year’s Spring Break program in Vienna cost each student under $1,000 — a huge decrease in student costs. We saw twice as many applications as the previous year and placed three times the number of students in these short-term programs.”
Looking ahead to 2026, Global Initiatives plans to add three more short-term experiences to allow more students to study abroad and learn about the global business landscape.
“We anticipate many of our students will work on intercultural teams throughout their careers,” said Oldford. “These global experiences will help them become better business practitioners and leaders in the future.”
