Global Technology Initiative at San Jose State University: Results of Seven Years of an International Experience for Students

For XXX students to thrive in the highly competitive global economy, it is critical to develop international perspectives and knowledge. The $1 million Global Technology Initiative (GTI), established in 2004, provides SJSU students with an opportunity to gain a global perspective of the world by learning about technology and business developments in the Asia Pacific region. GTI donors are high-tech business leaders with strong business ties in Silicon Valley and the Asia Pacific region. Given the current trend of engineering globalization in the global economy, particularly the trend of outsourcing Silicon Valley manufacturing, development, and design work to foreign countries, the purpose of GTI is to provide (primarily) engineering students of XXX University with a global perspective for engineering and entrepreneurship in the entire enterprise value chain and prepare them for a successful career in this globalization era. The GTI program includes: a pre-trip General Education course on Chinese economy, politics, education, and environment; organized site visits by XXX students to the Asia Pacific region, with all expenses paid by industrial donors; and dissemination of lessons learned by the students on the study-tour to the rest of XXX engineering students during their remaining study at SJSU. This presentation will include the showing of a documentary about the Spring 2012 GTI trip to China and a discussion of the evolution of the GTI program over the past seven years