SC State welcomes 35 international graduate students to visit and tour campus

SC State’s CBIS hosts International Graduate Students Welcome Program for African graduate business administration students. 

ORANGEBURG, S.C. – On Monday, June 10, South Carolina State University’s College of Business and Information Systems (CBIS) welcomed 35 students from East and West Africa to visit Bulldog Nation.

The International Graduate Students Welcome Program was held in the SC State Presidents State Room, where the students were greeted by SC State faculty and staff from the CBIS and Academic Affairs. They also received warm welcomes from Orangeburg City Mayor Micheal C. Butler and Orangeburg County Council member Delores Frazier. 

“This program is giving us exposure on how other universities are doing their research. We’re just on day two, but the learnings that we are taking away from it are quite immense and the information that we’re getting is very beneficial,” United States International University – Africa (USIU) student Clarice Osango said. “I’ve been to the States (U.S.), but this is my first time in South Carolina, and I really love the area. One thing I’m looking forward to is visiting the city council on Monday.” 

The international program was established through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with USIU in Nairobi, Kenya. 

“As part of the MOU, we are trying to facilitate student and faculty exchanges,” said Dr. David Jamison, CBIS International Program director. “USIU has a doctoral business administration program which requires all their students to do a cultural emergent experience. All the students here are either doctorate or master business administration students.”

Jamison said a part of their cultural emergence consists of exposing them to the culture, history and economy of South Carolina and the Southeast.

“We’re looking to get more students from around the world to visit our campus and hopefully become students here because that will broaden diversity on campus and give our students more exposure to different cultures from people around the world,” Jamison said.

Throughout the weeks of June 9-19, 25 graduate students from USIU and 10 graduate students from the University of Lagos Business School in Lagos, Nigeria, will have the opportunity to attend different seminars and tour SC State’s campus, along with several other college campuses across the U.S. East Coast.

“One of the goals of this is program is to introduce SC State in all its capacity, as well as its academic programs to these international students,” CBIS Dean Dr. Matthew Guah said. “I think we should do more programs like this because SC State is a premier institution and a division I institution, but a lot of students beyond South Carolina may not know about SC State. So, it’s up to us – the faculty, staff and students – to create initiatives that will expand the university’s brand and territory.”

“A part of the global engagement initiative of the university is to ensure our students connect with other students and entities abroad,” Dr. Learie Luke, director for the Office of International & National Student Exchange Programs (OINSEP). “If we keep having these types of programs, our students will benefit from working with international organizations and international universities. These interactions are really critical to fulfilling our mission, and I’m glad that they’re ramping up.”

Luke said the university and OINSEP have a mission to prepare students for global society. OINSEP’s goal is to get at least 100 students to study abroad each year.