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U N I V E R S I T Y O F A U G S B U R G D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 S P E C I A L I S S U E

Introduction & Acknowledgements: p. 1 General Program Description: p. 3

The Students: p. 4 The Projects: p. 6

Guest Speakers & Site Visits: p. 8 Cultural Excursions: p. 10

Looking Forward: p. 12

2014-2018 Summer School 5 Year Anniversary

Special Issue

Contents

S P E C I A L I S S U E

news from the chair of management and organization

inside view

Universität AugsburgChair of Management andOrganization


S P E C I A L I S S U E 1

Introduction and Acknowledgements

This special issue tells the story of aninternational academic program that started as adinner and a conversation between friends andcolleagues, but has gone on to become so muchmore. From its exciting, yet cautious roots, ourSummer School program has grown into anexpansive endeavor that has brought togethertwo continents, three universities, well over twohundred students and numerous cultures. Incelebration of its 5th anniversary, we would liketo give you an inside look at the subjects,experiences, people and friendships that havemade the Summer School what it is. On its surface, the Summer School is a seminarcourse about regional economic developmentthat is packaged within a study abroad format,but leaving the description at that would be doingthe program a major disservice. On a deeperlevel, the Summer School is truly about peopleand relationships, about bringing people andnations closer together through multicultural andinterdisciplinary experiences. Just five years agowe could have never predicted how political,social and economic tides would shift, but itappears that this program is more salient nowthan ever. With many aspects of transatlanticrelationships currently being called into question,educating our students to critically andscientifically analyze, investigate and discussinternational topics and debates is increasinglyimportant so that they may develop into activeand informed members of our global society. Inthis light, we reaffirm our belief in the goals andmission of the Summer School and arecommitted to providing the program for years tocome.

"Just five years ago wecould have never

predicted how political,social and economic

tides would shift, but itappears that this

program is more salientnow than ever."

Chair of Management andOrganization

Universität Augsburg



However, acknowledging how incredibly difficultand complex international collaboration like thiscan be, we would like to thank all of the peoplewithout whom this idea could have never come tofruition, let alone flourished in the manner whichit has. First, we would like to thank our studentsfor their openness, curiosity and willingness tolearn which make the program possible and sorewarding. Second, we would like toacknowledge the invaluable institutional supportof the President and Vice President forInternational Affairs and the Office of OverseasStudy at Indiana University, the President andVice President for Research and InternationalAffairs at Universität Augsburg and the Presidentand Vice-Chancellor for Internationalization andInternational Relations at the Università deglistudi di Bergamo. Third, we express our thanksto our administrative and academic colleagues atthe School of Public and Environmental Affairs,the Wirtschaftwissenschaftliche Fakultät and theCISAlpino Institute for Comparative Studies inEurope for their incredible patience andunderstanding in helping us execute thecomplicated logistics of this program year afteryear. Lastly, we extend our thanks to the scoresof guest lecturers and speakers who havecontributed their expertise, insight and advice tothis program throughout the years. Thank you all again for your tremendous supportof this program and others like it. By working withone another, we can continue to create positive,meaningful and transformative experiences forour students. We look forward to taking thisprogram into the future, together. Best wishes,

Erik Lehmann Silvio Vismara David Audretsch Universität Augsburg Università degli studi di Bergamo Indiana University





General Program Description For the past five years UniversitätAugsburg, Università degli studi diBergamo and Indiana University havecollaborated to provide a student-centeredstudy abroad program known as theSummer School. This annual program isan intensive, three-week seminar coursethat brings together graduate andundergraduate students from all threeuniversities to work together on groupprojects that address regional economicdevelopment and public policy. Theprogram is designed so that the studentsnot only benefit from hands-on academictraining, but they also are able to buildinvaluable skills in international projectmanagement and cross-culturalcompetence by working in interculturalteams on rigorous research projects. Thisis ensured by requiring that every grouphas no more than 50% of its membersfrom just one university. The Summer School is co-hosted by theUniversità degli studi di Bergamo andUniversität Augsburg, splitting the programduration between the two locations. Thecontent of the seminar is comprised oflectures, guest speakers, site visits andcultural excursions so as to maximize thebreadth and depth of experience for thestudents that attend. Through lectures andtalks from various voices and areas ofexpertise, the students are exposed to theexpansive and interdisciplinary nature ofeconomic development and are providedwith a theoretical foundation and examplesof practical application.

By making site visits to smaller, family-run firms as well as large, multinationalcorporations in local communities, thestudents learn about the important role ofprivate enterprise in economicdevelopment, as well as the benefits ofnurturing a diversified regional economy.The cultural excursions teach thevaluable, yet often ignored, lesson ofcontext; that the historical and culturalcontext of a place bears significantimplications for regional economies andthe public policies that are intended toshape them. At the conclusion of the program, thestudents formally present their findings todemonstrate what they have learned andshow the progress that they have madetowards their group papers. They thenuse the feedback from the presentationsto finalize their work.





The Students



The students of the Summer School have truly been its driving force: providing thedemand for such a program, contributing greatly to in-class discussion and givingvaluable feedback so that the program can be refined and improved each year. From thechart below you can see that not only has the Summer School been able to serve alarge number of students in total, but that the program has been popular from the verybeginning and has maintained a consistently high level of student interest each year.While the number of students from each university is displayed, what is not shown is thatthere are far more nationalities and cultures represented in the data than just Italian,American and German. Owing to the internationalized student bodies at each of theseuniversities, every iteration of the Summer School has had a very diverse population;however, ethnographic information is not obtained from the participants. Not only are thestudents culturally diverse, but they are academically diverse as well. The IndianaUniversity students come from a public affairs background, the Università degli studi diBergamo students study engineering management, and the Universität Augsburgstudents are trained in various disciplines within business and economics.


S P E C I A L I S S U E 5Chair of Management andOrganization




The Projects



The academic focus of the Summer School revolves around the group projects:consulting-style reports where the students outline an economic development problemwithin a place (municipality, city, region, etc.) and propose public policyrecommendations within the context of strategic management. At the beginning of thecourse, students arrange themselves into groups of four or five, with the caveat that nomore than two group members can come from the same university. This not only ensuresthat each group has multiple cultural perspectives, but that each group will also havedifferent academic backgrounds within it. With the groups being comprised as such, theyare instructed to take a multicultural and interdisciplinary approach to their work. Eachgroup selects a place and an issue that is hindering economic development within thatplace, then they are tasked with combining their own independent research with thelessons learned from the readings, lectures, site visits and cultural excursions toformulate strategic recommendations that policy-makers within that place can use toappropriately manage and improve local economic development. In the first year of theSummer School, the resulting papers were edited and published within a book written bythe supervising professors (see below). The word cloud below was generated with theplaces and topics that have been chosen throughout the years. On the following pageyou will find the historical record of places and economic development topics that thegroups have chosen to analyze (several topics have been duplicated from year to year).As you can clearly see, the groups have opted to tackle some of the most poignantissues of our time.



Guest Speakers & Site Visits



While typical lectures and assigned readingsare essential to providing the students with atheoretical foundation in economicdevelopment and the strategic managementof places, these methods alone do notsufficiently equip the students to understandthe best practices, and worst mistakes, thatpolicy makers and economic actors make inregional ecosystems. The best way to beexposed to this type of practical applicationis to meet with local decision makers andsee the outcomes of their strategies andpolicies first-hand. Leveraging thegeographic location of the Summer Schooland the relationships that have been forgedand nurtured by the directing professors, thestudents are not only given the opportunityto hear from economic development experts,government officials, corporate executives,socially-minded entrepreneurs and non-governmental organization leaders, but theyare often able to visit their workplaces too.




Throughout the years the Summer Schoolhas been fortunate in welcoming high profileguest speakers (such as the U.S. ConsulGeneral of Munich and a Senior VicePresident of American Express Bank) andgaining rare access to public sites andprivate firms (such as KUKA RoboticsCorporation, MAN Group, the BavarianCenter for Transatlantic Relations,Roschmann Group and WeisserSpulenkörper). This wide array of guestspeakers and site visits has given theSummer School students an invaluable lookat economic development and the strategicmanagement of places in action; living casestudies displaying how public-privatepartnerships and governmental policy andsupport can lead to economic prosperity. Inthis manner, the hands-on nature of theSummer School is a crucial component ofthe student learning process and greatlyinforms the final products of the studentgroups.

"This wide array of guestspeakers and site visits hasgiven the Summer School

students an invaluable look ateconomic development andthe strategic management of

places in action."



Cultural Excursions



The final, yet vitally important, components of the Summer School are the culturalexcursions. One of the key lessons to be learned in the strategic management of theeconomic performance of a place is that culture and context matter. It is often the casethat a policy solution that works in one place cannot simply be implemented elsewherewithout at least some modification, and this is owed to the unique cultural and historicalconsiderations of each place. Cultural excursions are built into the program of the SummerSchool for this reason; so that students can understand the specific nuances of wherethey are studying and be able to compare and contrast with the context of their homes.This enables the students to dig into the background of a place, identifying root causes ofeconomic and social issues so that they may tailor their policy recommendations in a waythat addresses these causes and doesn’t merely put a bandage on the symptoms. Thecultural excursions also provide an insight into the preservation, operation, marketing andmanagement of historical and cultural sites, showing how these resources can be includedin a local portfolio for economic development.



Looking Forward



While it is important to review the past,celebrate accomplishments and reminisceabout memories made, it is also vital to usethis opportunity to look to the future. We canconfidently say that the Summer School hasbeen an enriching experience for all threeinstitutions and their students, but we mustnot be complacent. We must continue toseek ways to improve the program; ensuringthat it continues to have a profound impacton the academic, professional and personallives of all that participate. Further, theSummer School serves as an excellentexample of what can be achieved whenuniversities commit to collaboration andpartnership. It is certain that the SummerSchool could not be realized without mutualcooperation at the institutional level. We canaim higher and accomplish more when wework together, and this produces improvedoutcomes for all of our students. As wemove forward, we will continue to look forways to add depth and breadth to therelationships between our universities –seeking efficiency, quality and sustainabilityin everything that we do.

"We can aim higher andaccomplish more whenwe work together, and

this produces improvedoutcomes for all of our

students."

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