Agribusiness Education
The Renk Agribusiness Institute has joined with the UW School of Business SMILES (Strategic Management in the Life and Engineering Sciences) program to offer agribusiness professionals a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA). Through the SMILES program participants develop key business skills and expertise in creating economic and social value from science and technology. The Renk Agribusiness Institute students in the SMILES program emphasize leadership in contemporary agricultural domains. They supplement the regular SMILES program with focused activities linked to agribusiness firms and issues.
International Education
The Renk Agribusiness Institute working in conjunction with the Agricultural & Applied Economics department in the College of Ag & Life Sciences has begun a relationship with the Hanoi Agricultural University, Hanoi City, Vietnam to develop an MBA course curriculum. Three professors from Hanoi University were visiting the University of Wisconsin Madison for the 2009 summer session to attend classes, work with AAE faculty and develop curriculum. Two more professors will join us in the fall and this relationship will continue until 2011. Professor Randy Fortenbery, Director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute and Ian Coxhead, Professor of economics of development will be traveling to HAU fall of 2009 and again in the future to assist with this program.
The Renk Agribusiness Institute, working with the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences dean’s office, developed an agribusiness MBA program at American International University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The first students entered in fall 2003. UW faculty designed the curriculum and taught the first courses, which will later be taught by Bangladeshi faculty.
UW faculty have also advised businesses and public officials on market development and structure. For example, both of Bangladesh’s national stock exchanges requested input on the design and management of futures contracts for individual stocks traded in Bangladesh. Because futures trading is currently illegal there, faculty met with the Minister of Commerce and the Tariff Commission on the potential implications of easing restrictions on futures trading. Other projects included working with large exporters on managing freight cost risks, developing marketing plans for farmers, and working with food processors on managing input price risk.