International Service-Learning
Note to Students—
Welcome to International Service-Learning at Bentley!
The Bentley Service-Learning Center wants you to get as much as you can out of your study abroad experience. To take the greatest advantage of your semester abroad, sign up for a service-learning course or program at one of Bentley’s international partner universities listed below. For more information, contact the Cronin International Center (Adamian 161) or the Service-Learning Center (Morison 101).
International Service-Learning
The Bentley International Service-Learning program is aimed at enriching the experience of Bentley’s study abroad students. Every year, several hundred Bentley students travel to Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia for a semester of study at one of Bentley’s international partner universities. While taking courses in management, marketing, finance, and other business disciplines, the service-learning program provides the additional opportunity of helping students to learn about and appreciate the local culture while making a positive contribution to their host communities.
The initiative began in the spring of 2004. Working in collaboration with Bentley’s Cronin International Center, the director of the Bentley Service-Learning Center met with the dean of the Quinn School of Business at University College Dublin to investigate a joint service-learning effort in the greater Dublin area. The result was the establishment of the Bentley-UCD Quinn service-learning partnership in 2005.
Following the establishment of the partnership with UCD Quinn, the Bentley Service-Learning Center made further service-learning arrangements with other Bentley international partner universities. These include the Lorenzo de’Medici Institute in Florence (Italy), Bond University in Brisbane (Australia), and the University of Manchester (UK). A brief synopsis of each program follows.
UCD (Ireland)
The Bentley-UCD Quinn service-learning program is now in its third year. It offers an embedded service-learning course each spring semester. Since 2006, 25 Bentley students have studied abroad at UCD during the respective spring semesters and 15 of them have opted for the service-learning course. The course carries three credits in international studies. Bentley students in the course have engaged in organizational enhancement projects for several non-profits in the greater Dublin area. These projects have ranged from developing website materials for a women’s shelter and marketing materials for a psychological counseling center to preparing a staff “policies and procedures handbook” for a school and promoting events at a Dublin theatre company. From exit interviews it is clear that Bentley students who engage in service-learning at UCD Quinn are more likely to meet and learn from Irish nationals than Bentley students who do not undertake service-learning. As we had hoped, students have had a more meaningful international experience in the process. In 2007, The International Journal of Management Education (Vol. 6, No. 2) published a paper on the Bentley-UCD Quinn program written by Dr. Franklyn Salimbene, Bentley’s service-learning director, and Dr. Susi Geiger, UCD Quinn’s director.
Bentley student Owen Bacewicz and service team members at Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Ireland
Bond University (Australia)
In 2008, Bentley established an international partnership with Bond University in Brisbane, Australia. The partnership with Bond offers valuable service-learning opportunities for Bentley business students. Amy Kenworthy-U’Ren, Associate Professor of Management and Associate Dean of Teaching & Learning at Bond, who coincidently is a Bentley alumna and a former Bentley service-learning scholarship student, directs the Bond service-learning initiative.
Bond has identified two management courses in its business curriculum that provide Bentley study abroad students with service-learning opportunities. The courses are Negotiation and Human Resource Management. A management internship is also available for selected students. A recent service project completed by students in Dr. Kenworthy-U’Ren’s Negotiation course was highlighted in an Australian newspaper.
Bentley has approved the Bond courses and the internship for academic credit as Management electives.
University of Manchester (UK)
The Bentley service-learning program at the University of Manchester in England is part of Manchester’s “leadership and service” program. The program offers participating students a number of service opportunities in the greater Manchester area. Unlike the UCD and Bond programs the Manchester program is akin to a 3-credit lecture series with leadership as the overarching theme. The program offers participating students insights into leadership in a wide range of contexts including business, public, and nonprofit sectors. Students also develop invaluable skills from project management to commercial awareness. Specific topics include “volunteering and leadership,” developing sustainable communities and leadership, and building business leaders, among others. Manchester is EQUIS accredited.
The program also bestows the Manchester Leadership Award to students who complete a total of 60 hours of service, some of which can be completed within the service-learning program upon returning to Bentley. Bentley students who successfully complete the leadership lecture program also receive three credits as a Management elective.
Bentley Service-Learning in Ghana: The Mmofra Trom Project
The Mmofra Trom Project is a long-term economic development partnership between Bentley College and the Mmofra Trom Center near the village of Trom in Ghana, West Africa. The Project is focused on helping the Center, which is a home for orphans, to become self-sustaining over the next ten years by creating sources of income to increase the children's opportunities for education, healthcare, and jobs to support themselves.
Unlike the service-learning programs coordinated by Bentley’s international partner universities, the Mmofra Trom Project is run directly by Bentley. Service to the Center has been provided by students and faculty in the course "Non-governmental Organizations and Economic Development." Other Bentley courses also contribute to the Center, most recently students and faculty in the course “Leadership and Management Issues in the Developing World." These courses require students to travel to Ghana for short-term periods during which they undertake organizational enhancement and direct service projects. For example, Bentley students have collaborated with the Center's director to create a bead-making business run by the children of Mmofra Trom and marketed by Bentley students and have established the Center's first computerized accounting and record keeping system.
Lorenzo de’Medici Institute (Italy)
The Lorenzo de’Medici Institute (LDI) in Florence is a popular location for Bentley study abroad students. Students studying abroad at LDI can opt for a 3-credit Italian language course with an embedded service-learning project. The course is entitled “Language and the Community (in Italian).” Because the ability to speak Italian is key to working on the range of service projects in the community, however, the opportunity is limited to Bentley students who have achieved a high level of Italian language proficiency.
“Language and the Community” provides opportunities for students to perform socially meaningful service in Florence at a variety of sites for 30 hours during the semester while enhancing their ability to speak Italian. The service sites include musical and cultural associations, women’s organizations, societies for the disabled, and organizations that promote a cleaner environment.
