The Global Women Scholars Program combines rigorous business academics with a cohort-based experience designed to empower and develop the next generation of leaders dedicated to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Through a comprehensive curriculum and mentorship, scholars move through the program together, strengthening cross-cultural skills, ethical leadership, and real-world business insight. Along the way, they engage with industry experts, collaborate with driven peers, and participate in initiatives that address global challenges such as inequality, climate change, and economic opportunity. Students selected for this prestigious program will be notified upon acceptance to Bentley.
Customized Workshops
Facilitated by The Center for Women in Business, these workshops focus on cultural competency, practical leadership skills, and real conversations about leading across cultures and industries. They help students understand their strengths, stretch their capabilities, and build confidence to lead in global settings.
Academic Integration
Scholars follow a rigorous academic approach centered on international markets, strategy, and cross-border business. Automatically enrolled in Bentley’s International Business Program with a dedicated faculty advisor, their coursework is purposefully aligned to prepare them for leadership in today's complex global environment.
Internship Abroad
With support from the Cronin Office, students plan where to go, what to study, and how to make their time abroad count. Scholars receive up to $12,000 for an international internship between their sophomore and junior years, gaining real experience in global business cultures and the confidence to thrive in new environments.
Cohort Experience
Scholars move through the program together as a close-knit cohort and are paired with mentors who have studied or worked abroad. After returning from their own global experience, they pay it forward by supporting and mentoring the next class of scholars.
Dominique Wilburn
Program Structure
With a focus on building a strong foundation in leadership and self-development, scholars will explore topics such as confidence and setting personal goals while beginning to build a strong sense of community within the cohort. A key component is the introduction to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which serve as a framework for understanding how business can drive social and environmental impact.
Year two focuses on applying foundational knowledge in a global context. Scholars prepare for study abroad while deepening their understanding of cultural competence, global leadership, and international business systems. Through virtual simulations, they will gain an early taste of what their internship abroad experience may look like and practice navigating real-world business scenarios across cultures. Scholars will also engage with international leaders and explore how to operate within different regulatory, social, and cultural environments while staying grounded in their leadership values.
Scholars return from their international internships with firsthand insight into what it means to live, learn, and lead in a global environment. Building on the foundation established in their first two years, they will reflect on how business operates across diverse cultural landscapes and examine the opportunities and tensions that arise when navigating global systems in practice.
Scholars will also explore how mentorship and leadership are cultivated across borders while reflecting on the personal and professional impact of their time abroad. Through guided conversations, they will consider identity, cultural adaptation, and the experience of culture shock, translating their global experience into deeper leadership awareness and perspective.
In their final year, scholars integrate what they have learned about leadership and global business to examine how business shapes economies, organizations, and society. This experience connects their academic, global, and personal development while positioning them as peer mentors to younger scholars in the program and as emerging leaders in their fields of interest. Scholars may also complete a final Capstone Project aligned with the program’s core themes: global business, gender equity, leadership, and the business impact of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Program Details
Global Women Scholars Program FAQS
The stipend will be credited to your student account prior to your departure. If there are no outstanding charges on your account, the amount will be refunded to you to use for your travel and living expenses.
Most internships are for credit. However, in the event that your internship is for pay, you will receive a reduced stipend amount since the stipend is intended to cover travel and living expenses. Also, international internships that occur during the academic year are covered by existing financial aid policies and may limit the amount of stipend you may receive.
Scholars will work with our Cronin Office of International Education to identify international internships. It will be up to the scholar to take advantage of all the services the center has to offer and ultimately it will be the scholar’s responsibility to apply and secure an internship.
It is expected that students enrolled in the program are interested in addressing one or more of the UN’s Global Sustainability Goals. One feature of the Global Women Scholars Program is that you will be offered streamlined enrollment in the International Business Program, which requires you to choose one Business major with international course offerings and an Arts & Science major with a global focus.
Yes. The program does not limit study abroad options.
The Global Women Scholars program is both an academic and co-curricular program. It is tailored for students looking for a unique leadership experience with a global lens. The cohorts for the program will be smaller by design, thus scholars will receive personalized attention to better advance each participant's development.
Complete the Global Women Scholars reply form through your BentleyConnect portal.
For answers to additional questions, please contact Dominique Wilburn at: dwilburn@bentley.edu
"Global Women Scholars provides a fantastic opportunity for future leaders to build skills, networks and momentum for social good in a changing world."
Summer Marion
Assistant Professor Global Studies
"Stepping into new cultures, students uncover confidence, curiosity, and connections that shape them into globally committed leaders."
Rachel Delfino
Assistant Director, International Education