Students' trip of lifetime' to USA

Students of Business and Law have described their experience of learning alongside US undergraduates as "the opportunity of a lifetime".

A cohort led by Liverpool Business School and LJMU School of Law spent four weeks co-learning online with their peers at Southern Connecticut State University under a project pioneered by LJMU called COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning).

The students were then offered a trip to the US to meet their collaborators and see how the other half learn.

They also met employers at Modern Plastics in Connecticut and the New York offices of UBS and Bloomberg, ands enjoyed a visit to Yale Art Gallery.

“The best part of this trip was to be able to meet the employers of big companies and get some insight from their experience,” said one of the Liverpool students.

“The topics delivered on campus were interesting and the faculties were really accommodating. The trip to New York City was amazing. Overall, the opportunity that I had with COIL was once in a lifetime experience.”

The UK-US link up was set up by Dr Alison Lui, Associate Dean Global Engagement of the Faculty of Business and Law and Dr Madeline Stevens, Senior Lecturer from Liverpool Business School.

Alison said: “There is a 100% satisfaction rate for the experience. All the students said their global citizenship and soft skills improved after the two-part project and they all highly recommended it.”

LJMU and SCSU began a study exchange partnership in 2015. The two universities have been collaborating on COIL projects since 2021.

Added Alison: "This is the first ever two-part COIL experience that we have provided to students, and I am very grateful to our Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr Tim Nichol for supporting and subsidising this trip. Innovative, high quality, international experiential learning is at the heart of FBL’s internationalisation strategy."

IMAGE: Liverpool students with their hosts on the SCSU Campus in New Haven.