New York City and its universities have always been a point of reference for professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, academics, students, and educational institutions. Thanks to the support of key local economic entities (Sparkasse, Volksbank, and Bureau Plattner), unibz has been offering its top students from the Master’s program in Accounting and Finance the opportunity to spend their second year at either the Baruch College of the City University of New York (CUNY) or the Stern Business School of New York University (NYU). However, the time has come to explore new forms of collaboration and exchange.

In this context, the meetings organized for Rector Paolo Lugli take on particular significance. The unibz delegation recently met with representatives of academic institutions and the Italian consulate, exploring new opportunities for collaboration and expanding existing partnerships.

The first meeting involved Cesare Billier, the Italian Consul in New York. The main objective of the meeting was to increase unibz's visibility among students who spend time in the Big Apple, either pursuing a dual degree or gaining work experience. A key highlight of the meeting was the suggestion to establish a US chapter for the university's alumni, aiming to enhance visibility within the consulate and the Italian-American community. Moreover, Cesare Billier proposed organizing an event at the consulate to showcase the South Tyrol Economic System, involving representatives from the Autonomous Province of Bozen-Bolzano, entrepreneurs, students, and South Tyrolean professionals working in the United States. This could represent a significant opportunity to strengthen the ties between the Italian-American community and all the Province Stakeholders (Entrepreneurs, Financial Institutions, Professionals, Cultural institutions and last but not least University of Bozen-Bolzano).

Subsequently, Lugli and Bonacchi met with a delegation from Baruch College, consisting of close friends of the University of Bozen-Bolzano, including Myung-Soo Lee, Director of the Weissman Center for International Business, who spent a year as a visiting professor at unibz, and Anthony Farina, a distinguished professor and director of Business Consulting at Baruch College. “We discussed the possibility of expanding collaboration in various areas”, explains Bonacchi. “In particular, we evaluated the potential for offering additional dual degree programs, such as “MS in Accounting” and “MS in Business Analytics”(to complement our existing LM program in Data Analytics for Economics and Management). Furthermore, we discussed facilitating PhD student exchanges, professor exchanges, and the creation of an Erasmus Plus channel to allow unibz students to spend a semester at Baruch College, taking exams and receiving an Erasmus scholarship”.

The third meeting took place at NYU Stern, an important academic partner that has joined Baruch College in the last two years. unibz met with Alex Dontoh, Director of the Master of Science in Accounting, and JP Eggers, Vice Dean for the MBA program at NYU Stern. The main objective of the meeting was to consolidate the relationship between the University of Bolzano and NYU Stern, one of the top ten business schools in the world. "We discussed how to extend the benefits of the privileged collaboration with NYU Stern to other stakeholders, such as corporate managers, bank representatives, board members, and professionals, who could benefit from the courses offered by this prestigious institution”, says Lugli. “We also explored the possibility of creating an executive education program in collaboration between unibz and NYU Stern, opening the opportunity for executive training, which is currently not offered but is of great interest to us”.

The day ended with a dinner with former student Alice Serafini, a cum laude graduate from unibz and a distinguished graduate from NYU Stern. The meetings in New York marked an important step forward in the growth of the international relations of the University of Bozen-Bolzano and provided a solid foundation for further developments in the field of education and academic collaboration on an international level.

(zil)