MISSION

Florida International University's Center for International Business Education and Research (FIU CIBER) was formally established in October, 1995, with the help of our Advisory Council and some financial support from the U.S. Department of Education.We deliver unique curricular, research, and outreach programs in a cost-effective way to advance FIU's agenda of international teaching, research and outreach. Our purpose is to make our various stakeholders--students, faculty, university community, South Florida business community and residents--more competitive in the global economy. We strive to promote U.S. competitiveness and to be a local and regional resource for ensuring that the U.S. is globally competitive. As the first CIBER in the state of Florida, we have attempted to create programs that become self-supporting. We therefore see our Center as a valuable resource not just for people in South Florida, but also for those in contiguous states interested in forming partnerships for faculty development and outreach (primarily to Latin America). Moreover, we are a national and international resource in terms of our expertise in the Caribbean and Latin America. We helped craft the Summit of the Americas in l995 with FIU's Latin American and Caribbean Center--which is the only one of its kind in the country.

Our programs are geared to an ethnically diverse international community. Since Miami itself serves as a gateway between North and South America, it boasts one of the largest trading centers in the U.S. and enjoys a rich, multicultural environment. FIU reflects this rich diversity. Our students are 51.12% Hispanic (including European Hispanic), 23.4% White, 14.0% of African American descent, 7.66% International, and 3.6% Asian. Our mandate from the State of Florida is to create Centers of Excellence, of which FIU CIBER is one. We have endeavored to deliver programs emphasizing ways we can help our diverse community ensure its global competitiveness through international business education and research programs. We think we've achieved much since our inception--not just at the local and regional levels, but also at the national and international levels. FIU's College of Business Administration recently has received strong support from major, local multinational donors (e.g., Knight Ridder and Ryder). The College has received funding to support the hiring of several endowed professorships--in its Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management and in its Ryder Center for Logistics, to name a few. CIBER funding is extremely helpful in supporting research, curriculum and faculty development, and outreach programs that enhance our goals of internationalization and of fostering U.S. competitiveness.

 The hallmark of a good learning organization is its ability to generate good ideas and then to extend those ideas across boundaries (of space, time, geography, direction and position.) Our programs have significant impact at all levels. FIU CIBER supports a unique combination of academic, research and outreach programs that help business, government and academic communities operate effectively in the global business environment. We will continue our successful activities, eliminate activities that have already accomplished their objectives, and implement strategically-designed new activities that are directly responsive to the needs identified in South Florida and in the nation. More specifically, we will continue our geographic emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean, since we have a competitive advantage here. We will extend some of our programs in Europe and continue our expansion into the emerging markets of Asia and Southeast Asia.