Relevance of Education to Real Life and of Real Life to Education – Experiential Learning for International Business

Experiential learning, or learning by doing approach actively involves the students in a concrete experience and helps them to become confident. As compared to traditional classroom based learning – which might even include a component of experiential learning such as business simulations, our model of “Experiential Learning” which was developed on the principle of “linking classroom with the business community” not only targets skill building, but it also seeks to benefit the local businessmen in their efforts to open up to new markets. Therefore it includes a real life experience and contact with real business people; allowing students to become not only confident but also more “motivated”. In this study, we will share our first outcomes of an ongoing research project covering a series of experiential learning methods. We have developed an experiential learning model for students of international trade and marketing in Gediz University, a foundation university unique for hosting more than 70 nationalities in Izmir, Turkey. The project covers the small and medium sized enterprises (SME's) in the region, which are in need of support in terms of accessing international markets. One of our aims was also to examine how the multicultural nature of a university can be utilized also for the benefit of the local business. Our findings show that the impact of such a real life experience model on student interest and motivation is high.