Moore School and Oxford University establish new program
September 4, 2014
COLUMBIA, SC – Two seniors from the Darla Moore School of Business and South Carolina Honors College at the University of South Carolina will head to Oxford University in January to immerse themselves in some of the world’s most pressing business topics and challenges.
Andrew Kovtun of Solon, Ohio, and Jon Thompson Fort Mill, S.C., are the first students selected for the Moore School’s newly established International Business – Oxford Scholar Program. Kovtun is majoring in international business and economics with a minor in French and Russian. Thompson is majoring in international business and finance with a minor in Spanish.
Each year a pair of S.C. Honors College students from the Moore School’s top-ranked international business program will attend Oxford’s prestigious Lady Margaret Hall College for two of its three terms. Selection is based on a rigorous process including an application, essays and interviews that demonstrate superior critical thinking and communication abilities.
“The selection of IB Oxford Scholars represents the very highest distinction awarded to our international business majors. Andrew and Jon reflect the very best of the University of South Carolina,” says Nancy Buchan, associate dean of the Moore School’s undergraduate program and associate professor of international business.
Oxford is renowned for its distinctive tutorial teaching style that dates back to 1200 AD in which students are assigned a tutor (professor) for individualized study grounded in research, reading and written and oral argumentation on topics that are chosen by the student and the tutor.
The intent of the Moore School’s IB-Oxford Scholars Program is to provide students with an intensive study experience that combines the functional areas of business (ie. management, finance and marketing) with a deeper understanding of the philosophical, cultural, social and economic contexts of a global environment.
Oxford is at the pinnacle of higher education, with its graduates ranking No. 1 on the 2013 Global Employability Research Survey, which is based on the responses of 5,000 top recruiters from 20 countries.
“We’re proud to be able to provide the opportunity for the very finest students from the University of South Carolina to learn among the world’s elite students at Oxford and to tap into the employment prospects that such an esteemed educational experience can offer,” says Buchan.
The IB-Oxford Scholars Program is the latest example of academic partnerships being forged by the Moore School with the world’s top business schools and universities. In 2013 the undergraduate international business program reorganized its required study abroad component by establishing exchange partnerships with more than 40 premier business schools in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America.
The Moore School is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report for its undergraduate international business program and its international MBA program and No. 1 in undergraduate IB by Bloomberg Businessweek.
About Oxford University’s Lady Margaret Hall:
Lady Margaret Hall was founded in 1878 to change Oxford University and to change the world as it was then. Initially founded as the first college for women in Oxford, it became a co-educational college in 1978. Today, the college continues its progressive focus in preparing students to live and work in a fast-moving, complex and global society that is hungry for knowledge, communication and integrity.
About the Darla Moore School of Business:
The Darla Moore School of Business is among the highest-ranked business schools in the world for international business education and research. Founded in 1919, the school has a history of innovative educational leadership, blending academic preparation with real-world experience through internships, consulting projects, study-abroad programs and entrepreneurial opportunities. The Moore School offers undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as distinctive executive education programs. In 1998, the school was named for South Carolina native and New York financier Darla Moore, making the University of South Carolina the first major university to name its business school after a woman.
