Minnesota University Explores Partnership With Costa Rican University
The Saint Mary's University PowerTrak MBA program in Minneapolis hosted representatives from EARTH University in Costa Rica in early May to explore potential partnerships such as MBA capstone project opportunities, and student and faculty exchange programs.

Karen Gulliver, program director for the Saint Mary's PowerTrak MBA, toured the campus of EARTH University on a trip to Costa Rica in January. "I was blown away by what I saw," Gulliver said. "So I invited them up here."

What she saw was an innovative, socially and environmentally conscious university and premier research center located on 8,154 acres in the heart of the humid tropics of Costa Rica. Saint Mary's and EARTH would be excellent educational partners, Gulliver said, "because of the commonality of mission and values and similarity of commitment to serving societal needs through education."

EARTH was founded in 1990 and has an educational model based on four pillars -- social commitment, environmental awareness, an entrepreneurial mentality, and the development of human values -- said Irene Alvarado, a member of the EARTH faculty who visited Saint Mary's in May. The educational model at EARTH is also unique in that it combines participatory teaching with a holistic curriculum, Alvarado said.

Students start putting theory into practice in their first year when they form teams and conduct feasibility studies to start small businesses. "They can choose any service or product; the only limitation is that they have to follow the mission and values of the university," Alvarado explained. "In today's global economy, students need values and practice along with academics."

Once a feasibility study is accepted, the students actually apply for small business loans through the university and follow through on their business plan. Aldo Bettoni, a third-year student at EARTH and a native Costa Rican, gave a presentation about EARTH to PowerTrak MBA faculty and described his experience creating an enterprise raising and selling turkeys. "I used our strengths in order to compete against all of the other turkey businesses in Costa Rica," he said. "Our production was characterized by being antibiotic- and hormone-free, supplemented with natural pastures and stress-free animals."

In addition to the vast knowledge about all aspects of business and entrepreneurship he has gained from his experiences at EARTH, Bettoni said he has gained invaluable multicultural perspectives from the faculty and students at the university. The faculty represent 18 nationalities, and students come to EARTH from 22 different countries. All students and faculty members and their families live on campus. Fifty percent of the students at EARTH have full scholarships from the school, allowing EARTH to bring in students from nations in economic despair.

MBA students and faculty from Saint Mary's could benefit from experiencing EARTH, Bettoni said, by gaining a truly global perspective and getting an opportunity to integrate business with environmental and social awareness.

Alvarado envisions the relationship between Saint Mary's and EARTH as "a two-way bridge. Together we can learn and develop new opportunities," she said. "The visit to Minnesota is extremely valuable and we're looking forward to exploring the many possibilities."