According to a report from the Comptroller's Office, Darla Moore School of Business is responsible for most of USC’s out-of-state travel. Most of the money has been allotted to programs established by Kendall Roth, senior associate dean for International Programs and Partnerships.
South Carolina universities and colleges have spent $34,248,859 for out-of-state travel in the 2016-17 fiscal year. Most of this money has been spent by USC and Clemson University.
“This report is prepared as a management tool to assist agency heads and state leaders in ensuring that the state's financial resources are being used efficiently,” said comptroller Richard Eckstrom in his travel report.
Eckstrom reported that USC spent $7,835,156 on out-of-state spending compared to Clemson’s $9,056,187 spent. The major difference between the universities is that the biggest spender at USC works for international programs and partnerships whereas Clemson’s biggest spender is its athletic department.
Regardless of how the money is being spent, $7,835,156 could seem an excessive amount to spend on international travel when college students are having to deal with rising tuition. Jeff Stensland, USC's director of public relations, stressed that most of this travel comes at little cost to students.
“Much of the travel undertaken by USC faculty and staff is funded through private grants and athletic revenue,” Stensland said.
He argued that this travel is beneficial to students because it helps create opportunities to conduct research or travel abroad along with helping offset some of the cost of college.
“Faculty embark upon groundbreaking research and scholarship to make advances in medicine, rule of law, advanced materials and numerous other disciplines that make everyday life better,” Stensland said. “Importantly, travel is also used to raise money to help make up for the continued practice of underfunding higher education in our state.”
Roth specifically says he is doing quite a bit to acquire new opportunities for USC students through his travel.
“The most important task is developing opportunities for Moore School students to enhance their education through participating in some type of cross-cultural or international experience,” said Roth.
USC prides itself on being the top international business school in the nation with some of the best international programs. Roth says this prestige cannot come from casual planning, but is the result of travel and money spent over the years so students can have the best education possible.
“There are universities that basically outsource the major portion of their international opportunities to outside vendors,” said Roth. “However, such opportunities are typically much more expensive for students than in-house developed exchanges and programs.”
Every student on campus has the opportunity to study abroad, and there are many programs to choose from. However, when there are so many countries with so many different programs in the countries, faculty and executives need to oversee what is happening. This is another major part of Roth’s role.
“We also believe it is important control the design of these programs, to ensure that when a student studies abroad, or participates in a short-term study program, that the experience is well developed in terms of academic content,” Roth said. “Our study abroad partners must be exceptional business schools, providing a curriculum that is consistent with, or even exceeds, our own academic standards.”
Even though a large amount of money is going towards the international travel of one specific faculty member, Roth is confident this money is benefiting students every day and helps maintain the reputation of the business school and USC as a whole.
“The Moore School is widely recognized as the premier institution in international business," Roth said. "To maintain this reputation it is important that we continually redefine the frontier of international business education.”