????肖恩?加德納是賓夕法尼亞大學沃頓商學院（at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania）MBA二年級學生，他曾利用寒假假期時間赴盧旺達，在這個經歷了史上最大規(guī)模組織變革的國家進行體驗式學習。今年夏天，他將加入麥肯錫公司（McKinsey），從事管理工作，這也他職業(yè)生涯的第一個挑戰(zhàn)。屆時,他在盧旺達學習到的經驗將會派上用場。

????加德納和其他26名同學一起親身體驗了盧旺達的歷史轉折。它堪稱近年來令人印象最深刻的歷史變遷。沃頓商學院管理學教授凱瑟琳?克萊恩說，就在不到二十年前，盧旺達還發(fā)生過幾十萬人慘遭同胞屠殺的慘劇。而如今，內戰(zhàn)結束后首次進行的總統(tǒng)選舉過去了不到十年，盧旺達的商業(yè)和旅游業(yè)已經相當繁榮。盧旺達在《世界銀行2011年全球企業(yè)經營環(huán)境調查》（the World Bank's 2011 Doing Business survey）中的排名已經從6年前的第158位飆升至第4位。

????加德納稱：“我最終的畢業(yè)設計項目主題也和盧旺達有關。我能將我學習的管理課程中的原則直接運用到盧旺達的案例中去。”

????學生和年輕員工經常會赴海外獲取國際工作經驗，體驗不同地方的生活，同時豐富自己的履歷。近些年來，大學、非盈利機構和私企都將國際項目擴展到了發(fā)展中國家。學生和員工能夠有機會體驗這些國家正在發(fā)生的急劇變革，同時將他們在課堂上學習到的技能運用于實踐。

????哈佛商學院（Harvard Business School）從2011年開始要求其全部900名新生在哥斯達黎加、越南等11個國家中選擇一個，進行實地浸入式考察。沃頓商學院也于去年啟動了全球模塊課程項目，包括在印度舉辦的醫(yī)療衛(wèi)生課程和在以色列舉辦的創(chuàng)新課程。

????其他幾所商學院的學生以及大型公司的員工也開始尋求機會，在發(fā)展中國家磨練自己的商業(yè)技能，以便在內戰(zhàn)、貧困和資源有限等極端環(huán)境中驗證他們在課堂和會議中學到的理論知識。

????然而，有觀點認為，這種考察與學術性旅行差不多，不過是打著學習的幌子游山玩水。但加德納表示，他們確實玩得很開心，但“作為商學院學生，即使是訪問一處大猩猩養(yǎng)育所，我們也能觀察到，當地人是如何將旅游業(yè)作為發(fā)展經濟的一個關鍵組成部分來開發(fā)旅游項目的。”

????對克萊恩教授來說，有機會將課堂知識運用于現(xiàn)實世界的吸引力要遠大于短期體驗項目和有趣的旅游景點。

????克萊恩稱：“在我的課程里，我們研究偏見、歧視、組織變革和愿景進行研究。所有這些都可以在盧旺達找到。”????

??? 在盧旺達這類國家能夠接觸到新興經濟體的鮮活經驗和不斷演變的情況。同時，這類國家還能提供接觸高管和政治領袖的機會，這一點在倫敦或者柏林是不可能的。沃頓商學院的學生在盧旺達會見了該國的國防部部長。部長談到了曾經互為仇敵的胡圖人（Hutus）和圖西人（Tutsis）在軍隊中得以融合。主管性別平等的部長和學生們探討了性別平等的重要性，尤其是在這個很多男人被屠殺或者關進監(jiān)獄的國家里。

????When Sean Gardner faces his first management challenge at McKinsey this summer, he will be able to call on his experience studying in a country that has undergone one of the greatest organizational changes in history. Gardner, a second-year M.B.A. student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, spent part of his winter break in Rwanda.

????Along with 26 other students, Gardner explored what is likely the most impressive turnaround story in a generation. Less than 20 years after hundreds of thousands of people were murdered by their countrymen and a decade since the first post-civil war presidential elections, Rwanda has become a thriving place for business and tourism, according to Katherine J. Klein, a management professor at Wharton, who led the class. In the World Bank's 2011 Doing Business survey, Rwanda ranked 45, up from 158 six years ago.

????"It ended up being a capstone project for me," Gardner says. "I was able to directly apply the principals of the management courses I took to Rwanda's story."

????Students and young workers frequently spend some time abroad to gain international work experience, try out living in a new place, and build their resumes. In recent years, though, universities, non-profits, and private employers have expanded their international programs to developing nations. These countries often offer students and workers a chance to see drastic change as it is happening and put the skills they are learning in class into practice.

????Since 2011, Harvard Business School has required that all 900 of its incoming students do a field immersion class in one of 11 countries, ranging from Costa Rica to Vietnam. Wharton's Global Modular Courses, also started last year, offer courses on healthcare in India and innovation in Israel.

????Students at several other business schools, as well as employees at large organizations, are also looking to the developing world to hone their skills by looking at how lessons learned in the classroom or boardroom hold up in the extreme situations of civil war, poverty, and limited resources.

????Although some argue that these trips are little more than academic tourism, a chance for students to vacation under the guise of learning, Gardner says that they did have fun, but even when visiting a gorilla refuge, "as business school students, we see how they are developing tourism as a vital part of their economy."

????And for Klein, the short time frame and tempting tourist distractions are outweighed by the chance to show how classroom lectures apply in the real world.

????"In my discipline, we do research on prejudice, discrimination, organizational change, vision. These are all there in Rwanda," Klein says.

????Besides the exposure to the raw and evolving lessons of emerging economies, countries like Rwanda offer access to executives and political leaders that would be impossible to find in London or Berlin. Wharton students in Rwanda met with the nation's minister of defense, who spoke about the integration of Hutus and Tutsis, once bitter enemies, into the military. The minister of gender discussed the importance of equality in a country where many men were slaughtered or are in prison.