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Erasmus+ International Mobility, Professor Shahbaz Shabbir Gill

Sending University: University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
 
Host University: Athens University of Economics and Business
 
It was a great mid-career opportunity for me to visit and learn about European culture and educational system. My host university gave me a very warm and productive environment to teach, interact and share ideas with students. I received a very warm welcome by Ms. Katerina Galanaki, whose head of the Erasmus program at Athens University of Economics and Business. She has been an excellent host and managed and organized my academic visit very professionally. Their office facilitated my travel plans and also gave me appropriate and important information regarding the university and their programs. The staff was very helpful and I always received prompt response from their office whenever I had any queries regarding the process of this visit.


My academic host, Professor George Kouretas was very supportive. We exchanged ideas on cultures and practices in Europe and USA and discussed future avenues for collaborating research and academic work.
 
Erasmus gave me an opportunity to teach MBA students at Athens University of Economics and Business. I believe this has benefitted both the students and myself as I learned about Greek culture, students’ experiences and perceptions and current business models in Greece. This also helped me learn about the unique and dynamic narrative on business practices from the Greek/European perspective. It was a tremendous opportunity to compare the cultural and business practices of Europe and USA.
 
On this visit, I taught 8 hours in the subjects of Marketing and High Tech Venture Marketing to MBA students, presented my research paper to PhD students and exchanged online pedagogical skills with my colleagues at Athens University of Economics and Business. I met AUEB’s PhD students on a one-on-one basis to discuss their research interests and prospective research plans.
 
I also got a chance to meet MBA students to help them understand PhD admission processes and available opportunities in US universities.
I believe that this academic program has benefitted both the students and myself and would like to continue working with Erasmus … in the future.