Dr. Ángela M. González-Echeverry

Why Manizales? Manizales is my home town and I

would like to take advantage of knowing not just the city but the people and their culture. Manizales is a city in central Colombia, capital of the Department of Caldas and part of the region of Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis.

The city of Manizales is described as having an "abrupt topography". It is built in a mountain region with a number of ridgelines and sharp hills. Manizales has a population of four hundred thousand, and an urban land area of 42.9 square kilometers. The Gross National Product per capita is US$2,000 (2005).

The city is located 175 miles northeast of Bogota, on the old trade route across the Andes Mountains. The city is situated on a plateau of the western side of the mountains. The city is 6988 feet above sea level. It is surrounded by rich mineral and agricultural districts.

Manizales

Manizales’ main economic Manizales’ main economic activity for more than a activity for more than a century has been coffee century has been coffee production. During the production. During the 1970s, coffee growing 1970s, coffee growing areas in the region were areas in the region were greatly expanded in greatly expanded in response to market response to market demand. Manizales is an demand. Manizales is an important regional important regional cultural and educational cultural and educational centercenter

Nowadays the city is the Nowadays the city is the main center for the main center for the production of Colombian production of Colombian coffee and an important coffee and an important center for higher center for higher educational institutions. educational institutions.

Manizales has the most universities per capita in Colombia.

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Universidad de Manizales

Universidad Autónoma de Manizales

Universidad Católica de Manizales

Universidad Luis Amigó Universidad de Caldas

Manizales' economy is based on Coffee production and processing, steel and other metal manufacturers, car parts manufacturing, food industry and educational services. Recently there is an increased interest in utilizing a material called guadua which is very similar to bamboo.

The most important cultural events held are the International Theater Festival, which is one of the major theater events in Latin-America, the Manizales Jazz Festival which gather Jazz Musicians from all over the world, it's held annually.

Manizales is a pioneer in recycling and its plant mainly recycles plastics, paper, glass, cardboard and scrap iron. Manizales is advising other mayors and municipalities, how to establish recycling methods for waste separation and also is working in educating the general public about protecting the environment and encouraging the green industry.

Why interdisciplinary? The idea is to bring several disciplines together

in order to understand real life scenarios and experiences. For instance a business student can take the opportunity to learn about international trade markets but also be exposed to situations where it is necessary to negotiate the culture and the business practices. Meanwhile, the students will experience an exchange of ideas with people doing similar activities whether it is economics, language, sports management or education.

In the future we would be able to make connections with actual universities willing to be involved in student exchange programs in order to accomplish one of our specific goals which is to internationalize this college.

Community engagement

Why a certificate? There are traditional and non-traditional

learners who wish to expand their knowledge beyond the class-room frontiers. This certificate will allow participants to become life-long learners by giving them analytical tools to approach a foreign market. Thus, participants will understand how foreign markets work through the lenses of a wide commercial scenario, but more importantly looking at very local perspectives to production, commercialization and, consumption. In this way, this certificate will allow participants to understand multicultural societies and their commercial and cultural connections across nations.

Academic description Today being an entrepreneur

requires a high cross-cultural competence, innovation, and awareness of business opportunities, demands and responsibilities in order to create successful projects intended for domestic or foreign markets. The aim of the Global Entrepreneurship Certificate is to facilitate a platform for students and faculty in Colombia and the U.S to become entrepreneurs by interacting, sharing, and exchanging knowledge and practices in regard to local businesses.

This proposal emphasizes in three aspects of entrepreneurship:

a)Cross-cultural competence.

b) Local initiatives in global economies. c) Innovation.