About UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the first public university in the United States, serves North Carolina, the U.S., and the world through teaching, research, and public service. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, scholarship, and creativity, and to teach a diverse community of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students to become the next generation of leaders. UNC-Chapel Hill invests its knowledge and resources to enhance access to learning and to foster the success and prosperity of each rising generation and extends knowledge-based services and other resources to the citizens of North Carolina and their institutions to enhance the quality of life for all people in the state.
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s mission is to build and inspire leaders who make the world a better place. UNC Kenan-Flagler offers a broad range of programs – Undergraduate Business, MBA, Master of Accounting, PhD, and Executive Development in on-campus and online formats – that are consistently ranked among the world’s best. Faculty and staff share an unparalleled dedication to students’ and business leaders’ learning and long-term success. Graduates are renowned as effective, principled leaders with the technical knowledge and leadership skills to deliver results in the global business environment. UNC Kenan-Flagler fosters learning as a lifelong journey by creating and delivering rigorous, relevant thought leadership and building a community committed to core values of integrity, inclusion, innovation, and impact.
About Singapore Management University
A premier university in Asia, the Singapore Management University (SMU) is internationally recognised for its world-class research and distinguished teaching. Established in 2000, SMU’s mission is to generate leading-edge research with global impact and to produce broad-based, creative, and entrepreneurial leaders for the knowledge-based economy. SMU’s education is known for its highly interactive, collaborative, and project-based approach to learning.
Home to over 13,000 students across undergraduate, postgraduate professional, and postgraduate research programmes, SMU comprises eight schools: School of Accountancy, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, School of Economics, School of Computing and Information Systems, Yong Pung How School of Law, School of Social Sciences, College of Integrative Studies, and College of Graduate Research Studies. SMU offers a wide range of Bachelor, Master’s, and PhD programmes in the disciplinary areas associated with its schools, as well as in multidisciplinary combinations of these areas.
SMU emphasises rigorous, high-impact, multi- and interdisciplinary research that addresses Asian issues of global relevance. SMU faculty members collaborate with leading international researchers and universities around the world, as well as with partners in the business community and public sector. SMU’s city campus is a modern facility located in the heart of downtown Singapore, fostering strategic linkages with business, government, and the wider community.
About Copenhagen Business School
CBS is Denmark’s largest educational and research institution within business administration and economics in a wide sense. The university is committed to providing business-related education programmes and continuing education for both the public and, in particular, the private sectors.
CBS offers a large portfolio of degree programmes, which are based on a strong and internationally renowned research base that CBS works consistently to strengthen. CBS hosts Centres of Excellence, funded by the Danish National Research Foundation, and continuously receives European Research Council Grants.
CBS is committed to communicating knowledge and new ideas to tomorrow’s business leaders and society in general. Its main contribution in this field is research and research-based education, and investment in research and high academic standards is therefore crucial to CBS’ contribution to society.
On 29 June 2020, the CBS Board approved the new strategy for CBS. The strategy creates a new framework and a strategic direction with a focus on creating positive change through collaboration with a wide range of external stakeholders. With transformation as the point of departure, the strategy must be the mindset to ensure the continued development of CBS. With strategic initiatives to optimise our core business, CBS can contribute to solving the grand challenges of the world in many years to come.
University of North Carolina, Singapore Management University, and Copenhagen Business School partner in the TRicontinental Exchange in Business and Leadership Education (TREBLE) Programme
From Left to Right: Associate Professor Roger Loh, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Programmes), SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business; Associate Professor Shimul Melwani, Associate Dean (Undergraduate Business Programme), UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School; Associate Professor Bersant Hobdari, B.Sc. IB Programme Director, Copenhagen Business School.
Photo Credit: SMU LKCSB
The United States, Singapore, and Denmark, 21 February 2024 (Wednesday) – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in the United States, Singapore Management University (SMU) in Singapore, and Copenhagen Business School (CBS) in Denmark are excited to announce a partnership to jointly offer undergraduates a unique 18-month, immersive exchange programme spanning three continents.
Named TRicontinental Exchange in Business and Leadership Education (TREBLE), this exchange programme will enable students to gain exposure to business environments and practices in the United States, Asia, and Europe. In addition to academic pursuits, students will hone their soft skills through immersive experiences in diverse geographic and cultural settings and will be able to grow their global network.
Every year, this trilateral and tricontinental programme will offer 15 undergraduates from each of the three institutions the opportunity to spend one-and-a-half years (i.e., three academic terms) rotating between three campuses. The 45 TREBLE students will build camaraderie as a cohort and take a set of specially curated courses at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB), and CBS. These courses will be thematically focused on leadership of people, organisations, and markets. TREBLE students will also have access to other courses offered by each host university.
UNC Kenan-Flagler Dean Mary Margaret Frank said, “UNC Kenan-Flagler seeks to develop inclusive leaders who are committed to making the world a better place. TREBLE provides a deeply immersive global experience by building a cross-cultural cohort from three top Business schools. Students will study, live, and travel together, creating a lifelong network with strong connections to SMU, CBS, and UNC Kenan-Flagler. We are proud to be part of this important collaboration to develop global leaders.”
SMU LKCSB Dean Bert De Reyck, said, “As Asia’s innovative and impactful gateway university, SMU takes great pride in providing our students with a holistic education that includes global exposure. True to this vision, LKCSB is proud to announce TREBLE with like-minded partners in Europe and the United States. The unique opportunity for SMU undergraduates to form a class with students from two renowned Business schools and to live and study abroad for two terms will provide them with not only first-hand inter-cultural leadership experiences and global business knowledge but also the opportunity to forge a deep network of peers around the world. This programme furthers LKCSB’s mission of nurturing global-minded future leaders of society.”
CBS Dean of Education Anna Thomasson, said, “CBS is committed to providing a global perspective to graduates building careers in business and management. To this end, TREBLE offers exciting opportunities to students to deepen their understanding whilst attending institutions in three different countries and continents. It does so by offering a unique and strong curriculum at the technical, intercultural, and managerial levels. The course offerings at each partner institution complement each other in providing insights to doing business across contexts and cultures, while developing students’ ability to think creatively and innovate globally.”
Students in the first TREBLE cohort will begin their exchange at UNC Kenan-Flagler in August 2025, followed by SMU in January 2026, and then at CBS in August 2026. Applications for the first intake are expected to begin in late 2024.
In addition to exemplary conduct and academic review, all applicants will undergo a stringent selection process at their respective home institutions. TREBLE students do not need to pay additional tuition fees to join the programme; however, they will be responsible for all personal expenses incurred during the programme, such as travel, accommodation, and living expenses.
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Media Contacts
UNC Kenan-Flagler
Allison Adams
Executive Director of Public Relations and Communications
Mobile: +1-919-962-7235
Email: aadams@unc.edu
SMU
Huang Peiling
Senior Assistant Director, Corporate Communications
Office of Corporate Communications & Marketing
Mobile: +65 9845-3361
Email: plhuang@smu.edu.sg
CBS
Martine Mengers
Sekretariat for Ledelse og Kommunikation
Executive Support and Communications
Mobile: +45 41852625
Email: mm.slk@cbs.dk