BY SHERRY WANG
Writing this post from my hometown Starbucks feels completely surreal. Just last week I was traveling in Taipei, Taiwan. A few days ago I attended my first Travel Study real-time online class. Yesterday, I was in downtown LA attending a business leadership conference.
The length and structure of the Travel Study International Business Law and Taxation program (2 weeks at UCLA/online and 3 weeks abroad) truly allows you to create the summer you want. In addition to the flexibility, the program is taught by an amazing professor and consists of an engaging curriculum.
PROFESSOR
Adjunct Professor of Accounting, Associate Dean of the Fully Employed MBA program. “A native Cuban, Freixes and his parents immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1960s as refugees of the communist regime in that country…”
CLASSES
(1) Management 109: International Business Law
(2) Management 127C: International Taxation
(3) Optional research
Directly from the UCLA Accounting Minor Program courses page:
Management 127C:Â International Taxation (4 units) Only offered through the Travel Study Program
Recommended requisite: course 127A. Study of two principle areas of international taxation from U.S. regulatory perspective: taxation of American citizens and companies conducting business in international arena (outbound transactions) and taxation of foreign nationals and companies who invest or conduct business in the U.S. (inbound transactions). Â
Management 109:Â Â International Business Law (4) Only offered through the Travel Study Program
Recommended requisite: course 108. Study of international business legal environment, including general overview of international laws and organizations and comprehensive review of U.S. regulations of international business transactions. Special emphasis on international litigation, commercial transactions, regulation of investments, multinational corporations, and international banking.
RECOMMENDED REQUISITES
While it is recommended for students to have taken Management 127A and 108 before participating in the program, it is not required. Professor Frexies provides an overview to U.S. individual taxation and U.S. corporate taxation in the first Management 127C lecture. He breaks down the basics in a simple yet comprehensive manner—it requires no previous knowledge to understand.
CLASS MATERIAL
Professor Freixes provides PowerPoints and note outlines on UCLA’s CCLE website. You truly have everything you need to succeed in the course provided you study before and during the program. Professor Freixes highly, HIGHLY recommends reading the textbooks ahead of time. After all, who wants their nose buried in books and head swimming with tax codes when they could be exploring the sprawl of Paris?
EXAMS
There are midterms and finals for both classes. The exams are take-home AND open-note (just not open-friends). The first midterm will be distributed on the first day of class in Paris, two weeks after the first official class at UCLA… so we will see how that goes. I will be sure to reflect on the pace of the course and how to best manage your time abroad following the program.
CURRICULUM
As for the curriculum, it is complimented by day trips and walking tours in Paris, Normandy, and Strasbourg. Not only will you be learning international business law and taxation, you will be learning about French culture, history, and its ties to Europe’s own development. There will be trips to places like chateaus, the Catacombs, and museums (less related to the course, but there is still much to learn) and the European Parliament (more related to the course). So in addition to learning about international organizations, you will have a chance to see them in person!
The integration of classes, culture, and site visits will be an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience…so, take the leap and study abroad with UCLA Summer Travel Study!
Until next time,
Sherry
Sherry Wang studied abroad in Paris and Strasbourg, France, in summer 2017:Â https://ieo.ucla.edu/travelstudy/intlbuslaw/Â
