Therefore, the need for cross-cultural collaboration with different countries emerged. One thing to encourage further is management studies, which can develop new capabilities through the Summer Courses Program.

Head of International Relations Office SBM ITB, Ira Fachira, Ph.D., said the Summer Courses Program is an annual program carried out simultaneously throughout ITB. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer Courses Program was replaced with International Virtual Courses (IVC).

This IVC program in SBM introduces the business situation in Asia, especially in Indonesia. It provides opportunities for students who want to do short-term studies on business and management.

The 2023 SBM ITB IVC program carries the theme "Understanding Contemporary Business in Asia: Issues and Challenges in Sustainability." The IVC was held on August 7–20, 2023, with the aim of understanding social entrepreneurship, cross-cultural communication, as well as business, economic, and management challenges in Asia.

The Chairman of the SBM ITB IVC Committee, R. Bayuningrat H., MBA., said that the IVC participants were students from domestic and foreign universities.

The foreign universities are CamEd Business School (Cambodia), National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (Taiwan), Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Mexico), and Putra Business School (Malaysia). The participating students came from several countries, such as Rwanda, Yemen, Afghanistan, Burundi, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Tanzania, Mexico, and Cambodia.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian participants came from Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Islam Indonesia, Universitas Katolik Parahyangan, and Universitas Brawijaya.

In line with the theme of understanding business in Asia related to sustainability issues and challenges, several topics were presented on the first day. Among them are employability skills or supporting skills needed to work after COVID-19, presented by the Executive Vice President, Global Chief Membership Officer & Managing Director of Asia Pacific AACSB International, Dr. Geoff Perry. There is also a discussion on Corporate Diplomacy and Communication Crisis in Digital by Dr. N. Nurlaela Arief. The topics of the following days are related to Sustainable Economics, Community Resilience and Sustainability by Melia Famiola Ph.D., Dr. Bambang Rudito, Yudo Anggoro, Ph.D. as well as other SBM ITB lecturers.

"The hope is that by participating in IVC SBM ITB 2023, both foreign and Indonesian students will collaborate for social innovation and community empowerment," Bayu concluded.

Translator: Ayesha Lativa Mafaza

Editor: Anggi Nurdiani (Manajemen, 2021)