Starting next year, students at California State University, Stanislaus may have an opportunity to participate in the school’s first graduate degree program offered abroad.

University officials are developing a joint master’s program in international finance that would require one semester of study at CSU Stanislaus and one semester at the Université de Cergy-Pointoise in France.

According to the university, the program is designed to give students practical experience in a global business environment and would have an equal number of students from CSU Stanislaus and Cergy-Pointoise trading places with one another.

“The whole question of finance, of economics and of business is no longer local. You have to know something about global finance to be a business leader,” said Linda Bunney-Sarhad, global affairs director for CSU Stanislaus.

“This program will give the students not just theoretical and practical experience ... (but knowledge of) the business culture and practices, not just in France, but in the European Union.”

According to Bunney-Sarhad, initial talks with the French university started on an informal basis about nine months ago and school officials hope to have the program up and running next year. Currently, the program’s accreditation process is under way.

Representatives from CSU Stanislaus first visited the French university in January and last month, officials from Cergy-Pointoise visited Turlock and signed an agreement to develop the academic exchange.

The plan’s inception, however, began several years ago, and Bunney-Sarhad credited a former faculty member - Bill Crist - as instrumental in its development.

Crist, a recently retired CSU Stanislaus economics professor and former board chairman of the California Public Employees Retirement System, said Tuesday that while lecturing abroad, he began talking to faculty at Cergy-Pointoise about the possibility of a joint program.

And, he continued, once educators at Cergy-Pointoise said they were interested, he took the ideas back to CSU Stanislaus administrators.

With the global economy, international experience in the field of finance is a good opportunity for students, he said Tuesday. Ultimately though, he added, he would like to see the program expand to a worldwide exchange.

The president and international vice president of Cergy-Pointoise are expected to visit CSU Stanislaus next month to complete specific program agreements. Officials hope to have the program ready by the fall 2004 semester.