What began as a virtual exchange built on Southern Connecticut State University’s commitment to international collaboration took a meaningful step forward this spring, as three School of Business students traveled to Soest, Germany, for a hands-on consulting experience through the university’s COIL Plus initiative.
COIL Plus—short for Collaborative Online International Learning—is an expanded version of Southern’s existing COIL partnerships, including its work with Liverpool John Moores University. In this latest project, Southern students collaborated with peers from the University of Applied Sciences South Westphalia to address real business challenges for ALSO Deutschland GmbH, an international technology provider.
Tom Gilbertie, one of the students selected for the program, said the opportunity was “once-in-a-lifetime.”
“To be able to travel abroad, all travel expenses covered, get credits for my major, and present to an international company like ALSO — that is something you cannot pass up,” Gilbertie said. “Plus, if Southern has taught me anything, you need to take advantage of every opportunity given to you.”
His team was tasked with exploring how emerging technologies—particularly artificial intelligence—could be used by ALSO Holdings to expand its offerings. Working closely with German peers across multiple time zones, the team relied on WhatsApp and Zoom to communicate and collaborate.
“Navigating several time zones and cultures was one of the most difficult real-world issues we encountered,” Gilbertie explained. “These distinctions included a variety of holidays, schedules, and everyday activities. We overcame these challenges through regular communication and a mutual understanding that accounted for everyone’s availability and demands.”
For Gilbertie, the experience sharpened key professional skills.
“I was already familiar with presenting to Southern students, but working with an international business audience and interacting with people from all cultural backgrounds was a whole new experience,” he said. “This project taught me how to communicate effectively in culturally different settings and gave me experience using Canva to create polished presentations.”
According to Dean Jess Boronico, that hands-on global immersion is exactly what COIL Plus was designed to offer.
“We took an existing best practice and advanced it,” Boronico said. “COIL Plus is beyond virtual—it involves real work with real companies. It’s like study abroad meets consulting meets social impact.”
“What we do that’s different is that we work with the partner school to identify a real company with real challenges. Students spend the semester analyzing those problems together. Then, we send our students abroad to present their recommendations in person. They’re not just studying business—they’re doing business.”
The collaboration culminated in formal presentations to company leadership at ALSO’s Soest office. The work left a strong impression on the company’s executive team.
“I was thrilled to be part of the ALSO team that mentored the students on their consultancy project,” said Daniel Alonso, chief customer officer at ALSO International Services. “The solutions they developed were genuinely inspiring and valuable to our company. We’re eager to support similar initiatives in the future—programs that create meaningful benefits for both the university and our organization.”
Atul Kulkarni, associate professor of marketing, who served as faculty mentor on the trip, praised the students’ professionalism and the strong partnership formed during the project.
“This was a wonderful opportunity and a great experience for our students to collaborate with students from the German institute and jointly offer consulting solutions to ALSO at their Soest office,” Kulkarni said. “The company representatives were impressed with the work. They’ve since reached out to explore future collaborations with the School of Business and even professional opportunities for our students.”
Reflecting on the project as a whole, Gilbertie said the trip helped him reframe how he views international business.
“The experience reminded me how little divides people, regardless of culture,” he said. “All people want a product that is affordable and good at what it does, and that was something I made a theme of when presenting to ALSO Holdings.”
