SSU partners with French business school

The Bordeaux School of Management in France will now hold the U.S. portion of its international wine MBA at Sonoma State University, replacing its current partnership with the University of California at Davis.

Two dozen French graduate students will spend two weeks in Sonoma County starting next January. The program will include course work and visits to wine operations throughout the North Coast.

The partnership will bring international recognition to SSU’s Wine Business Institute, said director Ray Johnson.

“This really helps to bring a spotlight to what we’re doing,” he said.

While the SSU Wine Business Institute has been in operation for 15 years, its MBA program — the only one in the United States and one of only a few around the world — opened just three years ago.

The SSU Wine Business Institute has 120 undergraduate students and two dozen MBA students, plus hundreds who take half-day professional development courses throughout the year.