Professional Tours

Integral to its programming, GLI professional tours to prominent industries and influential government agencies are organized to give insight into operations and business practices. Tours are scheduled throughout the academic year.

Local professional tours include visits to the following sites, among others: Sempra Energy, San Diego Gas and Electric, Wells Fargo, San Diego Union-Tribune, Qualcomm, Solar Turbines, McMillin Real Estate, Sony, SAIC, San Diego local government and a variety of maquiladoras in Tijuana, Mexico.

Beyond San Diego

We have developed two optional professional tours each year. GLI Fellows can travel to the San Francisco Bay Area for a series of meetings and presentations in the Financial District and nearby Silicon Valley. A second tour is scheduled to Washington to meet with a variety of think tanks, governmental and financial institutions, and lobbying organizations. Free time is scheduled in the itinerary and can be used for individual sightseeing. A guided tour is also included.

San Francisco (Winter Quarter)

This tour enables GLI Professionals to interact with key industry leaders and local city government officials.  Past tours have featured visits to Silicon Valley companies such as Google, Intel, Cisco Systems, Yahoo! and Apple. San Francisco and Financial District segments of the itinerary comprise visits to companies such as Wells Fargo Trade Bank, U.S. Commercial Service, Levi Strauss & Co., the Federal Reserve Bank, San Francisco City Hall, The Asia Foundation and the Securities and Exchange Commission

Washington, D.C. (Spring Quarter)

During the Washington professional tour, GLI fellows participate in a variety of activities including site and cultural visits. Meetings often include the staff directors themselves for Congressional Committees, such as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Committee on International Relations in the U.S. House of Representatives. Visits also include the Congressional Research Service, U.S.-Asia Pacific Council, Samuels International Associates, U.S. Department of State, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Institute of International Economics.

Note: Optional professional tours are not included in the tuition and program tuition. The price of each professional tour includes air/ground travel, hotel accommodations (based on a double occupancy), some meals, meeting arrangements and a guided tour of the city.