An article published in The Wall Street Journal reports that Wharton is planning to add short global courses to be conducted overseas in countries such as China, India, England, Brazil, South Africa, and Israel.

The course content will match the country in which it is taught, so that for example, the course in Israel will focus on technology and the course in Brazil will focus on sustainability.

As part of this global orientation, which is intended to prepare students for an increasingly global economic environment that shifts quickly, Wharton will also offer new concentrations in global finance and global management. Additional planned changes include a special focus on writing skills and leadership, a wider assortment of courses in microeconomics and statistics, and free refresher courses for Wharton graduates (starting from the Class of 2010) which will include a week of free courses for managers every seven years.

These changes come after interviews conducted at Wharton with about 4,000 managers, graduates, teaching faculty, and students. One of the interesting findings that arose from these interviews is that about 25% of the school’s alumni are employed in international positions, as opposed to 10% a decade ago. As a result, the school seeks to implement changes in the curriculum that will instill in students a more international orientation.