What's New in the Old MBA

Therefore, the usefulness of the syllabus is assessed also by its capability to react to trends, market needs and the current developments in companies that set the standards in their industry. World rankings award points for internationalizing MBA programmes, which is  in tune with a tendency to internationalize companies and globalize markets. Also, the possibility of using the business contacts between students and graduates is awarded. That is why every decent MBA programme has its own  alumni association with a database, which allows graduates to make use of acquaintances made during the course of the studies.

Graduates and students of the WEMBA programme, which has been run together with the Warsaw School of Economics and the University of Minnesota for 11 years now, have the opportunity of using contacts not only from around Poland but also from the USA, Austria and China, since in all these countries the University of Minnesota runs Executive MBA studies.

Founded in 1997, the association of WEMBA graduate students - the Warsaw MBA Association - is a branch of the association of the Carlson School of Management (the University of Minnesota business school) graduates with over a hundred thousand members. Thanks to regular meetings and events organized by WMBAA, WEMBA graduates can keep in touch and expand the circle of professional acquaintances, as well as maintain personal friendships starting at the time of the programme. As a result, participation in the programme is not limited to four  semesters of studying - it becomes an investment that pays off forever.  

The novelty of the MBA programme market in Poland is a residency session, organized for second year students of the WEMBA programme at the University of Minnesota. The session syllabus is not limited only to visiting companies, attending classes and social events but - and this is worth stressing - working together on a project by students from all four Executive MBA programmes run by U of M: from Poland, Austria, China and the USA. The meeting in Minnesota will take place in May, 2006. Students have already created virtual teams and have begun working on the project. Results will be presented during the session.

"By incorporating all that has been learned in their respective executive MBA courses, the Executive MBA virtual teams take this unique project to a new level that is truly global. Each team consists of students from four different countries, three continents and three time-zones (Austria, China, Poland, and the USA). Apart from providing students with the experience of working in global teams, we are confident that this project will challenge their creativity and foster long-term relationships across the four countries," says Professor Sri Zaheer from Carlson School of Management, EMBA Virtual Team Project Coordinator.

Also, the programme graduates are invited to take part in the session. Last year they performed the function of senior consultants. In order to facilitate effective work on the project in virtual teams, a special Internet system has been created.

"We were the first to introduce the orientation session for first year students, field projects and now the residency session on such a scale," says Dr. Grażyna Leśniak-Łebkowska, the Director of the Programme. And she adds, "We  hope that this new undertaking will prove a valuable experience for the students. It will let them test their skills while working with international team, come across the problems of cultural differences in real life and it will pay off with new, interesting contacts."

Adjusting the WEMBA programme syllabus to the needs of companies is done also by offering students courses to choose from. During the fourth and final semester of the programme, students choose three lectures from the list of several available subjects. This list is created partly on the basis of graduates' and students'  suggestions. Lecturers do their best to come up with 'hot topics', e.g. on this year's list of available courses one could find: Developing & Financing New, High-Growth, Businesses, Technology Management and Marketing, Venture Capital in Practice, Enterprising Entrepreneurship - From IDEA to IPO, Terrorism And Economic Aspects of Terrorism.

Biuro Programu WEMBA

Szkoła Główna Handlowa

ul. Rakowiecka 24, pok. 104, 

02-521 Warszawa.

biuro@wemba.edu.pl,

tel. +22 5649 770-773,

tel./fax +22 8495374