MBA Programme Director, Andreja Cirman, PhD.: “MBA is a fruitful seed of a successful business and personal life”
MBA – Master of Business Administration graduate program is designed for those who already have relevant work experiences and want to upgrade their knowledge and skills that define a good leader. The program is held by a team of excellent home and foreign professors in collaboration with a number of experts from the business world. We talked about the program with Prof. Dr. Andreja Cirman, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of MBA program.
FELU MBA program is fully adapted to individual employees, its contents, lectures, organization, etc. What actually does this mean in practice?
Those who enter the program are the individuals who are primarily seeking broad, practice-oriented business knowledge and skills. They operate in a growing part of the business in which they as the key people need strong leadership skills. All have prior experience in middle or top management (this is also one of the requirements for the entry). It is also for the individuals, whom further education in such form may represent a springboard or ambition for a step forward in their careers.
An important part of the study presents the work on concrete business cases, situational learning, conflicts solving with various company stakeholders, both external as internal, etc. Students experience all this through a variety of roles, a lot of work is also in teams where they are forced to take decisions as in the real world, in their jobs and companies. The purpose and objectives of learning and acquiring knowledge is that this knowledge can be used the next day at work.
The individuals in the program are those people who are the key personnel in the company, so while designing the program we listened to the companies which do not want that these people have a lot of absences because of the study. Thus, an individual in the two years of study is away from his work only for 30 days because lectures are conducted on Fridays and Saturdays.
There is a lot of mutual communication, exchanging experiences, building on existing knowledge. In the class on the one hand the lecturer brings his knowledge and on the other hand each individual their business practices. With this mutual communication students expand their knowledge, systematize it and learn new tools which can be directly put into practice.
MBA program started back in the U.S. in Europe in the 60s. The program is provided with a great number of schools all over the world. Also in Slovenia the number of educational institutions that offer MBA program is not negligible. How is the FELU MBA different from those at home and abroad?
What makes MBA program different from other programs on the market is that MBA program is the so-called horizontal program. It is not a program where we go into each category in detail, in its depth. The purpose of MBA is to go horizontally across the business functions of the company. Its aim is to learn about all business functions, because only by knowing all business functions you can competently lead the company. When you’re running a company you lead all business functions and you participate with them very closely.
It is true that in Slovenia and worldwide there is a significant number of program providers. We have a serious and intense competition. The competencies held by the Faculty of Economics in this area are that we have excellent teaching, combined with a strong research activity. The distinguishing feature of the Faculty of Economics compared to other schools is that as in all school programs we strongly associate economics and business studies. Other providers of the program are mostly strictly business schools. We are business and economics school at the same time and this economic substance we strongly implement in the MBA program.
Are students involved in the research contents?
In part, yes, but we should be aware of the fact that MBA students are students who have a full job obligation, are the students who mostly also have families and that they are students who need focused, compact knowledge and our research achievements are mostly transmitted and discussed, as we know that researching is very time consuming.
What does the individuals actually acquire through the participation in such a program and what is the practical value of the individuals for a company in which they operate?
On the one hand the acquirement of basic skills will serve as a support for decision-making processes within the company. We try to equip candidates with the right tools and knowledge of key business and economic concepts that will allow them to take quality decisions and they will be able to look at the challenges of companies from different perspectives (finance, marketing, sales, organization and production processes). In this way the candidate has analytical approach to solve the problem and is better able to detect internal and external opportunities and threats.
On the other hand, an integral part of the acquiring skills is very important . In these turbulent times they have become or are becoming even more important as managing people requires increasing attention. In a dynamic and complex world, it is not possible to point out single knowledge or a skill. The most important is to provide our participants with the appropriate knowledge and skill that allows them to be capable of holistic perception of the business world from the point of view of different stakeholders.
After finishing the program students also become part of the largest and most influential Alumni Association in Slovenia, which this year is considered to have nineteen generations, including the most successful Slovenian businessmen, but since the program is international it is also an excellent opportunity for establishing business contacts in the future. The organization of the program is completely tailored to the individuals who do not want their studies to interfere with their job commitments. Thus, an individual has an average of twenty days off work every year which is a minimum comparing to other similar programs that are available in the region.
Great importance is given to the relationship between the faculty and the group. Studies are held in high-tech classrooms that encourage creative thinking. The students have an access to Central Economic Library with the extensive collection of domestic and foreign materials, databases, articles, etc. We keep in mind that the individual uses their time optimally and they do not need to care for such a small thing. This was the primary consideration with regard to the quality of the program, its comprehensive, quality services that empower individuals in addition to co-ordinating the study and a career in their free time, we offer all that makes process run smoothly (parking, food, library, contact of program manager…)
What would you emphasise as one of the most important pieces of knowledge and skills that an individual obtains?
On the one hand, the acquirement of basic knowledge that will serve as decision-making support in the company and on the other hand skills. The aim of interpenetration of both pieces of knowledge is to achieve company goals and keep employees motivated and satisfied. What separates the successful people from the unsuccessful ones is personal integrity and the ability to complete the assessment. Personal integrity is based on knowing ourselves. Overall assessment is based on knowledge of the entire key business analyst. On this, FELU MBA is based. At the end of the program the participants know more about themselves, they know a variety of business analysts and can more fully assess the situation. This is a fruitful seed of a successful business and personal life. This is the main contribution of the program.
With the current financial and economic crisis the reputation of managers in Slovenia declined significantly. Companies and individuals have more troubles getting funds to pay tuition fees. How do you deal with these trends and how do you see the development of the program in the future?
The economic situation is difficult. Companies are very carefully deciding how to spend their money, but we see only the opportunity in this. We have in terms of the relationship between price and quality far the best deal in Slovenia and in addition we give two accreditations, which in Slovenia nobody else has, not even in the wider regional area. Only competent managers will lead us from the crisis and not those who merely criticize management. Program at the Faculty of Economics takes place only two years in which we have a constant inflow. It is not easy to fill the class in this situation, but not only because of the severe financial situation of enterprises. We need to know that our target group consists of people who already are very busy, in addition to a demanding career most of them have family life and the decision to study MBA is for everyone a respected decision. It requires a lot of energy and we hope that we will have many such admirable individuals.
Špela Bandelj, EFnews
Proofreaded by Živa Furlan, EFnews
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