UD partners with University of Sarajevo on new MBA program

11:04 a.m., June 8, 2004--Believing that education remains one of America’s best export products, the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics has entered into a partnership with the University of Sarajevo to establish a new graduate business school in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The partnership is supported by a four-year, $10 million U.S. Agency for International Development contract awarded to UD after a highly competitive selection process. It is the third largest award to the University over the last five years and follows an earlier $11.6 million USAID grant to the Center for International Studies for economic development projects in the Balkans.

The new graduate business school, which will be operated as a joint venture between the two universities, will offer a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program beginning this fall with instruction provided by a core of 10-12 members of the Lerner College faculty, with support from economics faculty at the University of Sarajevo and other faculty from the region.

“This is a demonstration of the high regard in which the University of Delaware is held in the area of international teaching and learning,” UD President David P. Roselle said of the award and the new partnership. “It is only fitting that the institution that originated the Junior Year Abroad program and is recognized as a leader in study abroad opportunities for our students should share its teaching and research expertise to assist the emerging economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

“The establishment of the Sarajevo Graduate School of Business will enable Bosnia and Herzegovina to provide top quality and internationally recognized education for young managers,” Boris Tihi, rector of the University of Sarajevo, said. “It is extremely important for our future and our transition to the system of market economy. A small and economically undeveloped country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina may rely exclusively on the quality of its human resources and the main precondition for this is education of high quality.

“The University of Sarajevo is proud of the fact that the University of Delaware's Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics has chosen us for a partner,” Tihi said. “We see this as a historical opportunity for the young people of Bosnia and Herzegovina to gain top quality management education in their own country and to contribute to its development.”

“The opportunity to develop the MBA program in Sarajevo is important to the Lerner College because it will challenge us to continue refining our program to meet the educational needs of a very dynamic economic and social environment,” Michael Ginzberg, dean of the college, said. “It will lead our faculty to think more about what we teach and how we teach it, and this will have an impact not only on what we do in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also what we teach and how we teach in Newark.”

Ginzberg said another important aspect of the partnership is that “it will bring our students in contact with very bright students from a very different environment. Understanding the perspective of environments like this is going to be critical to our graduates’ future success in the international marketplace.”

UD was awarded the contract for several reasons, including its demonstrated experience in the Balkans region, its highly regarded accomplishments in technology and its strong faculty. Since 1991, UD has provided professional training in accounting, business planning and financial management in Bulgaria and, later, in Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Boris Tihi (left), rector of the University of Sarajevo, greets Michael Ginzberg, dean of UD’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics.

“I believe we were selected for this project by USAID because we have a longstanding, well-respected, accredited MBA program,” Ginzberg said. “We have a great deal of success and experience in teaching working professionals in our MBA program, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary, and in working with the businesses and organizations that employ those professionals. Furthermore, Lerner College faculty members have a long history of experience working in Central and Eastern Europe and providing successful programs in this region.”

In fiscal year 2001, the most recent year for which figures are available, UD was ranked in the top five nationally in USAID grants, along with Johns Hopkins and Georgetown universities and the universities of North Carolina and Michigan.

“Over the past 12 years, the University of Delaware has partnered with USAID in promoting international education and economic development programs in the region, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia,” UD Vice Provost Bobby Gempesaw said.

“This latest award to develop a much-needed graduate business program in Sarajevo will continue our partnership with USAID and provide opportunities for our faculty and students to interact with faculty and students from Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.

The new program will build upon UD’s prior international work in Eastern Europe with USAID and the Department of State, Gempesaw said.

UD also is an active participant in the push nationally for assessment of what students actually learn in the classroom, Gempesaw said. This institutional initiative and accountability played a part in UD’s selection by USAID.

“I am very pleased that UD’s reputation continues to grow in securing international contracts and grants, and this latest award reinforces the integral role of international education in the University’s mission,” UD Provost Dan Rich said.

The new MBA program also builds on the Lerner College’s European expertise developed by John Kmetz, faculty director for international programs, who said he believes strongly in the need to better understand other cultures in a global economy.

Courses at the Sarajevo Graduate School of Business will be offered through UD’s Division of Professional and Continuing Studies, making use of the latest in educational technologies, including Web CT and chat rooms.

Sarajevo by night

As part of the program, faculty from University of Sarajevo also will visit UD’s Newark campus beginning this fall.

Students accepted into the program will be enrolled as regular UD graduate students and those completing the program are expected to earn both a University of Delaware MBA degree and a graduate degree in business from the University of Sarajevo.

Students will be accepted in the program from Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Balkan countries.

It is anticipated that the Sarajevo Graduate School of Business will eventually seek accreditation from both the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business and the European Foundation for Management Development’s European Quality Improvement System program.

Ginzberg said it is his hope that the MBA program will be the first of several new initiatives UD will pursue with the University of Sarajevo and other regional institutions of higher education.

Such work is vital, he said, because the region is lacking in managers trained to be productive in emerging capitalist economies. “There is no tradition of Western management techniques in the Balkans,” he explained. “We will be helping build an infrastructure that will support a market-driven economy.”

Ginzberg, Kmetz and UD’s Center for International Studies Director Lesa Griffiths led the award proposal team that included support from the Office of the Vice Provost for Academic and International Programs, the Division of Professional and Continuing Studies and FLAG International, a private firm that works in countries with developing economies.

Article by Neil Thomas

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