"Executive Education in Transition and Dynamically Changing Economies:
Key Issues and Possible Synergies"

27-29 June 2007, Tallinn, Estonia

The first CEEMAN Workshop on “Executive Education in Transition and Dynamically Changing Economies: Key Issues and Possible Synergies”, hosted by the Estonian Business School on 27-29 June 2007 in Tallinn, Estonia, came as a natural consequence of a continuously growing importance of the executive education segment in the overall activity portfolio of CEEMAN member schools, and CEEMAN’s policy to enable and facilitate exchange of views and ideas and support joint activities and synergy making in the areas of joint interests and priorities.

The Workshop gathered together 32 participants from 25 business schools, organizations and associations from 18 countries (Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Pakistan, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, UK, and Ukraine). They represented a well balanced group of CEEMAN members already involved or interested in executive education, and those non-members that are interested in offering executive education programs or in building new partnerships and alliances.

The event was formatted as a unique mix of presentations, moderated discussion, networking, and break-outs, including those organized in a World Café setting, to share information, case examples, and best practices. Introductory presentations addressed key issues and main challenges related to executive education in CEE, while also exposing experiences and lessons learned from the world best practices. The voice from the corporate world focused on the changing executive competences, learning sources and corporate practices in executive education.

In such a diverse but very productive and innovative environment, the Workshop identified a number of critical issues and challenges, as well as opportunities for the further advancement of executive education. It also suggested new avenues and modalities for mutual cooperation and synergy among business schools, as well as between management development institutions and their corporate partners. Last but not least, it also provided CEEMAN with fresh ideas on how to further integrate executive education component into the association’s overall activity portfolio aimed at the improvement of the quality of management development.

While evaluating the event very high, the Workshop participants not only supported the idea of having the executive education issues regularly and more intensively present on CEEMAN agenda, but also expressed their willingness and readiness to get actively involved in the follow-up activities.

More at:  http://www.ceeman.org/?nSel=events&nSub=semworks&eID=19 .

Milenko Gudic is Director of the International Management Teachers Academy (IMTA) at CEEMAN.

Read his contribution to the Exec-Ed Zone blog.