CEE Business Schools Compete for International MBAs

TopMBA.com looks at how Central and Eastern European (CEE) business schools are competing for international MBA students. 

Although relatively young, with around 20-years of operational experience at best, business schools in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are rapidly realizing the importance of attracting executive talent from abroad, in order to sustain the economic growth in the region that occurred over the last two decades.

Even though the reputation and fame ob business schools in the CEE region are far from the notoriety of their North American and West European competitors, the internationalization strategy employed is a work in progress that is already showing results.

Around 200 business schools operate in the region, of varying quality. The 2010 QS Global 200 Top Business Schools Report for Europe features five CEE business schools, out of which two are Greek institutions - ALBA Graduate Business School and Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB), two Hungarian ones - Corvinus School of Management and CEU Business School, and a Polish institution - the Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) Business School. Russian business school Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO is also featured.

“For many decades, CEE countries were not present on the international markets, or in the area of the management education, but now they are in the process of regaining their position in the global economy”, says Professor Witold Orłowski, director of WUT Business School.

The growing interest amongst international students towards MBA programs in this part of Europe is also explained by the competitive cost of studies in the region – a key factor in favor of CEE institutions at all levels.

“Today, as they join the global game, they benefit from a big competitive advantage. To make a long story short, the best MBA programs offered in the CEE countries are of as good a quality as in the well-established educational centers in Western Europe, while being significantly cheaper,” claims Orłowski.

Peter Moricz, managing director at Corvinus School of Management says that the tough economic situation experienced by the EU countries at the moment makes their MBA courses even more exciting.

“How to deal with rapid changes, or with culturally and politically embedded issues: it is easy to ‘touch’ these issues in the CEE region now. I don’t think that the region would become less attractive during the next years,” he says.

Obviously, as the business schools in CEE have, at best 20 years of operational experience, they still do not have a reputation comparable with well-established schools in Western Europe. This is the biggest disadvantage of MBA programs in the region.  Fortunately, the disadvantage that starts to disappear slowly,” considers Orłowski.

Another factor that could explain the increasing popularity of business schools in the region is that CEE countries house some of the hottest spots for MBA jobs in the world.

“Today, CEE [economies are] growing faster than many of the more advanced countries and could provide better career opportunities,” says Maria Findrik, professor of economics at CEU Business School.

Greece: MBA learning in the midst of financial crisis

“The region, and Greece in particular is packed with world class talent in the cutting edge of science and technology. Entrepreneurship is flourishing in a very dynamic way and with a genuinely global ambition, not only in the primary sector, but also in high-end technology, such as new materials and microelectronics,” explains Nikolaos Mylonopoulos, associate professor of information systems and associate dean at ALBA Graduate Business School.

There is no doubt that these days Greece captures the attention of the world in a very negative, even ‘depressing’ way, says Mylonopoulos. “This isn't helping at all. To international students with little familiarity with Greeks and Greece, the country is not a top-of-mind choice for an MBA [applicant]. However, students from the broader region (Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia) are in a better position to filter the images dominating the global media and to put things in a more realistic perspective”, explains the associate dean at ALBA.

ALBA, which holds 31st place in Europe in the QS Global 200 Top Business School Report rating, is attracting international students via two different channels. Besides direct applicants to the programs, the other channel relies on a wide range of corporate partnerships that the school builds and maintains in Greece and the region.

If you want to go global, the key word is ‘internationalization’. The international MBA at Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) attracts students from more than 20 countries. Approximately 50% of the full-time class consists of non-Greek students, while many of the Greek students have lived, worked and studied abroad. The school has been developing a tailored approach, including a flexible study system, a personal skills development program concentrating on each individual, one-to-one coaching in the career office and ‘company days’ with global corporate leaders.

“Periods of crisis are when conditions and foundations for future opportunities are created. By studying [in Greece], international students are given the unique opportunity to study about [an economic] crisis, within a crisis. In times of constant changes and global turning points, practical education on relevant issues is a necessity. MBA candidates are well aware of the need for mindset change, and for that reason they are interested in programs that can offer this,” says Professor Gregory Prastacos, rector at AUEB.

More than this, considering that much of the world, including CEE, is facing an employment crisis, the value of an MBA has increased, since companies have become more aware of the importance of finding employees who are flexible and can add immediate value to an organization.

“Employers tell us that this ‘readiness’ is one of the key characteristics that our graduates offer. In 2010, 95% of our graduates were employed within two months after graduation,” adds the rector of AUEB, which is placed 24th in Europe according to QS’ MBA rating.

Diversifying the program offer is another way to go, in order to compete in the big league of international schools.

“This year we have extensively revamped our MBA programs, and introduced a new executive MBA and two new Masters programs: The MSc in international business and management, and the MSc in international shipping and finance,” explains Mylonopoulos, from ALBA. “Through these moves we have been able to raise our quality standards in the middle of the crisis, while at the same time offering better-targeted programs to suit the profiles and preferences of increasingly differentiated audiences,” he adds.

Keeping the pace with the latest trends in the business world

Another strategy is to think small in terms of classes.

“We work with relatively small groups, instead of having 40-70 students in a group we decided to limit them to 25 on the executive MBA and 30 on the full-time MBA. We have around 50 new students annually, half of them are international… In the full-time MBA there are more students from the Middle-East and from North and South America,” says Peter Moricz, managing director at Corvinus School of Management, rated 50th in Europe by QS.

Keeping the pace with the latest trends in the business world is highly important if you want to maintain your place amongst the best schools in Europe.

“We are constantly developing our curriculum, enhancing topics like corporate sustainability, new approaches of leadership, managerial challenges of the information and communication technologies, communication and negotiation skills,” Moricz adds.

CEU Business School, founded in 1988 in Budapest, Hungary by a group of investors including Hungarian-American financier and businessman George Soros, is rated as the as the most popular business school in CEE with international and regional employers, holding 22nd position in the QS rating. This year, the institution moved up 17 positions in the European rating compared to the previous year.

Maria Findrik, professor of economics at CEU Business School, says that the school’s strengths are given by the fact that it focuses on globalization, innovation, entrepreneurship in a multicultural environment, combining academia with best practices, while offering great exchange opportunities, as well as MBA internships either during or after completion of studies.

“CEU Business School is an American business school, registered in the US, with an international faculty and student body, awarding American degrees in Budapest,” says Findrik.

International partnerships add demonstrated expertise to local curriculum
WUT in Poland was placed 23rd last year in Europe in the QS rating, moving up 12 positions compared to 2009. Professor Orłowski at WUT says the percentage of foreign students increased because of the high position of the school and also as a consequence of receiving the EFMD Programme Accreditation System (EPAS), in 2006.

“In the full-time program around half of the class are foreigners from all around the world,” explains Orłowski. WUT Business School has a partnership with three foreign institutions:  HEC Paris, London Business School and NHH - Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration.

“Without the continuous commitment of our foreign partners it would not be possible to create internationally recognizable MBA programs. Twenty years ago Poland, as other CEE countries, was totally lacking the modern management education. At the beginning, the partners helped us with shaping the curriculum, staffing the lecturers’ body, managing the process of delivery, assuring the overall quality of the programs”, says Orłowski.

For more information please sign up for our newsletter, or you can discuss this topic on our Facebook page.