CONTACT:
Kathy Fredrickson, 920-424-3270
OSHKOSH – Representatives from universities in Germany and India and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh will sign an agreement Aug. 29 to begin a one-of-a-kind global master of business administration program.
Designed for working professionals, the intensive, 15-month Global MBA program will begin in June 2006 with a cohort of 10 students from each campus.
Sixty percent of the coursework for the 33-credit program will be done online. The rest will be delivered on-site, requiring students to travel to each country.
Representatives of the UW-Oshkosh College of Business Administration (COBA) will sign the accord with representatives from the University of Applied Sciences, Darmstadt, Germany, and the T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal, India, in a ceremony beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Reeve Memorial Union, 748 Algoma Blvd.
Linda Bartelt, former Kimberly-Clark Corp. executive and new director of the UW-Oshkosh Center for Community Partnerships (CCP), will deliver a keynote stressing the importance of global management education and experience. A reception will follow.
“Organizations must cultivate a global mindset so they can leverage skills and resources from across the globe to create and spread wealth to improve the quality of life for all,” said UW-Oshkosh business professor B.S. Sridhar, an organizer of Global MBA. “This is a joint effort of reputed institutions in three economic powers that will impart knowledge, skills and abilities to managers who aspire to effectively lead their organizations into the 21st century.”
Other organizers from UW-Oshkosh are business faculty members Don Gudmundson, Don Simons and Birgit Leisen-Pollack. Along with a college globalization panel, they have been working on the project for nearly two years. The work included a market survey to make sure the program reflected the human resource and business development goals of area companies.
The three Global MBA partners are in countries noted for their economic and political importance to the global economy.
Germany is a major industrial powerhouse in Europe, with one of the strongest developed economies of the world noted for its efficient technology and heavy engineering capabilities. The University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt is accredited by the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation. Representing the Darmstadt campus at the Aug. 29 event will be Dean of Business Michael Rebstock and professor Ralf Schellhase.
India is the world’s second fastest growing economy and a hub of technical expertise that presents new opportunities for business. T.A. Pai Management Institute is one of the top 15 business schools in India and one of Asia’s top-rated business schools. It has been accredited by the National Board of Accreditation and the National Assessment and Accreditation Council in India. On Aug. 29, it will be represented by Director D. Nagabrahmam and Professor S. Balasubramanian.
The UW-Oshkosh COBA, with more than 12,000 alumni and 1,700 current students, is accredited by AACSB International, the premier business school accrediting body. The college has offered bachelor’s degrees in finance since 1967 and master’s degrees since 1970. For more information, visit www.uwosh.edu/coba.
For more information on the program or to apply, call Gudmundson, the MBA program director, at (920) 424-7401.
