The innovation about the program design is that a Learning Organisation which includes policy makers, top management, academic staff, students, and businessmen has been created. A learning organisation concentrates on developing a shared vision between all its members – in our case, this is the pursuit of excellence. It encourages the sharing of mental models whilst developing the individual skills of the members.
It also actively promotes team learning. A repository of knowledge will be created where existing knowledge is stored for access by all staff. New knowledge and practices will also be sought out and incorporated into this repository. Thus, the SEU MBA will have its own knowledge management system where all knowledge and innovation is transferred into the program structure. If team members change or leave, the knowledge remains, and the MBA culture pervades. In this way, the program keeps its identity and can “grow”. In this sense, it can be called organic. It is the fact that the SEU MBA has been designed as such a learning organisation that gives the SEU MBA its distinctive, unique identity.
A feature of the learning organisation will be an annual bootcamp of two days, which will take place before the start of the academic year. Attendance will be compulsory for all academics teaching on the course. The bootcamp will consolidate the vision of the SEU MBA and how they are all part of a unique team. Staff will share their courses; discover where and how they complement each other and introduce new ideas. They will also discuss feedback from students and any problems with teaching or assessing. Sharing of best practice will be mandatory. Each bootcamp will have a theme connected to the MBA and wherever possible experts will be invited to disseminate latest practices. These bootcamps will guarantee sustainability, freshness and flexibility to the program.
Our program structure and design fits the working practices of the modern world and is open to traditional as well as lifelong learning students. The structure of the program consists of core components, elective courses and a research project in the form of master thesis.
System Thinking is regarded as the fifth discipline in the learning organisation as it underpins the other four disciplines of shared vison, personal mastery, mental models and team building. It stresses relationships and encourages new ideas. The whole (the MBA) is greater than the sum of its parts. (courses, staff) All academic staff have attended a short course in Systems thinking, each course is explored to find instances of such thinking. Staff has debated how to encourage students to use system thinking in the assignments. As the program starts functioning, feedback form students will also be scrupulously examined, and any mistakes will be acknowledged and remedied.
The modern corporate world is global, interconnected and complex. To deal with the problems that arise, a new way of thinking is needed away from the deterministic, logical, analytic approach used (successfully) by science. The central core course is Systems Thinking, which encourages thinking about the wider issues of any problem and incorporates the ideas of feedback and continuous change. The course explores different ways of thinking and examines in detail “System Thinking” as an answer to the problems of today. Three major System tools (Soft Systems methodology, System Dynamics and Viable Systems) are introduced.The course of Making Decisions complements the course of systems thinking helping students understand and overcome psychological as well as cultural obstacles in making decisions. It explores the biases and noise and shows the ways of how to overcome them. These two courses prepare a student’s mind set for right thinking and good decision-making.
Advances in technology and operational practice are making great demands on a company’s ability to survive. The message of the course of Organizational Development is that the culture of a company is heavily dependent on the way it is structured i.e. organisational design is a major contribution to its operational efficiency. Treating a company as an interconnected system is promoted as a useful way of managing organization based on this new approach. The collection, storage and interpretation of knowledge is crucial to the operational excellence of a company or corporation. There is therefore a need for a course on Knowledge Management which explores these issues. There is currently a move to embed the knowledge into the institution itself - called the learning organisation. This safeguards the company against the power of individual workers who could control key areas of knowledge and also promotes a culture where the institution promotes and provides the opportunities for teamwork as well as encouraging personal mastery. It also aims at common mental models and a shared company vision.
We understand that our students might not have a background in business or economics based on their bachelor, so the course of Managerial Economics is a specially designed course that provides students with the appropriate economical necessary to complete the MBA. This course provides analytic tools that are needed to analyze the data. The course also includes applied economic theory and practice for managers and aspects of international trade and its regulations. The course integrates with the course on Research methodology. This course covers two directions, academic research (which prepares students for writing their master thesis) and applied research which enables students to investigate problems to be solved in the context of a company.
The program uses latest technologies in process of teaching but it is not enough. Businesses are still run by humans, not robots and thus a new way of thinking is needed which can see the big picture, is creative and flexible and involves feedback and growth. Core courses in the first year of the study include Organizational Development and Operational Excellence, which cover the latest business practices from all over the world. Our program regards change as inevitable, it does not try to eliminate but it looks at ways of dealing with it, so all core courses cover the aspects of managing and implementing change.While organizational development analyses the structure that drives the behaviour, the operational excellence proposes well-established directions towards excellence that have been proven successful with leading companies. The course sets performance measures and indicators so that the transformation towards change is well understood and measured and done while engaging the people in the given organization, as the change starts from the change of a mindset.
Courses of Knowledge Management and Leadership and Strategy enable students to grasp the framework of organizational memory and establishing learning organizations and incorporating the principles into business strategy supported by the necessary degree and involvement of leadership. Green Agenda is a significant part of the core courses that teaches students how to assess the company footprint and adjusting operations to grasp frontiers and alternatives of investing in green economy.
As the course of Research Methodology teaches students how to conduct both academic as well as applied research for existing company problem, the course on Consulting and Delivering Projects is a uniquely structured course that allows students to learn from practice by being a part of an actual business project. This course is a continuation of the research methodology course which connects students to real business projects and provides necessary mentorship as they play assigned roles in the projects. Content, teaching methodology and assessment is co-coordinated by research specialist responsible for the quality of the applied research delivered and a specialist of project management responsible of students’ behaviour during planning and implementing the projects assigned. This creates a solid experience for the final stage of the MBA, a business-related research project, a Master Thesis, which is a significant part of the curriculum. This component explores the process and steps of planning and conducting research and uses modern software for analysis of the findings. An ideal thesis is one that is agreed between the student, the university and a business. We believe that the course of Consulting and Delivering Projects is an excellent preparation for high quality Master Thesis that can be applied to real business problem. The students will work independently under a supervision of an academic mentor and a consultant from the business to deliver the analysis, solution and recommendation to the problem posed.
Most MBA programs have no trouble landing quality posts. Three months after graduating, more than 80% of MBAs usually find a position. Surveys show that in 2021, as with previous years, employment prospects for MBA graduates all over the world will continue this upward trend. Surveys also show that, with regard to job market prospects by industry, job level and job function, a graduate business degree unlocks employment opportunities in all industries, job functions, job levels, organizational sizes, and work locations. Prior to designing MBA program an additional study of local Georgian labour market regarding managerial positions conducted by program coordinator confirms the similarity of local trends and is incorporated into the program. Two studies were conducted at Georgian labor market where selected 17 managerial positions were explored based on the vacancy post and job descriptions provided by the companies. Forty companies participated in the study, both local as well as international representing different industries in Georgian market. After the detailed interviews with company representatives, the list of the necessary skills was identified in the direction of decision-making, involvement in operations, understanding the strategy, effective communication as a means to fit into company and relate to outside of the company. This list was used as one of the source of data to design the MBA program.
The MBA is a career accelerator. It will be invaluable for those who wish to embark on their own career paths, mainly due to the skills it imparts to its students – systems thinking, strategic planning, global thinking, leadership, excellence and people management.
PROGRAM PARTNERS
➢ University of Turiba in Latvia
➢ University of Latvia
➢ Riseba University in Latvia
➢ Lazarsky University in Poland
➢ University of Gdansk in Poland
➢ State University of Applied Sciences Kalizs in Poland
➢ University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw in Poland
➢ Polytechnic Institute of Bragança in Portugal
➢ Tor Vergata University of Rome in Italy
➢ Yeditepe University in Turkey
➢ BBW Hochschule Berlin in Germany
➢ Zwickau University of applied sciences I Germany
➢ IFIM Business School in India
➢ EU Business School in Switzerland
➢ Bucharest University of Economic Studies in Romania
➢ Klaipėda University in Lithuania
➢ College of CANYONS in USA
Master's program of business administration
Master’s Studies
Business Administration
Master of Business Administration
Georgian
2 years / 4 academic semesters
120 ECTS
Accredited
Prof. Teona Maisuradze
Prof. Alfredo Moscardini
3300₾
