It goes without saying that business schools have strong ties to the private sector. At institutions like the University of New York in Prague (UNYP) we not only work with top Czech and international companies to recruit MBA program applicants, but many executives from these companies also give lectures for our courses; or their companies are involved in case study and research projects.
These relationships have also come to inform our planning of new course programs and the degree specializations we offer at UNYP. For example, due to the increasing demand for strong managerial talent in ICT companies throughout the region (AVG Technologies, Certicon, Unicorn, etc.), we have added a degree programs in IT management to our MBA course offering. Similarly, based on the statistics of careers that our alumni pursue along with information from recent economic reports (85% of new jobs in the EU over the past 8 years were created by SMEs), UNYP has also launched a new MBA program in entrepreneurship that will begin this year.
The premise of this new program is to support young entrepreneurs with viable product and service ideas. Our courses focus on teaching student-entrepreneurs the basics of business start-up, ranging from how to solicit and acquire capital and secure investors to dissecting and learning from the examples of successful entrepreneurs around the globe (i.e. the Richard Bransons of the world).
Indeed, in all of our MBA program models, case studies or a teaching-by-example approach are critical to how our students learn. Given that a large number of students come from a professional background, i.e. they already have previous work experience and are pursuing MBA degrees in order to boost their expert value for their employers, our in class work program focuses on addressing problems that students have or will encounter on the job.
Likewise, our case study and mentoring activities within MBA programs center around providing added value for both sides involved. Not only does the student learn how to solve or find a solution for a current business issue, but corporate partners are also engaged so that activities also benefit their companies. In many cases UNYP takes advantage of its vast network of business partners to arrange case study work for its students. This means that course work for MBA students goes beyond theoretical instruction to address real-life business concerns where theory is actually applied. Some examples of such cooperation include producing new marketing strategies for clothing manufacturers, developing new ERP systems for logistics companies, etc.
