Holistic approach to business management education

The Pan-European Executive MBA is a truly international, innovative programme designed for today’s managers and business professionals who need to improve their skills and knowledge for professional, career and personal development.

The Executive MBA programme’s holistic approach to education provides a broad understanding of business and management concepts with a strong focus on business strategy formulation and execution. More specifically the above goal is achieved a) through the course structure and content that includes 14 modules and a dissertation or business project and b) through a skills development programme that is designed exclusively to meet the needs of today’s manager acting in a globalised environment, thus providing students with the necessary soft skills as well as valuable international networking opportunities. The programme includes the following:

The MBA programme focuses particularly on developing the leadership skills as well as the people management skills of the students. This is achieved through:

• The Leadership Project which includes a) a number of units included in the first and second year of the programme that cover the necessary concepts and cutting edge knowledge on Leadership and People management so providing students with opportunities to apply these concepts and tools on their job. Students will explore the topics of motivation, team building for managerial success, performance management, interpersonal and communication skills, etc; b) participation in an International Workshop on Leadership and HRM Issues in the 2nd year of studies.

• Coaching for Personal and Career Development. Each Executive MBA student will have a personal coach with whom he or she will have a number of personal meetings to assess their current personality type (includes taking the relevant test - instruments); set type development goals to be achieved by the student; and reflect on goals achieved. A clear understanding of the basics of personality type and type development will help managers gain greater understanding of themselves and others alike, and the impact their type has on their daily interactions both in work-related and personal issues.

• Negotiations Skills. All EMBA students will participate in a Negotiations Skills seminar during their study trip in the UK at the end of the first year. The seminar is delivered by a world-class management training organization.

• Business Communication Skills. Seminars on business communication (written and oral), on making effective presentations and on speaking to the media are among activities aimed at increasing communication effectiveness.

The Executive MBA programme balances between theory and practice and involves the study of real-world situations and cases in order to allow students to enhance their analytical and decision-making skills. Among other activities and tools used during the programme are:

• Meet the CEO. Top executives from leading companies meet with MBA students during MBA weekends or during the year to discuss developments in particular industries, markets, and economies. These meetings help students comprehend the complex problems of globalised markets and economies.

• Consultancy Projects. As part of a particular module of the programme, a CEO or Top Director of a company presents to the students his/her company and a current, complex problem that the company is facing. Students work in groups as consultants during the 3-day weekend and, after analyzing the company and its problem, they propose and present the solution to the company. Students also work on similar projects as part of the coursework of other units, such as Information Management, etc. 

• Workshops, Group Projects, and Practical Applications. Students work in groups in a number of units; for example, they create a business plan for a start-up company that they all decide to develop. Also, students work in groups to test ideas for new start-ups in the developing areas of social entrepreneurship etc. Some modules are delivered as regular workshops so that students can apply all the tools learned in the unit and take this knowledge and experience back to work on Monday morning.

• Company Visits - Factory Tours. As part of particular units, a number of company and factory tours are organized for the students.

The Executive MBA programme is a truly international MBA programme and unique in its kind. This is achieved through:

• International Study Trips: Three (3) study trips, one in York (UK) in the first year, one in Strasbourg (France), and one in Thessaloniki (Greece) in the second year, are attended by all students and provide a rich educational experience.

• The team of international lecturers teaching in the MBA programme. More than 50 lecturers coming from more than 10 countries and universities bring in their wealth of academic specialization as well as their consultancy and managerial experience.

• International Student Body. Our latest cohorts consist of students from more than 20 nationalities and cover the whole region of South East, East Europe and the Middle East.

• Opportunity and Flexibility to Attend Classes in a Different Country. Students of the MBA programme can attend classes in any of the other cities, other than the one they have been registered in, thus contributing to increased learning experience and benefiting from the value of meeting other executives.

Networking opportunities are of real value to the students of the MBA programme. The University provides students with a number of networking opportunities, such as:

• Networking events: meeting of the current students with the alumni during free seminars or presentations

• Alumni roundtables: Country Alumni Chapter Roundtables

• The Online Alumni Network: cityalumni.org

• Social events and gatherings at local, country or international level

• the 3 international study trips and the opportunity to attend units in any of the other cities/countries