Graduate Business Education Project for Bosnia and Herzegovina

By John L. Kmetz and Sean Michael Cox

In February 2004, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) entered into a four-year contract with the University of Delaware (UD) to establish a double-degree English-language MBA program in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) with a local partner university. The contract was a result of collaboration between UD’s Lerner College of Business and Economics and the Center for International Studies (CFIS), who jointly applied for the USAID project. In the year since the awarding of the contract, UD has successfully worked with its partner university to open the Sarajevo Graduate School of Business (SGSB). Through the SGSB contract, UD has hired local staff and faculty, recruited students from the Balkans and renovated facilities provided by the partner institution. SGSB sat its first class in September 2004. These students, upon completion of the program will receive an MBA degree from the Lerner College, which is accredited by the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) and a graduate degree from the local institution.

Key Program Objectives
There are four key objectives in the SGSB project. First, the graduate program is oriented toward a small, select group of working professionals who meet UD admission criteria. Twenty-six students have been admitted to the degree program, primarily recruited in BiH and selected by admissions specialists at UD and the Lerner College. As the program grows and matures, SGSB will seek applicants from other neighboring countries, with the intention of becoming an MBA educational resource for the entire Balkan region. The students admitted to the program are similar to UD’s Executive MBA students – professionals who have already begun their careers and have had some experience in the world of business. The preference, particularly in the early years of the program, will be for Bosnian managers and professionals who have made career and life commitments to the country and the region, and who will be most likely to immediately benefit from the skills gained through graduate business study.

Second, the SGSB project is selecting and hiring its own faculty, who are recruited following standard UD practices and employed exclusively by SGSB for its program. SGSB faculty members are following a development program in which they will work closely with Lerner College faculty during the first years of MBA instruction. Lerner College faculty and SGSB faculty will team teach the MBA students during the first years of the program, and SGSB faculty will be required to spend up to one semester in the US studying pedagogy and utilizing resources for professional development on UD’s main campus. In addition to SGSB courses, local faculty will also provide specialized professional and non-credit training to local business managers. Third, a major impetus behind the development program for SGSB faculty and the institution is to prepare SGSB to meet the accreditation standards of EQUIS, the European counterpart to AACSB, as the country and the region move toward integration with the European Union. As the latter years of the project approach, the intention is for the faculty and administration of SGSB to have been sufficiently strengthened to undertake the rigorous process of self-study and external evaluation necessary for such accreditation. UD and Lerner College will support this process, but it will be necessary for the SGSB project to meet the criteria for accreditation on its own merits.

Perhaps most importantly, UD intends for SGSB to be a permanent and on-going MBA educational institution in Sarajevo. Unless future circumstances make it apparent that such a model is not sustainable, it is UD’s objective to have the program continue indefinitely. This will require both success as an educational institution and success as a financial undertaking, so that SGSB will be able to continue without support from USAID or subsidies from either of the partner universities.

SGSB Project Management
The project is coordinated through UD personnel in both locations. On campus in the US, the Lerner College manages the academic aspects of the program through the Office of the Dean and the Office of Graduate and Executive Programs, while CFIS administers the technical aspects of the contract. A full-time Academic Adviser serves as the day-to-day project manager from the UD campus, and makes periodic trips to Sarajevo for program coordination. In BiH, there is a full-time UD representative who liaises with the regional academic and business community and coordinates the local office. He is assisted by a full complement of Bosnian administrators and staff who will be the key administrative personnel upon the continuation of SGSB after the end of the contract.

Partner University
An important aspect for success of the project has been the selection of a reliable in-country partner. After the contract was awarded, UD approached the University of Sarajevo (UNSA) to fill this role. As a result, Lerner College is working directly with UNSA’s Faculty of Economics (FES) to design the specific content of the double-degree MBA program and to create a designation for the double degree, which reflects both its unique properties and its certification by each faculty and university. Of crucial importance to the start-up of the SGSB project has been the need to secure facilities in which to house the program. FES has provided this as part of its contribution to the project cooperation and UD, using projects funds, has refurbished the facilities to include classrooms equipped for modern instructional methodology, offices for faculty, offices for permanent staff, and security for the facility and its personnel. Beyond the project requirements, UD seeks to engage UNSA in broader interaction between our faculty and students under an institutional agreement signed by the two universities.

Implications for Southeastern Europe and the Region

Relevance to the Bosnian Economy
The relevance of this program to the economy of BiH should be viewed from two perspectives, the need to make the degree meaningful within the context of the current economic situation within BiH, and the need to prepare Bosnian business students for potential future integration into the European Union. This presents challenges in delivering the degree that are not normally found in Western schools as it first requires selection and adaptation of teaching materials that address issues similar to those which are present in the Bosnian business environment, such as the legacy of state control, the current uncertainty in the economy, and the difficulties of dealing with an economy still rebuilding from the effects of the civil war which ended in 1995. Second, as BiH looks towards EU membership, future business leaders must be trained to address the needs of the Bosnian economy in achieving the benchmarks required for compliance with the Acquis Communitaire and membership in the Common Market. Thus degree courses are impacted by the necessity of offering a more progressive and future-oriented design, while addressing the details of an economy and business environment that, although in flux, still present challenges of transition to a free-market economy.

Role of Information Technology
Information technology is a key element of the SGSB program. The use of the Internet was assumed as part of the overall concept of SGSB from the outset. First, there is no way to physically create the resources necessary for a modern business school de novo, but with the availability of IT support to connect the UD campus to SGSB, there is no need for this as the major library resources at UD are largely available to the students and faculty at SGSB through the Internet. Second, the ability of UD and SGSB faculty to work together for course planning, delivery of materials through electronic media, and in research and related activities which are expected to be an outgrowth of the relationships between faculty as the program develops is heavily dependent on information technology. Since UD faculty are “long-distance commuters” in this relationship, the role of IT plays a central role in maintaining these relationships. Third, as the program matures and demand for the SGSB MBA becomes nationwide and regional, it is necessary to find ways to make access to the program available more widely than through traditional classroom instruction.

Broader Educational Implications
It is hoped that should SGSB become a sustainable program after the end of USAID financial support, it will do so as an international MBA program, drawing students more broadly than the local region, and providing a model and a stimulus for wider adoption of Western business education at other universities and institutions in BiH and the region.

John L. Kmetz is the Faculty Director of International Programs for the Lerner College of Business and Education, University of Delaware, as well as an Associate Professor in the Department of Business Administration. Dr. Kmetz is the Academic Program Coordinator for the Bosnian Graduate Education Project.

Sean Michael Cox is the Associate Director for Special Projects at Center for International Studies, University of Delaware. Dr. Cox oversees the technical aspects of the Bosnian Graduate Education Project.

Published previously in the print version of the Spring 2005 IIENetworker Magazine.