Transilvania Executive Education has been contributing for 10 years to the development of the local business community facilitating the understanding of the dynamics of the global business environment. The international network of experts teaching the Executive MBA programme brings the necessary expertise to develop local businesses and to create a connection between the Romanian business environment and the global academic community. In today’s anniversary article, we invite you to discover who are the experts invited to teach for the EMBA programme.
The international experts who teach the 13 modules of the TEE Executive MBA programme fly to Cluj-Napoca every 6 weeks and come from over 16 internationally recognized universities: Buckingham University, Northumbria University, Copenhagen Business School, Sheffield Business School, Florida Atlantic University, Hanken School of Economics, University of Exeter, University of East Anglia, University of Hull and Babeș-Bolyai University. The students increasingly appreciate the interventions of the Romanian specialists from top companies and EMBA alumni who come with clear examples of how to implement the new theories learned during an MBA.
Dr. Andrew Taylor, Programme Director, talks about how the selection of the teaching experts and the structure of the modules is made: “The fly-in faculty model allows us to be in touch with experts from different fields who put their time and expertise at our disposal in order to contribute to a top-level learning experience. Each theoretical notion is followed by practical exercises, study cases, and teamwork which contribute to new perspectives and ideas for the students. We use concepts such as critical thinking, systemic management, double-loop learning, and innovation. Those we collaborate with have teaching experience in other MBA programmes at their home universities, have been involved in research projects and have offered consultancy in the field they teach. For each module, we have at least one academic expert in the classroom paired with a consultant or alumni of our EMBA programme who offers practical examples.”
The TEE Executive MBA programme is a unique experience for the students and the experts coming to Romania to teach. Prof. David Collins is a world-leading expert in Management Storytelling and Academic Director of the MBA programme at University of Northumbria. For the TEE EMBA, Prof. Collins contributed to the People and Performance: Talent Management in Action module. David Collins’ experience with Transilvania Executive Education is a special one, as he reports: “Happy 10th birthday to the TEE MBA. I am pleased to be invited to celebrate this special anniversary with you because I take some pride in having played a small part in the successful launch of this endeavour. Of course others negotiated the initial and ongoing contractual arrangements and have sustained the programme during the past decade but it was the MBA, which I designed that the first few cohorts enjoyed. And I was fortunate to be the first Professor from Hull to travel to Cluj to teach. I was impressed by the students, by the beautiful city. And by the manner in which TEE had planned and organised my visit. I must acknowledge the drive and energy which Andrew Taylor brings to TEE. Under his guidance the MBA has grown, changed and developed from my original design. It is not just different it is now better. And we are all I will add better for this development. Since our first meeting some 10 years ago Andy and I have collaborated on consulting projects and I have been pleased to accept his invitation to contribute to the edited collections that he has developed over the past few years.”
Angela Espinosa, professor of one of the most appreciated modules that make this programme a unique one - Systemic Management: Seeing the big picture, is an Honorary Researcher at the University of Exeter, Emeritus Researcher at the Center for Systems Studies at the University of Hull and a global leader in this field working in consultancy in Latin America, Europe and the United States of America. She declares: “My experience teaching in the TEE MBA program has been excellent. The quality and engagement of the students is excellent, the size of the group is very nice, the teaching venue is excellent, and the academic and administrative team managing the program is also excellent. The whole academic program has been very carefully crafted, to be unique both in terms of the content and in the choice of lecturers: students can find in this program the most up to date approaches to management, with a very balanced mix of theory and examples of applications. I will strongly recommend anyone who wants to join this program to do it. It is a unique and very rich learning experience.”
The Operations and Supply Chain Management module was created by Prof. David Grant, an international expert in this field with over 30 years of experience in the academic field and 15 years of experience in technical design, corporate banking, and retailing and distribution. He is currently the Dean of Research & Societal Impact and Professor of Supply Chain Management & Social Responsibility at Hanken School of Economics. David Grand talks about his experience with the TEE Executive MBA: “I became involved with Romanian academia from a research and teaching perspective almost 10 years ago, around when the first EMBA cohort started. I knew Professor Dan-Cristian Dabija at Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai, as we both research retail marketing and supply chain issues, and we have done some collaborative work together including journal articles and book chapters. I taught the operations and supply chain management module on the EMBA for the first three cohorts, before retiring from UK academia and taking an appointment at Hanken School of Economics in Finland. However, I have remained involved by working with Andrew Taylor on various book projects and chapters. I have found the Romanian people in general, and the TEE staff/EMBA students in particular, to be very friendly and hospitable. The students are very focused and knowledgeable, and work hard towards getting their degree and put in great efforts for their dissertations, some of which have been distilled into chapters for the annual book published by TEE.”
Teaching the Management Consultancy module in Cluj, Prof. Julian Campbell, Senior Management Consultant and Associate Professor of Management Consulting at the University of East Anglia relates: “What has most impressed me when teaching the EMBA in Cluj is the quality of the students. They bring a wealth of professional experience into the classroom and are very engaged with the learning experience. There is always a strong cohort atmosphere within the group. As the Professor facilitating the class, that can be a challenge but it is a great challenge to have! The TEE team also provides first-class support to the staff and students on the programme and the teaching facilities are excellent. Having taught in a number of MBA programmes across Europe, I think the team in Cluj should be very proud of what they deliver here. TEE clearly has an enviable network of blue chip companies in the region, as evidenced by the strength of their guest speakers and collaborations outside the EMBA, such as their Executive Education provision. Through their network of contacts, I was privileged to deliver a workshop for the leadership team at Romania’s leading private health care providers and again I was impressed by how professionally this was set up.”
The complete list of the experts involved in teaching at TEE Executive MBA is available on the TEE website. Over the years, Transilvania Executive Education has created an ecosystem of executive education in which it offers pre and post-MBA courses, but also the context of research projects and book publishing. More than 200 entrepreneurs and top managers in over 60 companies in Romania and abroad have graduated from the EMBA programme in the 10 years since its founding in Cluj-Napoca. The next cohort starts the courses in February 2025, and the registrations are open. Interested candidates can access the TEE website for more information.