On September 25-27, 2019, the 27th CEEMAN Annual Conference with the title
Management Education for a Changing World took place at the Mercure Wrocław Centrum hotel in
Wrocław.
The CEEMAN Conference, co-organized by the Wroclaw University of Economics and Business, is a part of the current strategy of internationalization of our University's activities, aimed at including
it in the world science. The possibility of co-organizing the Conference is a direct result of the CEEMAN accreditation obtained by the Wroclaw University of Economics and Business in 2017 and thus
joining the global family of institutions and companies involved in the development of management education. Previous editions of the annual CEEMAN conferences were organized, among others, in
China and South Africa. A team of employees from the
International Cooperation Center led by
Dr Anna H. Jankowiak was responsible for organizing the conference from the side of the
University.
The success of the CEEMAN Conference is not only the efficient organization of sessions and discussion panels or accompanying events but above all the satisfaction of our guests and the smile on
their faces. And we have achieved this success fully!
The participation of 130 representatives from many countries of the world (from Brazil, China, France, Kazakhstan, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Zimbabwe among others) ensured the
international character of the conference. Speeches on business education and the IQA CEEMAN accreditation process, international panels, round table discussions and workshops, as well as
individual Dean2Dean meetings enabled a wide exchange of experiences related to shaping business education in the future. The event contributed to the promotion of a positive image of Polish
science and higher education, the exchange of valuable experience, and also allowed to establish fruitful cooperation between the members of the organization. The event's significant character was
also added by the fact that the Conference was granted the Patronage of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland, the Honorary Patronage of the
Mayor of Wrocław and the Honorary Patronage of the Marshal of Lower Silesia.
The two-day conference was preceded by a series of events related to the main topic of the conference, including workshops led by companies and institutions involved in business education:
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- CarringtonCrisp: "See the Future"
- Peregrine Academic Services: "Integrating Global News and Events into the Classroom - Inspiring Students to Engage in Critical Thinking"
- Graduate Management Admission Council: "Accessing the Best and Brightest from Around the World to Increase Diversity and Grow Your Programs"
- Unibuddy: "The impact of peer-to-peer on student recruitment"
A poster session was also held that day, led by
Prof. Zoltan Buzady from Corvinus Business
School.
The first day of the conference began with a speech by
Prof. Andrzej Sztando from the Wrocław
University of Economics and Business as an introduction to the topics of the conference. Conference guests were also welcomed by
Prof. Danica Purg, President of the IEDC-Bled School of Management and CEEMAN,
Prof. Bogusława Drelich-Skulska, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation at the Wroclaw University of Economics and Business and
Marek Ignor, President of the DFR.
The next sessions of the Conference were focused on broadly understood issues related to the changes taking place in the modern world and their impact on business education. Artificial Intelligence
(AI) and the implications of its applications in business education took a special place in the speakers' speeches and the main point of the day was the speech by
Dr Daniel Susskind from the University of Oxford.
The last event of the first day of the Conference was the solemn
awards and accreditation certificates giving ceremony, as well as the signing of a declaration of cooperation between management development associations in emerging economies.
The second day of the Conference began with a video conference with
Lana
Popović, CEO of Coca-Cola for Central and Eastern Europe, who led the discussion on current and future business challenges in the context of changes in science and education. A similar
topic was related to the
Beyond the bottom line expert panel, moderated by
Prof. Norman Arruda Filho from the Instituto Superior de Administração e Economia, in which the participants shared their experiences and opinions on this very
important topic. One of the panel's experts was
Prof. Krzysztof Jajuga from the Wroclaw University of
Economics and Business, who raised, among others, the issues of the need to combine theory and practice in the training process of the future managerial staff and the resulting need for university
and business cooperation. Another expert panel, led by
Dr Andrew Wechtel from Narxoz University, was an
attempt to answer the question
"What is management education doing to prepare managers to meet their social commitments?".
The conference was summarized by a brainstorming led by
Prof. Nicola Kleyn from
the University of Pretoria.
