March 4, 2003
Fulbright Commission Looks to GW to Help Put the
Egypt in EMBA
By Brian
Krause
Located in the cradle of civilization, the roots of marketing can be
traced back to Egyptian bazaars. Now millennia later, Egypt is making
business history again.
The School of Business and Public Management (SBPM) has been awarded
a grant from the Fulbright Commission to assist Alexandria University
in Egypt in creating the first Executive MBA program in the region.
It is a very competitive project and a very prestigious award,
says Salah Hassan, associate professor of business administration at
GW and director of the Alexandria University Executive MBA program.
Universities awarded this grant are very few. It brings about
great recognition for a university.
The program is one of several that the Fulbright Commission in Egypt
administers under its University Partnership Program, designed to link
a US and Egyptian university to facilitate the exchange of ideas and
expertise over the course of two years.
Our goal is to establish and launch a new Executive MBA program
for Alexandria University, says Hassan. That means curriculum
design, enhancement of learning resources, and supplementing it with
world-class standards. We have done this quite successfully at GW. We
are trying to share this success story with another country.
The first such program created in the DC metropolitan area, GWs
curriculum is aimed at mid-level executives on the rise in their companies.
An intensive program, it is designed to leave graduates ready to tackle
senior management responsibility.
By meeting with business leaders in Egypt, Hassan organized the programs
budget, and customized the course syllabi and curriculum to directly
address the needs of the executives and students. The two universities
hope to enhance their business programs with applied case studies and
tools that flavor the curriculum with experiences from other countries.
In Egypt, we are seeing a market in transition. We are seeing
things we usually only get to read about in textbooks, says Hassan.
It also gives us learning resources that can be useful in the
classroom as examples of globalization and marketing challenges.
Bob Dyer, director of GWs Executive MBA Program, believes that
the partnership will not only benefit the GW and Alexandria University
communities, but will help US relations in the Middle East.
It is meaningful that in these kinds of times, with the potential
for war with Iraq, that were doing something that involves an
educational collaboration effort with a major school in an Arab nation,
says Dyer. We are building linkages and ties between countries
through active academic cooperation.
According to Dyer, GW professors and students will continue to play
an active role in guiding Alexandria University over the next few years.
When youre mentoring a school, giving them the plan and
walking away is not helpful, says Dyer. That doesnt
mean we control it, but we can be helpful to them when things get rocky.
Other SBPM faculty members, including Mark Starik, associate professor
of strategic management and public policy; Mary Granger, professor of
management science; Liesl Riddle, assistant professor of international
business; and John Glascock, Oliver T. Carr, Jr., Professor of Finance,
also have been working to launch the new program, which is scheduled
to start next fall. They gave presentations outlining how the GW program
works during a recent trip to Egypt.
Its a wonderful deal for GW, says Dyer. Professor
Hassan has done a marvelously energetic job. It was very warm to see
how enthusiastic people [in Egypt] were about GW and its role cooperating
with other universities.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu