Letter from the Director

As we plunge into a host of new crises just after recovering from the greatest pandemic in a century, we face a stark realization: business as usual is over. The future belongs to managers, entrepreneurs, and leaders with an open, resilient perspective — professionals willing to challenge established dogmas and quickly adapt to new realities.

Founded by visionary financier and philanthropist George Soros, Central European University has long been a meeting place of the world’s leading researchers and practitioners calling for a deep rethinking of our economic and political institutions.

Our mission of “promoting the values of open society and critical thinking” is reflected in our bespoke CEU Executive MBA curriculum. Like no other program in Europe, CEU Executive MBA offers a forward-looking balance between “hard” quantitative skills in financial and data-based decision making and “soft” leadership competencies.

WE TRAIN SENIOR MANAGERS WHO UNDERSTAND NOT ONLY THE “HOW” BUT ALSO THE “WHY” OF EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT

We train senior managers who see their organizations, teams and strategies in a broader economic, social, political, technological and environmental context. Who understand not only the “how” but also the “why” of executive-level management.

It is also our open-society mission that motivates us to offer our world-class, meticulously delivered Executive MBA program at an investment cost unrivaled by European business schools. It is no coincidence that our innovative, uniquely transparent program of merit- and need-based scholarships has been shortlisted for the prestigious global QS Reimagine Education Award.

Benefiting from one of the largest endowments on the continent, CEU is truly democratizing managerial education. We aim to make the program accessible not only to traditional corporate sectors such as consulting and finance, and not only to candidates from Western Europe.

Our current participants come from 40 countries on 5 continents. They have an average of 16 years of professional experience and 10 years of leadership experience. One in five is a senior NGO or public-sector manager and another 15 percent are entrepreneurs.

In today’s context, the job of a senior manager is not only about adapting to the world or to external condi- tions. It is also about curating a world — co-creating reality with your customers, your teams and your stakeholders.

When we say “the EMBA for the Open World,” we are chiefly thinking about the world that you can open and positively impact. Embracing this creative power is essential for your professional transformation from op- erational and functional expertise to strategic leadership — the transition that requires learning not only new skills, but most importantly, new ways of thinking.

 

Are you open for such change?

 

Professor Maciej Kisilowski
Faculty Program Director
CEU Executive MBA
(JSD, Yale; MPA, Princeton; MBA, Insead)