4th Edition of Executive Offshore Wind MBA Gets Underway at GMU
On 25 October 2024, the inauguration of the fourth edition of the Executive Offshore Wind MBA took place at Gdynia Maritime University. The EOW MBA programme focuses on educating leaders and managers for the rapidly developing offshore wind energy sector. The programme aims to prepare personnel for effective management of companies operating in the offshore wind industry and is designed to acquire practical managerial competencies at both strategic and operational levels in key areas of management. These include both universal competencies (such as strategy, finance, and human resource management) and knowledge and skills specific to the offshore wind sector (including logistics and supply chain management, economics of wind farms, and regulatory frameworks). The MBA programme is conducted by the Gdynia Maritime University Offshore Wind Energy Centre.
During the inauguration, the University was represented by the Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Education, Dr Sambor Guze, who highlighted the close connection between the MBA programme and market demand, made clear by the launch of the fourth edition of the Executive Offshore Wind MBA:
The mission of the Maritime University of Gdynia, the most experienced maritime university in Poland, is to prepare professionals capable of effectively meeting the challenges of the modern maritime industry. Therefore, we are continually expanding the education we offer to include undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to prepare for new roles in the maritime industry. We constantly analyse market needs regarding sought-after competencies. In 2021 we observed that in the coming years of offshore wind development, alongside technicians, engineers, and other specialists, there will also be a significant demand for qualified managers in the offshore wind sector. This is why we launched the Executive Offshore Wind MBA programme. This fourth edition is proof that we have met market demand.
The Executive programme is supported by the embassies of selected countries with significant achievements in offshore wind energy development. Representatives from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Poland, represented by Huub von Freytag Drabbe, Head of the Economic Department, and representatives from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark, represented by Niels Malskær, Energy Attaché took part in the inauguration online.
The event also included representatives from collaborating industry organisations: Małgorzata Bartosik, Vice-President of WindEurope, and Jakub Budzyński, President of the Polish Offshore Wind Energy Chamber, who also spoke during the inauguration:
Since its inception, the Polish Offshore Wind Energy Chamber has supported all educational initiatives that develop the competencies of the offshore wind sector workforce. We are all aware of how much work still needs to be done to ensure that the lack of competent employees is not a barrier to the industry's development. We are pleased to see more relevant study programmes being offered. When GMU Offshore Wind Energy Centre informed us of their plans to launch the Executive Offshore Wind MBA postgraduate studies, we embraced it with patronage and collaborated on the programme's development. We believe that a well-prepared, competent managerial staff shall continue to be one of the key factors for the success of our industry.
The academic partners of the EOW MBA programme are Hochschule Bremerhaven (Germany) and Business Academy SouthWest (Denmark). These institutions were the first in the world to launch an MBA programme dedicated to the offshore wind sector, represented at the inauguration by Professor Dominic Kudlacek and Flemming Østergaard, who attended online.
Many leading companies in the offshore wind sector are business partners of the Executive Offshore Wind MBA, and are involved in co-developing the EOW MBA programme through participation in the Programme Council and organising study visits to their companies, as well as providing experts who serve as lecturers on the Programme. Business partners at the inauguration included: Agata Staniewska – Bolesta, Managing Director Offshore Poland at Ørsted, Piotr Żeglarski, Business Development Manager at Seaway 7, and Paweł Weiner, President of MAG Offshore.
During the inauguration, the Director of the Offshore Wind Energy Centre, Dr Tomasz Harackiewicz, spoke about the programme and the potential and benefits it brings future graduates:
The MBA programme is demanding – you need to dedicate 60 weekends over two years, pass exams, complete required assessments, and write a thesis. However, it is an excellent self-investment. The projected potential of the industry creates a unique opportunity for career development. Completing the first MBA programme in Poland and one of only two in the world dedicated to the offshore wind sector, culminating in an international diploma of Executive Offshore Wind MBA, helps to seize these opportunities, as evidenced by the career development of previous graduates and students of this programme. We are fully convinced that for the Programme will prove to be highly beneficial for the students starting their educational journey today, as well as the entire industry.
The fifth edition of the Executive Offshore Wind MBA will commence in October 2025.
