GMU inaugurates 3rd edition of the Executive Offshore Wind MBA
The Offshore Wind Energy Centre at Gdynia Maritime University launched the third edition of the Executive Offshore Wind MBA on 27 October 2023.
The ceremony was attended by Professor Sambor Guze, Deputy Rector for Education, a Member of the GMU Council; the President of the Intermarine Group Sławomir Kalicki; and Jakub Budzyński, Vice President of the Polish Maritime Association for Energy.
Among the guests were representatives of the embassies, which are the honorary patrons of the EOW MBA programme. Short speeches were given by His Excellency, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark, Ole Toft; and Huub von Freytag Drabbe, head of the Economic Department of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Professor Dominic Kudlacek of Hochschule Bremerhaven and Fleming Østergaard of the Business Academy SouthWest (Denmark), GMU’s partner institutions in implementing the programme, also spoke. The partner universities organise the first offshore wind energy MBA programme in Europe and the world. The teaching staff of the programme lead selected models of the GMU MBA in offshore wind.
The partners of the Executive Offshore Wind MBA include many of the leading companies in the offshore wind industry, such as Siemens Gamesa, Seaway7, SSE Renewables, Kongstein, Semco Maritime. Vestas, Ørsted, Intermarine, DNV, GE Power, RWE, MAG, PRS, MEWO and the Polish Registry of Shipping. The partners participate in the EOW MBA programme by contributing to the Programme Board and providing their experts as lecturers. At the inauguration, the programme’s business partners were represented by AgataStaniewska–Bolesta, Managing Director of Offshore Poland at Ørsted, Richard den Hollander, Global Business Development and Account Management Director at Seaway 7, and Paweł Weiner, President of MAG Offshore.
The Executive Offshore Wind MBA postgraduate programme is conducted in English in collaboration with Hochschule Bremerhaven (Germany) and Business Academy SouthWest (Denmark). The programme is designed for individuals working in the sector as well as those who aspire to advance their professional careers in Offshore Wind. Degree programmes last 2 years (4 semesters) and are delivered over 540 contact hours, including visits to related companies and online webinars. The programme includes a study tour in Denmark, combined with visits to leading wind energy companies. The third edition of the programme will be attended by candidates already working in offshore wind companies and in various related industries, who, through their participation in the EOW MBA, aim to start a career in this dynamically developing sector. In total, 18 candidates, including 4 women, qualified for this year’s programme.
The sector’s forecasted potential provides an exceptional opportunity for career advancement for those with managerial skills who are holders of a prestigious MBA qualification. Graduates of the first in Poland and second in Europe MBA programmes dedicated to the offshore wind sector will certainly be in a position to benefit from such opportunities. We predict that our graduates will be among the most wanted managers and professionals in the offshore wind energy industry in Poland and internationally, and companies that register their employees for the programme will gain a motivated staff, unique competencies and inspiring solutions.
Dr Sambor Guze, Deputy Rector for Education at Gdynia Maritime University
The mission of Gdynia Maritime University, the oldest Polish maritime university, is to produce personnel capable of successfully meeting the challenges of the modern maritime industry, and in particular, maritime transport. The University undertakes to extend the range of undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses and diplomas it offers, including the Executive Offshore Wind MBA programme.
Over the next few years, GMU aims to meet the challenge of training personnel for the offshore wind energy sector. The University already has more than ten years of experience in education in the field of Offshore Technology. Preliminary analyses of current and future market needs have shown that the development of offshore wind energy will result not only in a demand for offshore energy specialists, electro-automatics, and mechanics but also offshore wind managers. Such individuals must have unique industry knowledge and advanced managerial and leadership skills.
This is the aim of the first MBA programme in Poland dedicated to this sector of the economy.
Tomasz Harackiewicz, Director of the GMU Offshore Wind Energy Centre
Graduates of the Executive Offshore Wind MBA programme will gain practical managerial competencies at a strategic and operational level in the most important areas of management. These will be universal competencies (including strategy, finance, and human resources management) as well as knowledge and skills specific to the OWE sector (e.g., logistics and supply chain, wind farm economy, and legal regulations).
Lecturers on the programme are international experts from various areas of management and offshore wind energy, who were selected for their content and managerial and advisory experience but also for their experience in conducting training for managers. In other words, our lecturers are not only practical experts but also individuals experienced in working with management staff as part of the best MBA programmes in Poland and abroad.