Final report : management education in Poland project -- grant no. 181-G-00-94-00009 : October 1, 1994-January 31,2000

This project has been extraordinarily successful. All initial goals have been achieved, and important new initiatives have been undertaken on the basis of experience and emerging opportunities; personnel from USAID Warsaw contributed importantly to the identification of some of these. The central goal was fully achieved by the creation of the Polish-American (PAM) Center, affiliated with UL"s new Faculty of Management. The PAM Center is now a permanent entity within the university, with authority to collect fees, make expenditures, and conserve its financial resources from one budget period to the next. Its revenues cover all of its direct expenses, plus university overhead. The Center is headed by an Executive Director, also a UL faculty member; has a staff of 5 full-time and 4 part-time persons; and utilizes over 80 members of the UL faculty and others as course instructors. The 2-year Executive MBA degree program offered by the PAM Center was authorized by the UL Senate on 3/29/96. Students successfully completing this program receive a Master"s Degree in Management from UL, as well as a "Certificate of Achievement" from UM"s Robert H. Smith School of Business. UM faculty participated in designing this program from the beginning and collaborated with their Polish colleagues in designing individual courses. This program now attracts 30-40 well- qualified students per year and is expected to continue indefinitely. The PAM Center also has a variety of other programs; some are designed to serve the needs of particular clients, while others are open to any qualified participant. Some of the programs are short, but may be repeated over time to reach large numbers of individuals; others serve fewer participants over a longer period. The capability of the PAM Center to design and offer these programs is now well-established, and the programs continue to grow in number and variety. Several thousand people have been trained since 1995 and the development in this field is very dynamic. The PAM Center is one of the first and most important centers for distance learning technology in Poland. As a result of USAID support, state-of-the-art equipment has been acquired and put into operation. Technical skills have been developed, and video conferencing and internet communications are regularly used. In addition, the training of outside personnel in distance learning techniques and pedagogy has now become a regular and important PAM Center activity. This expansion of the project beyond its original purpose was recommended by USAID Warsaw and facilitated through cooperation with the Polish Ministry of Education and the Faculty of Education at UL. The success of the PAM Center in achieving its original objectives has created a base for new and innovative activities, some of which are already underway. The highly successful 16-week non-degree "Mini MBA" program, currently offered several times a year in the home location, has now been extended to Warsaw. In addition, an Internet-based version, known as the "Global Mini MBA Program", was begun in January 2000. A publication series has been established, and a first volume on "Organizational Behavior" has appeared. An extensive collection of brochures, CDs, and other materials describing the PAM Center and its activities and capabilities has been prepared, and the Center has received widespread recognition in print and broadcast media, including favorable notice in the "Country Report: Poland" (3rd quarter 1998) prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit. (Author abstract, modified)