SBS Swiss Business School Annual Report 2012
Content Welcome from the Honorary President 3 A letter from the Academic Dean 4 Highlights 2012 5 Facts about SBS 6 2 nd CIVETS Forum at SBS 2012 7 Summer Program International Finance 8 SBS London 2012 Olympic Raffle 9 EMBA Program 9 Graduation 10 Rankings 11 The SBS DBA Program earns IACBE Accreditation 11 Successful Local Re-Accreditation 12 News from SBS partners 12 VSP Membership 13 Dissertations 14 New Faculty and Staff 15 Conferences attended 16 Sustainability report 16 SBS Calendar of Events 2013 17 2
Welcome from the Honorary President The Annual Report 2012 of the SBS Swiss Business School has reached another landmark of this institution s history. The list of achievements contributed by the administration, faculty, staff and students during this 21st century alone is quite impressive. This is due to the wholehearted dedication they revealed year in and year out to the high academic goals and objectives that were initially inspired by the School s Dean, Dr. Bert Wolfs. Among other unique contributions, the SBS Swiss Business Schools has initiated a program that focuses on business ethics that makes its students develop a high regard for honesty in all of their life ventures. Our motto is simply: Honesty if the best policy. This has won the admiration of many across every continent. Most of the problems we encounter in the world at large generally stem from those whose concept of good ethics is virtually non-existent. The SBS Swiss Business School is primarily concerned not in what it can get for itself but rather in what it can give to others, often expecting nothing in return. This has won the admiration of all those who come across it in some way or another. In fact, its faculty and students come from across every continent: Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America as well as the South Pacific. In spite of this phenomenal diversity, they all feel like they are members of one big happy family. Since English is very much diffused around the world, this Business School uses English as its major language of communication with all of its members. This means they all write their respective theses in English and study their selected courses in English as well. Besides, all students are encouraged to get, if possible, more than one degree from accredited institutions of learning everywhere. They could then transfer their credits to the SBS Swiss Business School, if appropriate. Last but not least, we want to welcome with open arms the faculty, staff and students as members of our SBS family and to continue to work together to spread extensively the objectives of our SBS Swiss Business School. We want to make sure that we set a good example to all other business schools around the world as to enable them to become better and more productive as much as possible, especially in the area of ethics in business ventures. Dr. Charles Mercieca, Honorary President & Professor, SBS Swiss Business School 3
A letter from the Academic Dean Dear SBS Stakeholder, This past year has brought triumphs and challenges to SBS. The Swiss Economy doesn t like the word recession, and we keep avoiding it. But the fixed exchange rate between Euro and CHF has had an impact on our activities. In response, we have modified our strategic plan to ensure that we continue to deliver a first-class educational experience. We also have reasons to celebrate. More students have joined our institution and the job placements rates remain very high. Several of our Alumni enhanced their careers. I want to congratulate them with these achievements. There is still work to do. We strive to enhance our international activities to provide our students a truly global understanding of the world economy. The CIVETS forum will continue its tradition and guest-speakers will add value with practical business examples and exercises. We will continue to utilize innovation to enhance our distancelearning programs that provide access to those who do not live in or near Zurich. We expect also a lot of success from our new Master programs which we will launch in September 2013. We thank you for your trust and support to help to strengthen SBS s reputation and wish you happy readings. Dr. Bert Wolfs, Ph.D. Academic Dean, SBS Swiss Business School 4
Highlights 2012 2 nd CIVETS Forum at SBS SBS Movie 2012 SBS Journal of Applied Business Research EMBA Program Graduation Ranking 5
Facts about SBS SBS Swiss Business School is a pioneering management institution dedicated to preparing students for the careers of the global economy in International Management, Finance, Marketing and other fields, which is located in Kloten-Zurich next to the airport. SBS offers the following programs which are all held in English: Undergraduate Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Science in E-Commerce Accelerated Adult Education Graduate Full-time Master of Business Administration Flex Master of Business Administration Executive Master of Business Administration Online Master of Business Administration Full-time Master of Science Programs Postgraduate Doctor of Business Administration SBS Swiss Business School Balz-zimmermannstr. 34-38 Building C 8302 Kloten-Zurich, Switzerland Tel.: +41 44 880 00 88 Fax.: +41 44 274 27 65 www.sbs.edu 6
2nd CIVETS Forum at SBS 2012 The SBS Swiss Business School hosted its second annual CIVETS forum on Thursday April 19th, 2012 at its campus in Kloten-Zurich. The Forum was organized by SBS Bachelor students, and hosted high-profile international guest speakers, who came to discuss their personal experiences with business and investment opportunities within the CIVETS countries (Columbia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa) as well as the role that Switzerland plays in investing in these emerging market economies. 7
Summer Program International Finance As every year, SBS also offered this year a summer program in International Finance for undergraduate and recently graduate students from all around the world. The summer program took place at SBS Swiss Business School in Kloten-Zurich from July 9 20, 2012. The program offers the perfect combination of enhancing the student s business education and experiencing life in a new environment. In 2012 the students came from nine countries from Africa, South Africa and Europe. The summer program included highlights like a company visits to Bloomberg in Zurich, including a demonstration of the Bloomberg Terminal computer system, and Gazprom bank and its treasury and risk management departments. This year the guest speaker was Stephan Gardner, investor Relations from Credit Suisse. 8
SBS London 2012 Olympics Raffle SBS Goes Olympic: Win a Scholarship at SBS Swiss Business School! was the slogan from the raffle which SBS offered in summer 2012. SBS Swiss Business School was drawing two free scholarships, one was for a BBA application for the first year (Semester 1 and 2) and the other was for a Full-Time MBA applicant for the entire program. The raffle consisted of three different questions about the winners from the Olympic Games Summer 2012. SBS Swiss Business School was proud to announce the winners; Ms. Rachel Dwyer (BBA) and Mr. Alexey Rau (MBA), which are now in the middle of their scholarships. EMBA Program SBS decided to launch a new schedule of the Executive MBA program. A mix of techniques, focused strongly on the case study methodology, allows students to work on interdisciplinary groups and, in turn, discuss, debate and solve real-life business problems. A mix of additional methods is used to draw on the participants own professional experience, creating an interactive learning environment and promoting an exchange of ideas between students and faculty. What makes our program special is the action learning concept and its dual focus on personal and organizational development. The SBS Executive MBA consists of 8 modules which are offered with an interval of 2 months. 9
Graduation Like in every fall, SBS hold his Graduation Ceremony at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut (GDI) in Rueschlikon, Zurich on Saturday September 15, 2012. The graduates of our Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate of Business Administration degrees could enjoy brilliant speeches by Dr. Gerhard Pfister, President of Swiss Private Schools and Member of the Swiss Parliament, Dr. Charles Mercieca, Honorary President at SBS, and Mr. Robert Oudmayer, CEO GE Money Bank Switzerland. Mr. Peter Schärli and his trio were setting a counterpoint with their ambitious jazzy interludes. 10
Rankings The SBS MBA program has been listed in the European MBA rankings by the CEO Magazine in its Autumn Edition 2012. Especially notes should be the ranking on our Online MBA program as the only one outside of the US and UK. The SBS DBA Program Earns IACBE Accreditation In November 2012 the IACBE Board decided to give us its accreditation for our DBA Doctor of Business Administration program. Therefore, the SBS DBA benefits now as well from the CHEA recognition. 11
Successful Local Re-Accreditation SBS is proud to announce its successful re-certification by EDUQUA, the Swiss Quality Label and local accreditation body geared towards adult education. News from SBS Partners Since we have made very good experience with our partner universities offering our Dual MBA, the BA School of Business and Finance in Riga successfully introduced our BBA Bachelor of Business Administration program this year. Our Partner school BA School of Business and Finance in Riga, Latvia was ranked in the Eduniversal ranking of the MBA program in Global Finance and Banking as the 5th best MBA program in Eastern Europe. We congratulate our partner in Riga. 12
VSP Membership SBS Swiss Business School was granted membership of the Swiss Federation of Private Schools (SFPS), VSP(German Verband Schweizerischer Privatschulen). The SFPS comprises some of the most significant and oldest schools in Switzerland and membership is only granted for institutions offering high quality education. The schools and colleges belonging to the SFPS each offer a personal service and are innovative and oriented towards your educational goals. 13
Dissertations SBS Swiss Business School is proud to announce the following three DBA students which successfully defended their thesis in September 2012. Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovitch Ermakov from Kazakhstan (Mentor: Charles Mercieca) Thesis Title: The ROI of corporate training for Russian companies Mr. Dennis Shomko from Kazakhstan (Mentor: Chaltes Mercieca) Thesis Title: The viability of very light jets in European airspace for business users Mr. Wallace I. Torres from Puerto Rico, USA (Mentor: Frederick Clark) Thesis Title: A model to supplement quality costs concepts in the pharmaceutical industry 14
New Faculty and Staff Dr. Michal Čakrt Flex MBA Lecturer (Organizational Behavior & Leadership) Mr. Andreas Kyburz BBA Lecturer (German) Dr. Jorge Mongay FTMBA Lecturer (Services Marketing) Mr. Neil Rilett Flex MBA Lecturer (Economics for Decision Makers) Ms. Cassandra Budlong BBA & AAE Lecturer (English and Negotiation Skills) Mr. Sojo Nagaroor Administrative Assistant Intern Ms. Cynthia Thomet BBA Lecturer (English) Mr. Patrick Aeschbacher Administrative Assistant Intern 15
Conferences attended Dr. Bert Wolfs was a Guest Speaker for Sustainable Finance and Banking at the Swiss Finance Week in Riga on March 12, 2012 Dr. Bert Wolfs and Dr. Charles Mercieca attended the ACBSP Conference in Baltimore on June 13 18, 2012 Mr. Markus Roth attended the IACBE Conference in Kansas City on June 11 14, 2012 Dr. Bert Wolfs attended the IACBE Conference in Poznan, Poland on October 17 19, 2012 Dr. Bert Wolfs attended the Retail & Channel Strategy Conference in Zurich on November 15, 2012 Mr. Markus Roth attended the ACBSP Conference in Geneva on November 21-24, 2012 Sustainability report SBS Swiss Business School received money from the CO2 emission from the Swiss Federal government, because SBS achieved the superior norms. The waste separation is still of extreme value for SBS Swiss Business School and will stay like this. 16
SBS Calendar of Events 2013 3th CIVETS Forum at SBS Swiss Business School in Kloten, April 25, 2013, 2.00-5.00 pm. Swiss Finance Week in Riga, March 4-15, 2013, 6.00-9.00 pm Summer Program International Finance at SBS Swiss Business School in Kloten, July 8-19, 2013 Graduation Ceremony at Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut (GDI) in Rueschlikon, Zurich on Saturday September 21, 2013 17