“It was electrifying and felt like a big shower of positiveness when finally meeting all co-students I worked with over the past half year. And what better place to meet than in the beautiful city of Warsaw. I also enjoyed learning more about the thriving Polish economy. A great week that I immensely enjoyed”, says Martijn Brouns, Segment Marketing Manager at Signify, about the educational week in Warsaw.

The second educational week of our Online MBA track (June 27 – July 1) took place at Kozminsky University in Warsaw. Founded in 1993, Kozminski University is a Triple Crown accredited private, non-profit business school. According to the Financial Times it is the best business school in Poland and Central Europe. The theme of the educational week was ‘Growing for the Future’. Kristy Yang, PMO manager at Wavin: “It was an interesting and very full week in which we did a case study, we learned about the transformation and growth of the Polish economy in the past 30 years, and we discussed the current applications of artificial intelligence, machine learning and its impact on future life and business. I was particularly inspired by the lecture of professor Aleksandra Przegalinska and her in-depth field study of AI NLP direction.”

Blended format

Kristy and Martijn both participate in the Online track of the MaastrichtMBA programme, a blended format consisting of ten online courses and three educational weeks on location. “The blended format works for me”, Kristy says. “The time planning is convenient. The format offers the opportunity to quickly anticipate on unexpected situations, for instance a pandemic. And last but not least, it enables me to connect with international students from all over the world.” Martijn: “The blended format enhances online collaboration. Personal relations are built and strengthened. The intensity of the programme allows three additional modules in only three weeks, which I appreciate very much.”

Roller coaster

“Our group assignment was a case study of Polish medium-sized software company Senetic. The challenge and fun of a group assignment is to work with your peers under time pressure and try to deliver the best result”, says Kristy. “The assignment felt like a roller coaster”, Martijn adds. “However, working under pressure is fun too and it shows how extremely fast you can actually get a 360-degree view on a company when working in a multidisciplinary and talented team. On the last day we presented our results. Unfortunately, our team had to split up in an online and offline group, because a few team members had contracted COVID-19. Luckily, this did not hamper the interaction at all.”

Packed programme

The programme of the educational week is packed with lectures, interactive sessions, group assignments, entertainment and team building activities. Main objective is that students develop their managerial skills and competences. They are offered the opportunity to exercise and experiment with tools and techniques that help them implement their plans in their organisation. “I learned a lot”, Martijn states. “Such as constructing an AI test in the Azure environment. I broadened by view on AI applications and use in business. I think I am definitely better equipped to identify and deploy AI opportunities” Laughing: “And I learned to operate e-scooters.” “It’s insightful to work with team members under time constraint, learn from different perspectives and cooperate to achieve a common goal”, says Kristy.

The week was great”, Kristy says. “It was a pleasure to meet everyone face-to-face for the first time. The schools’ arrangements were very thoughtful and we were very well taken care off.” Kudos for the organisation team.

This article presents a recap of the Online MBA educational week on Growing for the Future at Kozminski University, Warsaw. Our Online track has a blended format, both face-to-face as online and is part of the executive modular part-time MaastrichtMBA programme. The programme has a Triple Crown accreditation and is aimed for professionals with at least 5 years of working experience.