University's Management Institute to Offer Mini-MBA Program in Brazil
December 20, 2002
The University of Richmond's Management Institute will offer its trademarked Mini-MBA program to business executives in Sao Paulo, Brazil, beginning in May.
Faculty from the university's Robins School of Business will travel to Brazil to teach most of the classes in the semester-length program. The Brazilian class will travel to Richmond for the last module, which will include meetings with state economic development officials, site and corporate visits to Washington, D.C. and New York, and a graduation ceremony.
The Mini-MBA program was developed by the Management Institute and is the only one of its kind in the United States. Mirta Martin, institute director, sees the program creating opportunities for new business activity between the Richmond metro area and Brazil, two markets currently without frequent economic contact.
The Mini-MBA is being offered in partnership with TDC, Brazil's largest executive education company. Already working with Harvard and the University of California at Berkeley, TDC sought proposals for a third American university partner earlier this year. Richmond was chosen over other national universities with highly ranked business schools.
Martin said there is a dearth of executive education offered in Brazil, despite the presence of numerous international banks, manufacturing companies and agricultural conglomerates including Embraer, Northern Telecom, Electrolux, Dell, Xerox and Sodexho.
"TDC will look after our Brazilian operations, and The Management Institute will provide the award-winning faculty of the Robins School," Martin said.
"Providing companies with on-site expertise is a good example of how executive education is changing with the times," she said. "We are extending the bricks and mortar of the University of Richmond to national and international sites. We are crafting a strategy different from any other university's."
The institute plans to add project management classes and certificate programs in leadership and strategic management to its course offerings in Brazil.
With the initial Mini-MBA class, Robins School faculty will make the 13-hour flight to Sao Paulo on Fridays, then teach all day the following Mondays and Tuesdays, covering up to four units normally covered in four Monday evenings at the Richmond campus.
Martin hopes to arrange visits for the Brazilian executives to interested central Virginia businesses "to observe their best practices in operation." She expects the contacts to result in new international business relations for local firms, large and small.
She also thinks the visiting executives will want their children to attend college at the University of Richmond after they see the quality of instruction and student life at the campus.
The Management Institute began offering the Mini-MBA program on campus last September. It also provides a wide variety of executive education programs and customized on-site programs for companies throughout Virginia, the United States and abroad. Companies using its on-site executive education programs have included Media General, Phillip Morris, Infineon, McGuireWoods, Capital One, Independent Container Line Ltd (ICL), Tredegar and Virginia Physicians for Women.