l to r: Andreas Nordseth, Director Genearall, Danish Maritime Authority – Irene Rosberg, Program Director, The Blue MBA – Ole Sohn, Minister for Business and Growth – Per Holten-Andersen, CBS President.
One of the most important awards in the maritime industry has been won by the renowned Blue MBA – the Executive MBA in Shipping & Logistics at Copenhagen Business School, James Brewer writes.
The Maritime Prize 2011 (in Danish, Den Maritime Pris 2011) was presented to the MBA program by Denmark’s Minister for Business and Growth, Ole Sohn, in a ceremony on February 10 2012 at the Danish Design House, Copenhagen.
The minister formally handed the award to the president of Copenhagen Business School, Per Holten-Andersen, and the Blue MBA program director Irene Rosberg, in front of an audience of distinguished guests from leading circles in the shipping sector.
The Maritime Prize is regarded as a signal honour. It is awarded every two years to a person or organisation deemed to have made a special contribution to innovation and growth in the maritime sector for the benefit of Danish companies or society.
The citation read: “Overall, the Blue MBA has helped raise the standard of Danish shipping in that the students – who often bring along many years of practical experience from the industry – have had their horizon challenged and expanded and have become capable of seeing old routines and business procedures with fresh eyes.
“In this way, the Blue MBA may help strengthen the general competence of managements through the management layer in each individual organization. At the same time, Copenhagen Business School has, with the establishment of the Blue MBA, placed Denmark on the map of the world as a country where efforts are made professionally to further develop shipping at the highest level.”
This is the third occasion on which the prize has been awarded. Nominations for the award are scrutinised by an independent jury, for which the Danish Maritime Authority acts as secretariat.
Among those present at the latest ceremony were former prize winners Fotis Karamitsos, the director responsible for maritime transport at the European Commission’s DG Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), and Knud Pontoppidan, chairman of the Danish Maritime Foundation; and Mr Andreas Nordseth, director-general of the Danish Maritime Authority.
The prize consists of a specially commissioned artwork, in this case representing a container ship, built in metal and mounted on the midpoint of a pillar of heavy stone.
The Blue MBA has been praised by many shipping leaders as a key driver for modernisation of the maritime sector in its role as the lynchpin of global trade.
Copenhange Business School developed the MBA program in response to the encouragement of industry representatives who in 2000 called for a management education project specifically to equip executives to handle the challenges of globalisation.
The Blue MBA program is structured to enable students to carry out their duties at their respective organisations, while completing modules and a final thesis related to their particular work. At every graduation ceremony, participants – who come from businesses based in Scandinavia and many other regions of the world – have enthusiastically commended the new perspectives and knowledge they have gained from working with tutors, staff and fellow students.
