A group of newly enrolled students.
The Danish shipping industry’s most prestigious education, Copenhagen Business School’s Blue MBA, has set a new record for the number of newly enrolled students. Since the beginning in 2001, a total of 200 students have been enrolled in the program.
The latest crop of future Blue MBAs, or Executive MBAs in Shipping & Logistics to be precise, is with its 46 students the largest that has ever been enrolled into the renowned maritime education at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) since the beginning in 2001.
The person in charge of the education, program director Irene Rosberg, is extremely pleased with the development, she tells ShippingWatch. The program, which takes a broad approach to shipping and maritime professions, has been performing above par at a time when CBS is generally threatened by cutbacks and the looming risk of programs being canceled altogether.
But the 46 students from all over the world who make up the new team show that support for the maritime MBA, catering to managers and middle managers wanting to improve their skills, is still great.
Among the most wellknown Blue MBAs in the maritime industry is the leader of the Technical University of Denmark’s new oil research unit, Bo CerupSimonsen, who was formerly known as Mr. TripleE due to his role in charge of Maersk Maritime Technology. Another prominent Blue MBA is current vice president and head of technical management in Nordic Tankers, Carsten Ostenfeldt, who has served as CEO of Thome Ship Management in Singapore in the past.
45 countries represented
Irene Rosberg
Irene Rosberg has the following to say about the progress for the Blue MBA: “The demand by customers of the maritime transport industry for reliability and lower cost carriage remains one of the major items on the agenda of leaders within the shipping industry. This calls for acquiring new tools for innovative strategies for which I believe we provide the groundwork, by means of our program, and disseminate these skills through the way our graduates take up the challenges.”
She also believes that the special network created between the students is a big part of the reason why the education is so popular. This year sees 46 students with 45 different nationalities joining the program.
“The participants are exposed to a unique network which represents all segments of the industry. They benefit from this network by sharing ideas, exchanging knowledge, building business relations and learning more about other than their own segment of the business, an approach which will enhance their holistic view of the shipping industry. Today we have 200 graduates and 46 current participants who are sitting in senior positions all around the world and are in regular contact with each other because of the one thing they have in common: the Blue MBA, ” she says and adds:
“I believe we have reached a point in the shipping industry where cost competitiveness and the bottom line are no longer the only measure for competitive advantage. Companies are now looking at competent people as the main value adding factor. This has made the Blue MBA very much sought after as it helps in ensuring effective management of risks and opportunities in this volatile and thoroughly globallyinvolved industry.”
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With special thanks to “Shipping Watch” which first published the above and in particular to Mr. Tomas Kristiansen for letting us have this special reporting!
