Prof Gregor Halff.
CBS Dean of Education Gregor Halff salutes reputation of Blue MBA
Gregor Halff has held the post of dean of education at Copenhagen Business School for just over a year – but he has long been aware of the signal achievements of the institution.
During 10 years working in the education and business environments of Singapore, Prof Halff had become used to hearing admiring words for CBS, including its renowned Executive MBA in Shipping & Logistics (the Blue MBA).
Taking up a senior role at the Danish-based establishment has allowed Prof Halff to gauge its reputation from the inside.
It was thus a proud day for him to attend for the first time the biennial graduation ceremony for the maritime MBA, to have the opportunity to endorse in public its flourishing status, and to join with enthusiasm the audience applause for the successful graduates.
Speaking after the August 10 ceremony for the Class of 2019, Prof Halff conveyed his sense that people felt at home in the institution: “CBS is a very welcoming organisation.”
Of the educational ethos, he said: “As a relatively large university our people engage in depth with a specific industry and then we tailor how the university treats it. That is something that not all universities are very good at.”
Prof Halff and Blue MBA programme director Irene Rosberg.
With the Blue MBA, for instance, “what impresses me about it is its industry relevance. It is deep into the maritime eco-system and has a culture of applying business theory to industry challenges.”
Beyond that, the alumni being very close to their industries continue to transmit that kind of leadership to the university.
In Singapore, he said, for many people the Blue MBA is synonymous with CBS.
Prof Halff, second from left in front row, in Class of 2019 graduation photo
The Blue MBA, under the guidance of programme director Irene Rosberg, has since 2001 graduated 274 students from more than 45 countries.
Prof Halff’s research and teaching have been mainly in corporate communication, leadership communication and public relations. He has developed and run programmes at undergraduate, graduate, MBA, executive and doctoral levels, and for national defence forces.
He was professor and faculty area coordinator of corporate communication and deputy dean at Singapore Management University, and an associate professor and director of executive development programmes at the European School of Management and Technology, Berlin.
From 2015-2017, he was the elected chair of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, a federation representing 160,000 communication managers.
Prof Halff addresses graduation audience.
Before entering academia, Prof Halff was managing partner at Publicis Groupe, a leading marketing communication agency, where he co-founded Publicis Public Relations.
