An outstanding group of senior professionals has begun the exciting and innovative Global Executive MBA program being offered for the first time by the University of Sydney.

The diverse group of high-performing managers came together in Sydney for the first of five two-week intensive residential courses - to be run over the next 18 months - and were immediately given the opportunity to explore the concept of leadership from a number of different perspectives.

Associate Dean Executive Education, Professor Chris Styles said: "Our primary aim with this program is to develop future leaders who have the skills, knowledge and personal attributes to lead and inspire organisations globally. Because of this, they'll be spending lots of time getting their hands on real life projects rather than sitting in a classroom reading text books."

Program participants were chosen following a rigorous selection process and come from a broad cross-section of industries including engineering, healthcare, logistics, biotechnology and the not-for profit sector.

The inaugural participants have worked in a total of 26 countries as diverse as Papua New Guinea, Germany, China, USA, and are currently employed in the private, public and not-for-profit organisations, providing a rich tapestry of managerial experience to enhance group discussions and projects.

After completing the first two modules in Sydney, namely leadership and management, the group will convene in Bangalore (India), then Silicon Valley (USA) followed by London (UK) and Languedoc, (France). In each of these places they will learn to manage a different phase of the business opportunity lifecycle and are required to complete a real business consulting project.

Professor Styles said: "The truly international nature of the program and the fact participants have the opportunity to work on real projects in a number of different contexts is something the cohort is particularly energized about."

Scholarship winners

John Kelly, Managing Director of biotechnology company, DAS Kapital Investments and Julie McKay, Executive Director of UniFem Australia (the United Nations Development Fund for Women) have been announced as the recipients of two new Global Executive MBA scholarships.

John is the recipient of the Faculty of Economics and Business Excellence in Leadership Scholarship. Julie has been awarded the $50,000 Alumni Scholarship for Excellence in Not-For-Profit Leadership. This scholarship was, in part, made possible by the generous contribution of two University of Sydney Alumni and is intended to assist in developing the managerial competencies of executives in the not-for-profit sector.
 

（www.eduwo.com, Anna）