April 8, 2008

Tammy DeMel, 404-413-7078
Office of External Affairs
J. Mack Robinson College of Business

Robinson, Moscow State launch first U.S.-based EMBA program in Russia

Russia's first on-site Executive MBA (EMBA) offered by an American business school will be part of a joint program announced Tuesday in Moscow by Lomonosov Moscow State University and Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business. The program, to be known as Executive Leaders, will also provide students the opportunity to earn a Master of Science in management. The EMBA will be conferred by the Robinson College while the MS will be conferred by Lomonosov Moscow State.

The unique dual degree will also be accompanied by various initiatives for students and the Russian business community, including a Moscow Executive Leaders forum, featuring high-profile business and government speakers from around the world, and roundtable working groups of business leaders to discuss timely topics and share information. Students in the dual-degree program will also benefit from executive level company visits and international residencies.

Moscow State Faculty of Economics Dean Vasili Kolesov; Robinson Dean Fenwick Huss; Jim Senn, managing director of Robinson's Center for Global Business Leadership and Vladimir Echenique, vice-dean of Moscow State's Faculty of Economics, announced the program today in Moscow. Senn and Echenique will co-direct the program.

The dual degree portion of the Executive Leaders program will feature three days of classes each month to be taught in English by faculty of both Robinson and Moscow State. Classes will be held on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays beginning in late January 2009. A one-week opening retreat will be held this December at Moscow State.

"This partnership between two premier institutions will transform business education in Russia. It will help managers of Russian and Russia-based companies acquire professional knowledge of international business," said Kolesov, adding that "Russia overall will benefit from this as these managers will guarantee Russia's leadership in international markets."

Huss called the program "the most comprehensive approach to executive leadership available anywhere in the world. "
"Robinson is proud to work with Lomonosov Moscow State and be a trailblazer in providing a multi-faceted approach to executive leadership training," he said.

According to Echenique, "Lomonosov Moscow State University has long been the premier institution of higher education in Russia. The announcement of this new agreement with Georgia State extends the legacy of the university by adding a totally new dimension to our offerings. The Executive MBA offers students a very specialized MBA program with an emphasis on leadership. It is different than anything offered before in Russia."

Senn sees the Executive Leaders program as a giant opportunity for business in Russia. "As Russian companies have expanded, they have experienced a distinct need for executive-level talent," he said. "The unique Robinson/Lomonosov Moscow State program will fill a much-needed demand for practical information on effective leadership and provide a quality of education never before available in Russia."

The J. Mack Robinson College of Business is one of the top-ranked business schools in the nation. The college's Flex (part-time) MBA program has been listed in the top 10 by U.S. News for the past 12 years, and its undergraduate business program is ranked among the top 50 in the nation. BusinessWeek ranks the college's part-time MBA program fifth in the nation among public universities. The college's Executive MBA program is on the Financial Times list of the world's top-ranked offerings. Georgia State University's Robinson College of Business has an enrollment of more than 7,000 students and is located in downtown Atlanta. The college has more than 60,000 alumni holding leadership positions around the world, including at major international corporations such as The Coca-Cola Company, UPS, VF Corporation, and Delta Air Lines.

Lomonosov is the oldest and most prestigious educational institution in Russia. The university specializes in economics, business, the humanities and modern sciences such as mechanics, nuclear physics, astronomy, lasers, molecular biology, and others. The school has more than 40,000 students and 8,500 professors and associate professors. Moscow State University claims among its graduates and professors Nobel Prize winners and world famous scientists. According to national and international surveys, Lomonosov Moscow State University is ranked first in Russia and among the top 10 universities in the world.

For more information visit: www.robinson.gsu.edu