Kyiv-Mohyla Business School is considered to be one of the top business schools in Ukraine, KMBS Dean Pavlo Sheremeta told the Post in this interview
Kyiv-Mohyla Business School is con sidered one of the top business schools in Ukraine. It was founded in May 1999 on the basis of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA), one of the oldest educational institutions in Europe. KMBS commenced operations in June 2000. The school is renowned for hosting teachers and lecturers from world-famous educational institutions, like Kellogg School of Management and INSEAD, and from leading Ukrainian and multinational companies. The school also sends students to visit leading business schools around the world.
Since 2005, KMBS has been voted as the “best business school in Ukraine” by Delovoy magazine’s annual rating. Although the school’s tuition fees are the highest on the market, it remains a very popular choice among students seeking a top-notch business education.
The words “Inspiring Ideas” greet students and visitors as they walk up four flights of stairs to KMBS’ premises in Kyiv’s Podil district. Indeed, KMBS’ ideas have inspired the school to success – in the 2006 academic year alone it generated $2.5 million in revenues.
In his interview with the Post, Pavlo Sheremeta, Dean of KMBS, spoke about the trends on the Ukrainian business education market and the unique nature of his institution.
KP: What so is special about Kyiv-Mohyla Business School? What can KMBS offer that others cannot?
PS: When applicants for MBA programs come to us, we tell them to attend three of our classes and then do the same in other business schools. And they will definitely feel the difference between us and the other schools by intuition.
What is a successful business person? Is it someone who knows only techniques, rules, laws and some formulas? Speaking frankly, no. If we take the most successful entrepreneurs, businessmen and managers, very few have attended business schools. Among hired managers there are those who finished Harvard Business School, INSEAD, London Business School and other business schools. But these are hired managers, a different level of management.
And we say that success in business is not determined only by knowledge, like in physics, for example, where you need to know formulas. Success in business is determined by such things as energy, that is, a permanent desire to attain something more.
Second is a person’s ability to identify and overcome distractions in achieving clear goals. At KMBS we provide knowledge and do it very well. But we are also able to create a certain “energy aura.” After all, what is a lecture? Typically it’s a one-way flow of information from a teacher’s notes to a student’s notebook without any concern for a student’s mind and heart. But teaching has to be essentially different.
Furthermore, we have substantially higher demands of our students. I doubt that there is any other place in Ukraine where demands are higher. For example, if a student is three minutes late to a class, we do not let the student enter. We say that “the show has started.” We tell our students, “Switch off your mobile phones and your laptops.” Why? If you are “mentally” not present in the classroom, then classes become a one-way flow of information.
KP: Do all the people whom you advise to attend classes at your school and at others come back to KMBS?
PS: No, and this is good. Potential students need to see our lecturers and teachers as well as other students, because they will be studying together. Students learn from other students as well as from teachers, sometimes even more.
A good business teacher will organize a class discussion in such a way that knowledge “flows” not from textbook to notebook, but from one mind to another, from one heart to another. Otherwise, unorganized chats will not lead to any conclusions. Therefore, we require very disciplined, structured and demanding work from students. I call this “stretching” and tell students ,“Stretch your minds because you are providing boring and banal answers. You need to provide creative and innovative solutions.”
To answer your question directly, the point of sending potential applicants to other schools is not for them to come back and choose us. The worst thing that can happen is for a person to pay 15,500 euros for the entire 18-month Executive MBA program at KMBS and then essentially sit idly during classes because they later realized they did not like something. We are not saying that we are the right and best school for everybody. We are saying that we are different and teaching here is different. Some people like that and some do not. And for those who do not, we literally provide addresses of other business schools. At the same time, we have no problems with enrollment.
KP: Tell us about the trends on the professional business education market.
PS: This market is booming. In reality, it’s just the beginning of a real boom that has yet to come. Last year alone KMBS revenues increased by 50-60 percent.
This increase is primarily due to the school’s educational programs for corporate clients. This year we decided to disclose revenues for the 2006-2007 academic year: $2.5 million. Two factors contributed to the increase. The first is that the entire market is growing. The second factor is what is called “winner takes all.”
KP: So you are currently considered the number one business school in Ukraine?
PS: We think so. But you can ask our competitors. Every business school considers itself to be the best, but I am referring to a rating of business schools published by Delovoy magazine last year.
KP: Please describe a typical KMBS student.
PS: We call our students “participants” of MBA programs. We have two types: the Executive MBA and the President’s MBA. An Executive MBA participant is typically a manager or top manager, between 32 and 35 years old.
Today Ukrainian companies are sending us more students. We have more students from certain sectors of the economy than from others. We have more students from the banking and telecommunications sectors because they are more competitive on the market.
We do not specifically concentrate on training people from, for example, the metallurgical or machine-building industries. We do have some students from these sectors, but we believe that the future of industry in Ukraine is in the services sector. We are more specialized in the services industry. There are other business schools that are more specialized in the above-mentioned sectors.
Our President’s MBA program is unique because it was created solely for business owners. It is different from the Executive MBA program because it is much more strategic and philosophical. In turn, the Executive MBA is more instrumental and functional. The President’s MBA program costs 20,000 euros for 18 months.
KP: Do you have students from foreign countries?
PS: We have expatriates from other countries that live and work in Ukraine. This is potentially a very good market niche – to create business educational programs in English specifically for such people. I should say that a country’s attractiveness plays a role.
The best programs available on the market in this region are in Slovenia, Hungary and Poland – all attractive countries. Ukraine became extremely attractive after the Orange Revolution, but unfortunately lost this advantage. Similar programs can be created here, but essentially most of our revenues are generated from short and mid-term programs for corporate clients. English MBA programs specifically for expatriates are needed more in terms of image than for generating revenues.
KP: Do your students pay for their tuition themselves or do their employers pay?
PS: The tuition costs of approximately 40 percent of our students are fully covered by their employers, but this is becoming increasingly rare. Nowadays companies typically cover 80 percent of tuition costs and the remaining 20 percent are paid by the students themselves. Other payment arrangements are also possible.
KP: Have tuition costs increased since KMBS opened?
PS: Initially our MBA program cost $5,400 for the whole program. Now the Executive MBA program can cost up to $20,000.
KP: What are the reasons for the increase?
PS: The quality of programs has grown as have operation costs and the market in general.
KP: Tell us about KMBS’ teachers.
PS: We have an interesting group. Take for example Canadian-born Ukrainian Mykhailo Vynnytskiy. He worked as vice president for marketing and sales at a leading computer company in Canada. He has a master’s degree and completed a PhD program at Cambridge University. He currently works at the sociology department at NaUKMA.
We also have Andriy Shypilov from Crimea who studied at a management school in Canada and is now a professor for business strategy at [Paris-based] INSEAD, one of the world’s best business schools. He is new there, but comes back to Ukraine several times a year to teach business strategy at KMBS. We have many other interesting teachers.
Going back to the beginning of our conversation, I can say that these people do not simply read lectures… they push the students to the limits. Our teachers conduct what can be called “educational performances.” They organize discussions during their lectures that help students truly understand and draw their own conclusions. Before we invite any potential lecturers, we first look at their ability to inspire an audience.
KP: What are your plans for the future?
PS: Most interesting and important for me is to set “super-goals” and to try to achieve them. One such goal is to make KMBS a strong player on the global level. We created KMBS on the basis of a university.
KP: Was that more complicated or easier to do?
PS: In some respects, it was easier because NaUKMA already had a strong brand and we had access to university resources. On the other hand, it was more difficult in that KMBS had to make special efforts to differentiate itself from the university.
