ALBA Graduate Business School

Infobox_University
name = ALBA Graduate Business School


motto = Business "Un"usual
established = 1992
type = Business School
dean = [http://www.alba.edu.gr/faculty/faculty/resident/index.asp?prof_id=9 Nickolaos Travlos]
city = Athens
country = Greece
postgrad = ~300, mainly MBA
postgrad_label = MBA
staff = 65
campus = Vouliagmeni, Athens
website = [http://www.alba.edu.gr www.alba.edu.gr]
Accredited by:
Association of MBAs

ALBA Graduate Business School is a privately run academic institution in Greece.

History

Founded in 1992 in Athens, Greece, ALBA operates under the auspices of the Federation of Greek Industries - the leading employers' union in Greece, the Hellenic Management Association - the leading executives’ association in Greece and the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry. ALBA possesses considerable experience in European Projects management and implementation, active in the field of innovation with regards to enterprises.

Until 2005, the institution was known as Athens Laboratory of Business Administration. Although the official name and logo have changed, it remains a well known and prestigious Greek institution, widely known by the acronym, ALBA.

ALBA was the first non-state business school to be established in Greece. It has succeeded in attracting funding from Greek companies and business people and has one endowed Chair and two endowed Professorships. It is a non-profit educational association of more than 50 Greek corporations. It operates outside the Greek formal (state) educational system as a Laboratory of Liberal Studies (Εργαστήριο Ελευθέρων Σπουδών).

Scope and Mission

ALBA is an educational not-for-profit association of 61 large Greek corporations. ALBA’s mission is to foster a new generation of managers, from Greece, but also from other countries in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, capable of operating in a global environment, and equipped with the necessary skills for becoming agents and catalysts of change and development in the region. It does so by offering a rigorous postgraduate business education of the highest international academic standards, adapted to the circumstances of the not-fully developed economies and societies around Greece.

Academic Programs

ALBA’s main educational effort is being realized through its top quality, highly demanding Academic Programs:

• Full-Time MBA
• Professional (Part-Time) MBA
• MBA in Shipping
• MBA in Banking ("under the auspices of the Hellenic Bank Association")
• MSc in Finance
• MSc in Strategic HRM
• MSc in Business for Lawyers

ALBA's teaching faculty comprises a small nucleus of Resident Professors and Visiting Professors drawn from the top Business Schools around the world, including INSEAD, London Business School, Harvard Business School, Wharton and Stern School of Business (NYU) etc. All ALBA Professors are leading management academics, with extensive teaching, research and consulting experience and a strong publication record in top-ranking international academic journals. ALBA Academic Council consists of top academia members from International Business Schools such as Dean Gabriel Hawawini (INSEAD), Prof. L.Tava (SDA Bocconi) etc.

"Beyond its Academic Programs, ALBA’s activities also include:"

Alumni

ALBA Alumni form a group of young and dynamic managers in the process of forging challenging careers, while at the same time enhancing ALBA's reputation in the Greek and international business communities. As of the October 2006 Graduation Ceremony, the total ALBA alumni body consists of 1570 distinguished individuals, while the number of the ALBA MBA Alumni is 671, the Professional MBA Alumni is 542, the MSc in Business for Lawyers is 152, the MSc in Strategic HRM Program is 91, the 54 Alumni from the MSc in Finance Program and 60 Alumni from the EFG Eurobank-Ergasias MBA in Financial Services.

Executive Development Seminars and Programs

ALBA provides a full range of Executive Development Programs, both Open-Enrolment - area or sector specific - and Company-Specific Seminars & Programs that meet the growing needs of both middle and senior executives. Since 1995 ALBA has organized:
• Open Seminars (104)
- 680 companies / 1977 hours of training / 2125 participants
• In House customised seminars (163)
- 81 companies / 6727 hours of training / 4607 participants.

Currently ALBA organizes joint executive programs in Greece, in cooperation with Yale School of Management, INSEAD (e.g. “Managing Young Global Enterprises – MYGLOBE”), and Imperial College etc.

Applied Research and Innovation Projects

The role of the Applied Research and Innovation Projects (ARIP) Department is to contribute to the ALBA strategy by forming National and International Networks and by gaining funds for research and other activities. Funding may come from the European Commission, the World Bank or from other funding Institutions Internationally.
ALBA participates in such projects mainly within the framework programmes of European Union as well as other actions and initiatives (IST, Leonardo da Vinci, SOCRATES etc) and in association with leading European Universities, Business Schools, Research Centers, Consulting Firms, etc.
• Thematic areas:
- e-Business, e-Learning, Knowledge Management, Mobile Business, Entrepreneurship, Human Resources Management, Career Guidance etc.
• Other activities:
- Chairing the Board of the European Business Plan of the Year Foundation (won the 1st prize in 2003 & 2005 Competitions, hosted the 2004 Competition)
- Organization and Evaluation of the Best Workplaces competition in Greece and EU (since 2003).

ALBA has received substantial public funding and, in cooperation with partners such as the London Business School, INSEAD, Instituto de Empresa, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, ESADE Business School, University of Cyprus, Athens University of Economics and Business and many others, has developed a number of products and services with high impact in the Greek and European market such as (indicative list):

• The Best Workplaces competition which identifies and awards annually the companies with the best HR practices in Greece
• The annual Guide for New Entrepreneurs
• A training CD for the management of family businesses (which was highly distributed among the Greek family businesses)
• A training program for SME managers on eBusiness Applicationsadoption (more than 800 SME managers from the South – Eastern Europe participated)
• Policy suggestions to businesses and public bodies for the use of mobile technologies for commercial purposes
• Policy recommendations for National and European Public bodies for the employability of IT professionals
• Software tools for distance learning
• Software tools for knowledge management.

Achievements

Student teams from ALBA Graduate Business School have won the European Business Plan of the Year competitions in 2003 and 2005.

See also

* Education in Greece
* List of universities in Greece

External links

* [http://www.alba.edu.gr ALBA Graduate Business School web site]
* [http://www.ebpyc.org European Business Plan of the Year Competition]