Education for Change – Scholarships to Students from the Western Balkans Commitment to Action as part of the Clinton Global Initiative

Within the next six years, the Center for Global Dialogue and Cooperation – CGDC, together with its valued sponsors, will enable sixtyfive students from the Western Balkans to participate in the MBA program in Public Governance and Management at MODUL University Vienna, a private university in Vienna, Austria.

The Goal – Supporting Emerging Countries The CGDC supports and assists emerging countries to become more efficient, capable and stable partners in Europe and worldwide. Various different measures are undertaken to achieve this goal. One major project of the CGDC is in providing scholarships to enable students from the Western Balkan region belonging to different religious and ethnic groups to live and study together.

The Western Balkans is the only region in Europe where Catholic, Orthodox Christians and Muslims have lived together for centuries. Following the fall of Communism, the dialogue between these diverse groups has diminished. The CGDC has identified an opportunity to make a lasting and positive change by investing in the education of young people, so that they may learn, understand and consequently embrace their differences. This will help them to live and work together for their common benefits. When these students mature and become future leaders of the Western Balkans, they will be aware of the opportunities provided by the CGDC‘s commitment to work for common benefits through political, economic, academic and infrastructural projects. The CGDC’s commitment will help prepare them for their future challenge!

Prominent Support – Clinton Global Initiative Turning ideas into action is the slogan of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Each CGI member creates a Commitment to Action – a concrete plan to address a major global challenge. As a CGI member, the CGDC is committed to providing scholarships to thirteen students from the Western Balkan region for the next five academic programs. According to the CGI’s guidelines, the Center for Global Dialogue and Cooperation – CGDC is thus obliged to achieve a meaningful, qualitative and measurable goal within a reasonable time period.

In Cooperation with Together with our cooperation partner MODUL University Vienna, a private university in Vienna, the CGDC has concluded an agreement to offer an internationally oriented Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Public Governance and Management tailored to the individual needs of students from the Western Balkans. The study program puts a strong focus on the good governance practices of institutions operating within both national and international frameworks. Individual specializations will target the current concerns in emerging regions like the Western Balkans.

The Program The MBA is organized as a modular program over two years consisting of business and public governance courses. Each module has pre- and post-module phases which are designed to prepare for or alternatively to follow-up each seminar. Our graduates are asked to discuss topics in public institutions of the EU and the Western Balkans in their master thesis, which will be presented to referring EU and Western Balkan institutions.

The Students We are looking for post-graduate individuals with professional experience, who can, due to their personal and professional background, contribute to a mediation between cultural and religious differences. The CGDC is trying to bring together different ethnic and religious groups who will benefit from the knowledge gained at MODUL University and will then develop their skills to initiate sustainable change in a responsible way.

The Result The aim of this program is to train managers and civil servants to convey their know-how and democratic ideas to regions with interreligious and intercultural differences to assist these areas in becoming politically and economically stable and consequently a favorable partner to other states in Europe and worldwide. We are preparing future leaders to deal with the complex interrelationships between public authorities and the private sector.

Facts & Figures Title: Mater of Business Administration in Public Governance and Management

Duration: 18 months (regular) or 24 Months (extended), graduates awarded with 90 ECTS credits

Organization: The study year is organized in full-days seminars (4-6 days per month including weekends)

Curriculum: Comprises Business Core courses, Public Governance Core courses and Elective courses

Language: English is the study language

Scholarship: Provided by CGDC, Comprises full tuition, study material, attendance of two non curricula language courses during the duration of the study program.

Maximum Number of Scholarships: 13

Target Group: Students from the contries of Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Romania

Application Deadline: Recommended August 31 of the current year

Program Start: Annually in October