left to right are : Javier Marquez from Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Melanie Hill, Director of Organisational Capability, Elaine Collinson, Corporate Programme Director and John Kind, Visiting Professor, Centre for Corporate Connections
left to right are : Javier Marquez from Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Melanie Hill, Director of Organisational Capability, Elaine Collinson, Corporate Programme Director and John Kind, Visiting Professor, Centre for Corporate Connections
Participants on the MBA in the Global Energy Industry, a customised programme for Iberdrola managers with leadership potential, took part in their 8th session to date in the Centre for Corporate Connections in Strathclyde Business School earlier this month.
The session was opened by Melanie Hill, Director of Organisational Capability and a Strathclyde alumna, in both English and Spanish. The cohort comprised seven managers from Iberdrola USA, one from Brazil, one from Mexico, five from the UK and 13 from Spain. The participants undertook a session on Financial Management Accounting, and Manuel Cabezudo Pueyo from the company's Bilbao HQ contributed an interesting guest speaker session.
This customised programme delivered in conjunction with SBS' international partner Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, is providing participants with a unique experience, not only in the challenge of undertaking a part time MBA whilst working full time, but also enabling them to develop their inter-cultural skills and develop strong network bonds across a global business.
Programme Director Elaine Collinson works in close collaboration with her counterparts in Comillas, Marta Muñiz and Andres Ramos, and the company to ensure sponsors for each class are involved in the design process and guest speakers' involvement enables participants to fully understand their company’s perspective on each subject. Iberdrola is fully cognisant of the value of such a programme and has embedded this MBA as the starting point in their School of Management portfolio.
Following the Annual Review of the programme earlier this year, Group Head of HR Development Gema Góngora commented: "We are delighted with the feedback received from both the programme participants and their line managers. The positivity from both parties has been fantastic and it is especially pleasing to know that the participants are working so well as a group, creating strong social bonds and facilitating a global mind-set with a broader understanding of cultural awareness. The commitment from participants and support from line managers has also been truly amazing, and we are grateful because it is a necessity in this type of programme. We are extremely pleased with every aspect including the programme management, curriculum and teaching methodology but we continually look for opportunities to improve on all areas, both for the remainder of the programme for this cohort and for our future cohorts."
The current cohort is due to graduate in November 2015 at Iberdrola's HQ in Madrid. In February 2015, SBS and Comillas are looking forward to welcoming the second cohort of participants on the programme and developing this successful relationship further.