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Management education in Vienna: Like father, like son
November 21, 2018
Damir and Lovro Šprem from Zagreb, Croatia
The Croatian Damir Šprem graduated from the WU Executive Academy with a Global Executive MBA in 2009. Almost ten years later, his son Lovro also decided to study at WU Vienna. In an exclusive interview, the Sprems talk about their management education in Vienna and why they would both return to WU immediately.
When Damir Šprem saw the Global Executive MBA advertisement in a Croatian daily newspaper, he didn't have to think long. "I was looking for a classic management education and Vienna is only four hours by car from Zagreb," he says on the phone. And adds a hearty: "Oh Vienna, I love Vienna..." So it should be a postgraduate program at the WU Executive Academy. At that time, in 2009, Damir Šprem worked as CFO of Croatia Airlines. He previously studied economics at the University of Zagreb.
Damir Šprem
- Global Executive MBA alumnus
The level in the MBA program was significantly higher and very practice-oriented, we had about 40 people from nine different countries in the class. I liked the new management approaches, the study trips abroad to China and India, the USA, Bucharest and St. Petersburg and the four-day monthly modules: they were very compatible with my job and my family.
If the son follows his father's example
Last year Damir's son Lovro, who like his father used to study economics in Zagreb, decided to spend a semester abroad at WU Vienna. "My father had told me a lot about the WU Executive Academy and the level of teaching. To be honest, quality at a university alone was not enough for me," he says. One hundred students at a time in one seminar room is a bit too much. "At WU Vienna there were ten, maybe twenty people per seminar. We were able to have much more in-depth discussions with the professors and colleagues." He attended courses that do not exist in this form at his home university: "International Energy Strategies", "International Economics Development", "Infrastructure Investments in High Risk Markets" was his favorite subject.
Lovro Šprem
- Exchange student
We had exciting guest speakers from all over the world - for example a military officer who had led a mission in Kosovo. Many lecturers had a profound practical business background. Also, I found the social life on the new campus very enriching: the campus is so modern, the many restaurants, the large library, the great technological teaching and learning equipment in the seminar rooms.
His father Dmir says that his MBA studies has paid off a lot in his career. "I've met so many people, expanded my network and found a new job." Damir is now Managing Director of the Croatian Building Society “HPB Stambena Stedionica d.d.” in Zagreb. "We both often tell others about our experiences at WU Vienna and the WU Executive Academy," he says, "experiences we wouldn't want to miss. That is why we advise our friends and coleagues to also go to WU in Vienna."
For more information about the Global Executive MBA, please click here.