History of the Foundation

The Centre for Management Training Foundation has been operating since 1990. It is a non-governmental organization supervised by the Minister of Science and Higher Education. Its founder, President of the Board, and Programme Director was Professor Roman Głowacki, PhD.

The Foundation was established in response to the fundamental changes in the political system, which were a consequence of the first free elections in the post-war history of Poland, which took place on 4 June 1989. Professor Roman Głowacki took advantage of this breakthrough and was one of the first to introduce the methods and standards of managerial education developed in countries with market economy into Polish education. The Foundation commenced its operation after its Statute was approved by Professor Henryk Samsonowicz, PhD, the then Minister of National Education in Tadeusz Mazowiecki’s government.

The commencement of educational activities in 1991 was also possible thanks to the support of the European Commission, as part of the Tempus Project (Trans European Mobility Project for University Studies). In 1991–1993, the Foundation conducted one-year General Management Programmes in English and the course participants received a Business Administration Diploma. Another project, implemented by the Foundation in the 1990s, were short thematic seminars, tailored to the needs of top managers. More than a thousand students took part in these seminars. The institution also recruited participants for management education programmes conducted by leading management schools in the United States and Western Europe. For several years, he was involved in The Central and Eastern European Teachers Program organized by the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. The Program aimed to improve and update the management knowledge of professors in Poland and other countries of the region.

Since 1993, the Foundation has organized several dozen editions of the International MBA programme in cooperation with the University of Warsaw and other partner universities: Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Free University of Brussels, Ohio State University, and University of Antwerp. Several hundred managers have been taught as part of their studies and many of them hold high positions in prestigious corporations and public institutions. Activities of the Foundation in the field of managerial education have been highly valued both at home and abroad by programme participants and the academic and business communities.

The most important areas of the Foundation’s activity include: educational and scholarship activities, promotion of cooperation between Polish and foreign academic centres, exchange of experience, and building relations between business theoreticians and practitioners. Presently, the Board is headed by Malwina Głowacka, PhD and a graduate of the MBA programme conducted by the Foundation in 1999–2001.