SKU Advanced Management Program: Your Qualification for Executive Management

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Origins

SKU, the organization, was founded in 1953 as an association called "Schweizer Kurse für Unternehmensführung" by the heads of three Swiss institutes of academic repute: the Institute of Management of the University of St. Gallen HSG, the Swiss Foundation for Applied Psychology SSAP, and the Center for Enterprise Science (formerly BWI) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ETH. SKU is a recognized non-profit association. Its organizational structure consists of the Association (Verein SKU), a Supervisory Board (Vorstand) and the executive and program management. SKU's mission, then as to day, lies in developing the general management competencies of senior executives.

 

Program

SKU is also the name of the organization's main program. "The SKU" is a ca. year-long part-time program for proft center managers at medium-sized companies, or smaller company heads who are looking to expand their competency in general management. The program is focussed on strategic and integrated general management. It is complemented by an introductory seminar on the SKU Strategy Method (a support program for SKU participants' team members working with them on a strategic plan) and a Senior Executive Program (a further education program for SKU alumni).


Concept

Because SKU participants are experienced managers, they act as both student and teacher. The SKU approach is three-tiered:

  • SKU provides a basic refresher on present-day management learning and practice communicated by leading members of both the academic and business communities,
  • SKU systematically enables peer learning, drawing upon the extensive cross-cultural and cross-sectoral experience of all program participants via topic-focused group discussion, and
  • SKU provides a framework for learning from best practice, and for developing a strategic plan for their own individual business that is ready to be implemented by program close.

Benefit

The SKU graduate leaves the program with updated knowledge of the management disciplines, with numerous insights into current business practice in Switzerland and abroad, with a strategic plan for his or her own business – and with a network of peers that is proven to continue to provide invaluable professional and personal support long after program close. This network is appreciated by multinational companies wishing to give their executives quick access to a professional – and social – network in their new country of residence.

From 2010, the SKU AMP is an officially recognized program of the University of St. Gallen. A joint diploma conferred by the Verein SKU and the University of St. Gallen's Executive School documents successful completion of the SKU Advanced Management Program.

 

Curriculum structure

SKU spans approx. 8 months, with 30 days of on-site sessions distributed over six modules (run in Brunnen on Lake Lucerne, in Geneva and London). Personal preparation and project work between modules is estimated at some 300 hours. The main program language in the four Brunnen-based modules is German, respectively English in the module run in London (in cooperation with City University's Cass Business School) and the 'International Management' module in Geneva that closes at the World Economic Forum. The SKU curriculum is structured in main topics (running over several modules and comprising lectures as well as business presentations of the group members followed by topic-focussed discussion), coached project work (strategic plan) and complementary topics (covered in lectures, workshops or seminars).

 

Admission Criteria

SKU applicants must have a good working knowledge of the German and English languages (oral and written), at least ten years' management experience (with line responsibility within a larger company, or senior/top management responsibility within an SME). In view of their project work during the SKU year, they must have strategic authority over their own profit center or business operation. Median participant age is 43 years, within a bandwidth from 32 to 52 years. Applications must be submitted by the sponsoring company complete with a candidate assessment indicating the prospective career track within the organization or group.


Participants

SKU participants are predominantly Swiss (from all four language regions), German and Austrian. Virtually all sectors of private enterprise as well as the public sector are represented in each SKU. Candidate selection ensures that each course reflects a greatest possible diversity of industries, functions, professional experience and personal backgrounds.
Regular client companies include all major Swiss firms and increasingly foreign multinationals operating in and out of Switzerland (>"Kunden"). The SKU alumni network currently comprises over 4,000 graduates in key, mainly European-based, positions.

 

After SKU

The SKU Alumni Organization, open to all alumni of the SKU Advanced Management Program, organizes annual meetings, and provides continuous education in various formats including access to publications of SKU faculty, invitations to lectures, and dedicated alumni events.

A Senior Executive Program targets important trends and current aspects of management at the international level. In a week's format combining lectures and site visits, members of the business, academic and political communities provide insight into selected program topics, local management practice and current affairs in developed, developing or emerging regions of the global economy. Earlier SKU Programs have highlighted business and management issues in Japan, Greater China, the United States, India, the United Kingdom and the Asian "Tiger" economies, or have focused on specific management challenges (currently "Value Creation"). The SKU Senior Executive Programs are run in English and open to SKU alumni and, by special application, members of the senior management of SKU client companies only.

Starting 2010, the University of St. Gallen confers its Diploma in Advanced Management to SKU Alumni who also complete its International Senior Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ISEP ES-HSG).