With more than 300 locations worldwide and constant growth through brown- and/or greenfields, Magna International is one of the leading global suppliers to the automotive industry. My position requires a substantial amount of travelling and the ability to work with employees from very diverse backgrounds. The IMBA program at CLU has equipped me with the necessary skills, competencies and crosscultural abilities to do so. Thinking out of the box, being proactive and highly reactive to new business challenges makes up my daily work day. Being part of a global community I work following the sun. At CLU the combination of professional and highly qualified faculty, paired with an interesting and challenging curriculum has prepared me well for my career at a multinational corporation.

For small and large corporations alike, current and future challenges can only be mastered with a strong educational background and the willingness to never stop learning. Cal Lutheran’s combination of weekend and online courses is the perfect combination which allowed me to pursue a management degree while having comprehensive business obligations. Professors use relevant cases, and the exchange with students from many different industries have helped me to broaden my horizon and find new solutions in managing my company. As someone who heads a medium-sized company, I chose this program particularly to help me explore new ideas, strategies and philosophies and acquire new skills to become a better leader. Cal Lutheran’s MBA program has helped me to do exactly that.

I discovered Cal Lutheran’s MBA program as I wanted to prepare myself for the next step in my career. As someone with a technical background, the extremely relevant, high quality courses in that MBA program were perfect in helping me to transition into management. The combination of weekend compressed and online courses proved to be a perfect fit with my busy career, and the study trip to California simply has been an unforgettable experience that I will remember forever. I now feel fully prepared to take my career to the global level.

After studying CLU’s MBA program via IBSA in Austria I am able to fully leverage the acquired knowledge and managerial skills in my professional and personal life. Although challenging, the program at IBSA was flexible by combining face-to-face sessions with virtual class room courses and therefor enabled me to complete the program in parallel to my comprehensive job obligations. Leadership and trust of the CLU faculty provide mutual respect and foster motivation to think, share and be creative.

My decision for CLU’s MBA program was primarily based on its international orientation, the English language and the distinctive practical relevance of American postgraduate studies. The know-how and comprehensive business experience of the lecturers as well as their ability to link theoretical contents with real-life cases is more than impressing and allows me to easily find linkages with my daily job. The participants of the course are composed of different educational backgrounds and various industries which enriches the discussions and case studies and enables me to extend my personal and professional horizon. Comprehensive teamwork and the combination of face2face weekends and online sessions allow me to complete this part time MBA program in parallel to a time-consuming job.

Education is surly one of the most important investments people have to make. Studying International Development at the University of Vienna gave me a good understanding of trade, economic theories and business development around the world. However I strongly believe that an entrepreneurial mindset and applied business skills are critical and fundamental success factors for an international career in those days. CLU’s MBA program gave me the perfect tools for working in an international environment, in an organization which I was part of from its start up. The flexible schedule enabled me to pursue a degree from an American University and experience this great multi-cultural environment.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning’ – Benjamin Franklin.
Having a technical education in mechanical and civil engineering, CLU´s MBA at IBSA in Austria offered a perfect complement in economic and management theory. The flexible program with its experienced professors delivered a fundamental economic knowledge and improved my managerial skills, competencies and cross-cultural abilities. The community and my fellow MBA colleagues, the exchange of ideas, know-how and my personal development made this program to an invaluable experience.

CLU‘s MBA program has been the perfect complement to my already existing degree in Industrial Engineering. It added an economic component to my knowledge base and expanded my experience in collaborating with other international students. Both the courses offered, as well as the very professional and knowledgeable professors, made my time at CLU highly memorable. CLU‘s MBA has been a major enabler for me to get my current job as it made my career profile far more complete and thereby interesting, especially for large multinational organizations.

After a careful selection process I came to the conclusion that the Master of Business Administration program offered by the Californian Lutheran University in cooperation with IBSA Graz is perfectly suited for my personal requirements, and for those of my international acting company. The program featured all I would expect, namely: international setting, tutors from the business world and a broad mix of courses covering all relevant business issues. Moreover, courses are taught in English and can be attended while working full time. I am very impressed by the combination of flexibility and excellence offered by the CLU, the diversity of tutors with their wealth of experience and the carefully composed curriculum. An international working environment requires a sound understanding of international management tasks and challenges for which the program is building a great base. I have dedicated a lot of time and efforts to learn from the best and I am very satisfied with the ‘return of investment’.

Who are the most sought after leaders and managers today? I strongly believe that they are the highly motivated, international educated self-starters. It appears to me that studying in, and graduating from MBA degree from a US university in just 15 months as a busy working professional is a good testimony of all these qualities. Cal Lutheran’s MBA program, delivered in partnership with IBSA was the perfect program, and I am convinced that this highly interesting and intensive program provides the best base for future career steps. Even while studying in the program, multiple opportunities for career changes opened up for me, and – ultimately – I seized one of them.

“Als Führungskraft mit technischer Ausbildung in einem international tätigen Unternehmen ist dieses MBA Programm eine ideale Vorbereitung für den Schritt in Richtung Management. Die Kombination eines in Englisch geführten Studiums mit den sehr fortschrittlichen Arbeits- und Denkweisen einer amerikanischen Universität war für mich ausschlaggebend bei der Entscheidung für diese Ausbildung. Der Praxisbezug des Studiums wird durch systematische Vertiefung des erworbenen Wissens in Analysen und Fallbeispielen aus dem persönlichen Arbeitsumfeld hergestellt. Durch das ausgewogene Verhältnis von Präsenz- und Onlinemodulen und die Unterstützung des professionell agierenden Professorenteams ist die erfolgreiche Durchführung des berufsbegleitenden Programmes möglich. Persönlich bin ich überzeugt, dass ich mit dem Abschluss dieses internationalen Studiums für nächste Karriereschritte optimal vorbereitet bin.”

In life we need to make the right choices to achieve success, but it all starts with good education. CLU’s MBA program at IBSA in Austria appeared to be the best choice for my career for several reasons: The mix of online- and weekend sessions perfectly enabled me to combine the MBA program with my intensive job. Highly experienced professors helped me to grow not only professionally but also personally – including a significant improvement in my Business-English conversation skills.