International Academics at NMMU Business School

The NMMU Business School’s Graduate School not only hosted its block release students from Gauteng, George, East London and Cape Town for their last study visit of 2014 at the end of August, but also a variety of internationally-acclaimed researchers and lecturers.

Prof Dimitris Assimakopoulos, the President of the European Doctoral Association in Management and Business Administration (EDAMBA) visited the School. Prof Cecil Arnolds, the Business School Research Director, consulted with Prof Assimakopoulos on the structuring of the new DBA Programme. “The purpose of EDAMBA is to promote and facilitate cooperation within the European Doctoral Programmes Association in Management and Business Administration by providing and managing a network to exchange information, to exchange PhD candidates and to promote research cooperation.”

The School also welcomed HR specialist and Professor of Business Studies, Prof Patrick Gunnigle, from the University of Limerick, Ireland. Prof Gunnigle lectured on both the Graduate School’s Part-Time and Block Release MBA Programme. He further addressed industry leaders at a Strategic Conversation on the topic of: "HRM in recession and after: an analysis of the impact of the global financial crisis on workforce management in a highly globalised economy". Academics from a variety of departments were also privileged to spend an afternoon with Prof Gunnigle at a staff research workshop in which he shared his research and publication expertise and further discussed a variety of topics ranging from getting published in journals and identifying cutting-edge research topics.

Lastly, the School welcomed Mr Clem Sunter, a top-selling business author, and one of the few specialists in the world on scenarios and their use in corporate strategy. Mr Sunter addressed the second-year MBA Block Release students currently doing their Strategic Management model. He was also the keynote speaker at the School’s annual MBA Dinner.