University of New York in Prague - Educating Tomorrow's Leaders

The University of New York in Prague (UNYP) was established in April 1998 with the help of two partner institutions: the State University of New York, New Paltz and the State University of New York Empire State College. It is a sister-institution to New York College in Athens, Greece. At the time of its launch in 1998, UNYP offered students the opportunity to obtain an internationally recognized Bachelor's Degree via the State University of New York partnerships. Over the past decade, however, the university has grown and expanded its cooperation to include a number of other partners. UNYP now offers joint Master's Degrees together with La Salle University (USA), the University of Greenwich (UK), and the European Public Law Organization (Greece). It also runs Master's of Business Administration (MBA) degrees in cooperation with the Institut Universitaire Kurt Bosch (IUKB) based in Switzerland. In addition to foreign partners, UNYP also works with local Czech partners. Many of its staff also work and lecture at top Czech universities: Charles University, VŠE, etc.

Today UNYP's degree-offering includes American bachelor's programs in Business Administration, Psychology, International and Economic Relations, Communications and Mass Media, and English Language and Literature. The school also offers two European bachelor's degree options in the following fields: business administration, marketing or finance; one follows a full-time study model, while the other consists of weekend courses. UNYP's master's degree-offering includes Clinical-Counseling Psychology, International and Commercial Law (LLM), Professional Communications and Public Relations, and European Law and European Integration.

A key feature of UNYP'ds course-offering is its focus on business education. The university thus works with top business leaders and executives from a number of multi-national businesses in its MBA (Master's of Business Administration) course-offering. UNYP currently offers MBA degrees with specializations in the following areas: Banking, Human Resources, Information Systems, Management, Marketing, Project Management, Sustainability and Tourism Management. UNYP MBA courses have been developed to suit the needs both of continuing students as well as managers/executives seeking further professional training. Therefore all classes take place over weekends. And for MBA students needing still broader timing options for their studies, UNYP also offers an Online Flexible MBA.

It is also important to point out the practical value, not only of UNYP's business education courses, but also of its degree programs in general. The school has repeatedly been recognized for its graduate employability and the full employment of its graduates. Most recently, the school was mentioned as having achieved full graduate employment in a survey conducted by the Center for Educational Policy at Charles University's Pedagogical Faculty as per reports in the country's major daily newspaper, E15. The school was also mentioned in similar past reports in Lidové noviny and Mladá fronta Dnes.

Degrees designed to meet market demand
One of UNYP's key strengths is its ability to ensure its graduates jobs. This is boosted by the school's focus on specializations demanded by job markets. Over the past two years, UNYP has expanded its master's degree programs in particular to meet the needs of international business. In autumn 2009, the school launched a master's degree in International and Commercial Law (LLM) together with Britain's University of Greenwich. The degree program is targeted at legal professionals (lawyers, notaries, civil servants, et. al.), who wish to enhance their skills with practical knowledge of working in cross-border business environments. Building on this, UNYP decided to add a new master's program focused on European Law and European Integration over the past year. The school will teach its first courses in European law in autumn 2010.

Other master's level courses that have evolved from perceived market need include specializations in project management and sustainability. The Project Management MBA program looks to provide managers key skills in administrative work, planning and on how to extract the most value from project concepts and the teams that implement them. UNYP graduates in Project Management finish their studies able to offer future employers start-to-finish knowledge of how to design, manage and benchmark business programs that maximize human resource potential and financial investment.

The UNYP MBA in Sustainability demonstrates the school's focus on disciplines that impact the future of business. This unique degree study program aims to train a future generation of managerial talent that focuses not only on financial bottom lines, but also on ROI from a long-term social and ethical perspective. Students pursuing the Sustainability MBA follow courses in the use of renewable resources, corporate social responsibility (CSR) planning, and ethical management practices.

Top educators train top talent
UNYP faculty hold degrees from or work with globally renowned and top local universities including Charles University, Masaryk University, VŠE, Harvard, Stanford, and La Salle. Course lecturers from the world of international business have worked for top global multinational companies and business ventures including Coca-Cola, Daimler-Benz, IBM, etc. Similarly, UNYP graduates go on to work in similar companies and also to start their own business ventures. In recent years UNYP graduates have found employment in top businesses such as ČEZ, DHL, Nestlé, and Microsoft, as well in smaller local businesses like Image Lab and Snacker.

If you would be interested in joining the ranks of such top-level managerial talent and in learning from UNYP's excellent, result-oriented faculty, please visit the UNYP website on www.unyp.cz or contact the school at [email protected]. Alternatively, you can visit one of UNYP's Open House events this autumn (please check the UNYP web page for exact times).