Rector´s Letter

Dear Students,

Let me welcome you on the web site of Vysoká škola manažmentu (VŠM), the first private college in Slovakia. The school was established by the law of the National Council of the Slovak Republic of December 1, 1999 and has been accredited by the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic as a school providing Baccalaureate and Magister studies in Business Administration and Knowledge Management, and a PhD. studies in Knowledge Management, which includes authorization to administer state exams and grant Slovak graduate diplomas. We are the first college in central Europe to include Knowledge Management in its study program. We have done so because the time we live in is the time of shift from information society to knowledge society. In this society, knowledge management is becoming a necessary condition of effective administration of all institutions, and graduates in this field will belong to elite managers.

The founder of VŠM is City University of Seattle, which has been operating in Slovakia successfully since 1991. In addition, Vysoká škola manažmentu, in cooperation with City University of Seattle, grants, upon successful completion of studies, a Bachelor diploma (Bachelor in Business Administration) accredited in the USA and offers the MBA program (Master of Business Administration), which is focused on preparation of top managers.

Both schools have compatible study programs in the English and Slovak languages and common international faculty with rich professional experience and teaching techniques. They guarantee not only a high level of professional education in the fields of business and knowledge management but also development of a sense of personal responsibility for one’s own education, creativity, and communication skills. Moreover, in cooperation with the company Gratex International, the VŠM provides a specialized program “Information Systems” in the Baccalaureate studies.

After obtaining the VŠM diploma, graduates gain an opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge in practice or to continue in the study at City University of Seattle and to obtain also an American Bachelor diploma within less than a year. Following another two years of study, usually while being employed, graduates may receive a Magister diploma or Master of Business Administration (MBA) diploma. Proven and progressive programs of City University of Seattle have prepared thousands of graduates for a successful career in various, even top management levels in the USA, Europe, and Asia. In this sense, we are successfully developing professional contacts and cooperation with colleges abroad, currently in the Czech Republic, Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania.

In this way, Vysoká škola manažmentu offers you a possibility of the western style of study, which is much more costly abroad and as such accessible only to a smaller number of potentially interested applicants from Slovakia. Mobility of our students, which has been enabled by a credit form of study and excellent knowledge of English, makes them qualified for fostering international cooperation, which is a condition of further development of the contemporary multicultural civilization. For this reason, in 2007, the VŠM has joined the international mobility program of the European Union called ERASMUS.

Dear students, thank you for your trust expressed by your interest in study at our school. It is up to you to what extent you will utilize opportunities given by interaction with your teachers and modern teaching techniques, which are based on application of up-to-date information technology, Internet, large professional databases, and a virtual library of professional reference literature. Studying at the VŠM will enable you to become leaders with a real perspective to work in managerial positions in the economic field in Slovakia and abroad, with a goal to reinforce the current status and role of our country among prosperous European and transatlantic democratic societies.

I wish you a lot of success and I am looking forward to our cooperation.

Best regards,

Prof. MUDr. Branislav Lichardus, DrSc.
rektor