Dear reader,

Welcome to the May edition of the SIMT newsletter. In this issue we will inform you about SIMT's Graduation Ceremony 2006, new members of the Board of Governors, the process of the FIBAA Accreditation of SIMT, and the kick off of the event series SIMT HR-Forum.

This newsletter provides you with information on recent developments at SIMT, new programs, events and other interesting news. Thank you for subscribing to our free bimonthly information service.

Best regards,

SIMT Business School

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SIMT Newsletter | May 2006

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I. SIMT Graduation Ceremony 2006

36 graduates from 20 countries received their MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree at Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology (SIMT) on Friday, 28 April 2006. The graduation ceremony, the final milestone of their postgraduate studies, was celebrated by over 160 guests.

The graduates of the Class of 2006 come from Australia, China, Germany, United Kingdom, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Sweden, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, South-Korea, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Turkey, and the United States of America.

19 of 36 graduates completed the full-time MBA program, 12 the part-time MBA and 5 the career-integrated MBA program.

Welcome by Professor Dr. Karl-Friedrich Ackermann, Managing Director SIMT

In his welcome speech Prof. Ackermann gave an overview on the SIMT "Vision 2012", which is for the most part already realized: SIMT is one of Germany's leading providers for international MBA-programs and an outstanding Shared Service Center. SIMT perfectly integrates applied scientific knowledge and best practice management experience and is a meeting point for excellent lecturers, research workers, company experts and students from various disciplines all over the world. Last but not least, SIMT is a Profit Center Organization and strives for a ranking among the Top 20 International Business Schools.

Ralf W. Dieter, Chairman of the Managing Board of Dürr AG

The keynote speech by Ralf W. Dieter was on the topic "Leadership Challenges in Restructuring Situations". He underlined the importance of communication to employees and to stakeholders/shareholders in such situations and gave the advice: "Get the best people on board to support. Lead by example. Be authentic and demonstrate confidence."

Professor Dr. Frank C. Englmann, SIMT's honorable cooperation partner, awarded the MBA degree on behalf of the Universität Stuttgart

Happiness after the successful completion of the MBA exam

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II. Board of Governors (Kuratorium)

The SIMT Board of Governors includes personalities mainly from industry and science as well as SIMT alumni. Its purpose is to support and advise the International Business School SIMT. On April 10, 2006 the Board of Trustees of SIMT (Verwaltungsrat) assigned four new members to the SIMT Board of Governors:

• Senator e.h. Datuk Dr. Helmut Baur, Chairman of the Managing Board of Binder Optik AG
• Rolf J. Heiler, Chairman of the Managing Board of Heiler Software AG
• Reinhard Winkler, Vice President - IPG Operations EMEA of Hewlett-Packard GmbH
• Dr. Mehmet Varlik, Member of the Managing Board of Putzmeister AG.

Only two years ago, the Board of Governors comprised of eight members. Today it has expanded to 26 members. This development reflects the growing commitment of Baden-Württemberg?s industry to support the SIMT.

Click the following link to find a complete list of the members: Board of Governors

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III. Accreditation Process

Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation

SIMT is preparing for the national accreditation of the Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation (FIBAA). At the moment SIMT holds a candidate status. FIBAA is a foundation of the Austrian, German and Swiss economy, which accredits institutions complying with the FIBAA standards. After receiving the FIBAA quality mark, SIMT will apply for the international accreditation through the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

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IV. SIMT HR-Forum

The new event series "SIMT HR Forum" was kicked off successfully in March with the first forum on "Demographic change and its impact on corporations". The series will take place twice a year, featuring contemporary issues. Besides professional exchange, it serves as a meeting point for HR developers, HR managers and directors. Around 40 HR specialists participated in the first SIMT HR Forum.

Among others, they discussed about the topic "Forever young? How corporations can cope with the demographic change". As expert of education policy at the VDMA, Carola Feller highlighted prospects and threats of an aging society in relation to the working world. At the same time she presented felicitous practical examples taken from companies of different sizes, which examined their corporate age structure and adapted successfully to the changing conditions. The discussions included not only questions like the "war for talents", but also knowledge transfer, new ways in qualification and advanced education as well as methods of resolution to maintain performance levels and health.

Discussion on "war for talents" at SIMT's HR-Forum

Contact:

Simone Marhenke | Manager Corporate Relations | marhenke(at)uni-simt.de, +49-711-451001-21

Sandra Romahn | Manager Career Center | romahn(at)uni-simt.de, +49-711-451001-36.

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V. New participants in SIMT's Management Education Network

SIMT Management Education Network (MEN) has successfully expanded with new participants for two different executive programs in March and in May this year. The new participants are international middle and upper management personalities from the networking companies Alcatel, Behr, Dürr, Festo, MAHLE, TRUMPF, Fischerwerke, Freudenberg, Kärcher, Kern-Liebers, Leitz, LGI and Schuler. They come from the US, South Africa, Russia, Ukraine, Great Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Germany.

Between the three block seminars the participants work on integration and transfer of the new knowledge. Company visits, round table discussions, networking evenings, transfer workshops and particularly the final presentations, which will be held in autumn this year, are important elements of the MEN program.

More on MEN on the following link: Management Education Network

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VI. Leadership Excellence Program successfully started

On May 15 - 18, 2006, the first module of the new Leadership Excellence Program successfully started. The Leadership Excellence Program (6 days training program over approx. 12 months) is an effective way to turn managers into strategy orientated and socially competent leaders.

Contact:

Simone Marhenke | Manager Corporate Relations | marhenke(at)uni-simt.de, +49-711-451001-21

Beate Ernstberger | Management Development | ernstberger(at)uni-simt.de +49-711-451001-27.

For more detailed information on the Leadership Excellence Program please see the SIMT website.

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VII. Upcoming events

Access MBA Budapest

The Access MBA Tour is a unique chance to have a personal interview with the admission director of SIMT. Use this interview to clarify all your questions on the MBA program. Please register on the Access MBA website to have an interview scheduled.

Date:  Monday & Tuesday, May 29 & 30, 2006, 5.30 p.m until 9.30 p.m.

Event Venue: SOFITEL BUDAPEST, Roosevelt tér 2., 1051 Budapest

Messe Personal & Weiterbildung 2006 - 14. DGFP-Kongress

Date:  Thursday & Friday, June 8 & 9, 2006

Event Venue: Rhein-Main-Hallen Wiesbaden, Rheinstraße 20, 65185 Wiesbaden

More detailed information is available on the DGFP website.

Lectures by company representatives

Prof. Dr.-Ing. h.c. J. Menno Harms, Chairman of the Supervisory Board Hewlett-Packard , will give a speech on "Performance Management - Planning, reviewing and awarding in high performance organizations".

Date: Thursday, June 29, 2006, 7.30 p.m.

Event Venue: SIMT, Filderhauptstrasse 142, 70599 Stuttgart

New Seminar topic

Synchrone Lieferketten (SCM): November 30 - December 1, 2006.