IEDC Graduation Ceremony

Honorary doctorates to three exceptional personalities and
diplomas to 93 managers from 20 countries

Bled, Slovenia, December 7, 2007

At the IEDC Graduation Ceremony held in the Bled Congress Hall, participants of the 19th and 20th generation of the International Executive MBA as well as participants of Master of Science Program, all together coming from 20 countries, have received their diplomas. On this occasion, the Faculty for Postgraduate Studies at the IEDC has conferred the first academic titles of Doctor Honoris Causa to three outstanding people who importantly contributed to business and leadership development in the region.

The ceremony began with conferring the honorary doctorates for "their contribution to creating and integrating of knowledge and leadership development for a better world", to:

Dr. Ichak Adizes, Founder and President of the Adizes Institute, Santa Barbara, California, Dean of Adizes Graduate School for the Study of Change and Leadership, Provost, University of Canada;

Dr. Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and former Vice Chancellor of Austria; and

Prof. Aleksandra Kornhauser Frazer, Professor (Emeritus), Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, and Director, UNESCO International Centre for Chemical Studies, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The ceremony of conferring the honorary doctorates was followed by academic addresses of the three honorary doctors on the topic change management in business (Dr. Ichak Adizes) and public life (Dr. Erhard Busek) and knowledge management (Prof. Aleksandra Kornhauser Frazer).

Dr. Adizes pointed out that the change has been always present, what is new, however, it has been accelerating and becoming increasingly systemic, therefore we have to make strategic decisions more often, and the problem is that these decisions do not get implemented fast enough. "We have less and less time for ourselves and our near; you cannot find time, but have to take it, otherwise the change will suck you in and you will not even know anymore who you are," was a piece of advice given by Dr. Adizes to the graduates and the rest of the audience.
Dr. Busek spoke on the advantages of the enlarged Europe and stressed that short-term profit motives cannot be the decisive argument for the enlargement of the Union to the South-East; what is crucial are a larger vision of a re-united continent and long-term peace and stability. In his opinion, the major advantage of Europe is its variety, which we can take only by sufficient mobility; therefore we need to increase the latter, while at the same time developing also a broader view of the world.
Prof. Kornhauser Frazer focused on knowledge management, which she defined as converting fragmented knowledge into structured and focus-oriented knowledge system, based on intelligence methods. She pointed out that the way to the added value as one of the most frequent goals should not end there, but should go further on towards quality of life.

During the Graduation Ceremony the Executive MBA, Presidents’ MBA and MSc participants were addressed by Prof. Danica Purg, President of IEDC, and graduation speaker Prof. Randy Kudar, professor at the IEDC and professor emeritus at the Richard Ivey School of Business, Canada, who advised to the graduates not to act based on repeating the past patterns, but to take time to contemplate and to be ready for life-long learning.

According to the IEDC tradition, the Professor of the Year was announced: since there have been two MBA classes studying at IEDC annually since the launch of a two-year program, also this year two Professors of the Year were announced: the one-year MBA participants chose Prof. Jim Ellert, while the two-year MBA participants voted for Prof. Joe Pons.

The ceremony was attended by more than 300 distinguished guests: graduates, their relatives and co-workers, ambassadors, internationally renowned professors, representatives of Slovenian and foreign companies, and other guests.

"I congratulate you on the outstanding, well organized, very uplifting ceremony. You are first class in anything you do. And I am thrilled and flattered that you see me worthy of your hon doctorate," said Dr. Ichak Adizes.

"Congratulations on more than excellent concept and delivery of the ceremony. Everything was perfect: organization, content, beautiful atmosphere, apparent commitment of postgraduates and professors, the sharpneess of the spirit and the warmth of the heart at the same time. This is rare, very rare, therefore you need to be proud of it. And we all were fascinated by the commitment to quality, instilled in every member of your team. Of course I am proud that even I in a way belong to the phenomenon called IEDC. Warm thanks for having accepted me among you," said Prof. Aleksandra Kornhauser Frazer.