Participants from Europe, the Middle East and Asia discussed how to develop, implement and deliver supply chain management programs that meet the highest academic standards, the needs of the business community and the demands of prospective students. Supply chain management is widely regarded as one of the most important areas of emphasis in business, yet according to industry experts there is a serious shortage of managers with the knowledge required to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex and global economy.
The seminar was facilitated by KLU professors Rod Franklin and Kai Hoberg as well as Professor Christian Hofer from the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas who ran the program in the USA for several years. In a series of presentations, panels, discussions and group activities they outlined best practices in course development. As a start, Professor Sandra Transchel outlined the challenges and decisions KLU faced when defining its new curriculum for the Master in Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Then best-practices in developing specific classes and leveraging materials for online and offline teaching were present.
In addition to KLU professors, two highly esteemed external professors joint the panel discussion: Professor Britta Gammelgaard from the Department of Operations Management at the Copenhagen Business School and Professor Benny Mantin Director from the Luxembourg Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management (LCL) at the Université du Luxembourg discussed how to develop classes and how to leverage practitioners in teaching.
During the seminar the participants also enjoyed seeing a real-world supply chain in action: They visited the port of Hamburg and got a detailed explanation of the port operations in one of the top ports in Europe.