The offshore wind industry has graduated its first MBA

18. November 2024

Shravan Kumar’s mother Jayasree flew in from Hyderabad to celebrate when the resident Indian graduated from OWEMBA earlier this year as the offshore wind industry’s first MBA. Also present for the celebration were wife Vanitha and children Aasdya and Sri Vansh and Flemming Østergaard, head of development at EASV.

In 2019, 13 leading energy companies and two business academies joined forces to tailor an MBA program for the offshore wind industry.

OWEMBA; The Offshore Wind Energy MBA was designed with the ambition to raise the level of knowledge and competence for both companies and employees. More than 70 wind industry professionals registered for the first module.

Nine courses, a main thesis and 60 ECTS points later, senior manager Shravan Kumar, business development at Stiesdal Hydrogen, can, as the first, call himself a master in offshore wind as an OWEMBA graduate. He praises OWMBA for a ‘very instructive course’:

“We have worked with relevant cases and were able to consult with specialists who can only be accessed in the industry. There is so much knowledge about wind concentrated in this part of Denmark. I have gained an excellent network of peers and leaders across the entire value chain with whom I can spar,” says Shravan Kumar.

Important industry support

A further handful of students will graduate during the autumn. Currently, 20-25 students are working on the nine modules at Hochschule Bremerhaven and Erhvervsakademi Sydvest (EASV), which set the framework for the MBA courses.

“The training has proven its relevance,” says Flemming Østergaard, head of development at EASV:

“The industry supports the Offshore Wind Energy MBA as an investment in the company and the employees and spend energy formulating the tasks and making themselves available for sparring,” he says.

According to Flemming Østergaard, the support contributes to the fact that the OWEMBA program is evaluated very highly by the participants.

“Offshore wind has a very wide range, which must be embraced in the tasks – and at the same time we must ensure that the education works like a ‘classic’ MBA. The evaluations and the support show that OWEMBA has passed,” he says.

FACTS:

OWEMBA is supported with pool funds from the ERASMUS program, which aims to promote cooperation between higher education institutions in EU member states.

The MBA’s 60 ECTS points are made up of 9 modules of 5 ECTS points and a main assignment of 15 ECTS.