"Conference with focus on the responsibility"

The PIM Annual Conference plays a key role in the PIM alliance and brings together top academics and administrators from all PIM member schools to network and to discuss important association issues and growth strategies that impact international education. The Conference will kick off next week, between the 5th and 7th October at NHH.

23.09.2011 - Carmen Codreanu

This year's edition of the PIM Conference brings together 120 delegates from 58 PIM member schools, including the people at NHH. Among the guests will be the deans of NHH and the deans and administrators from the PIM member schools.

PIM`s theme and program

The theme of the PIM Conference 2011 is "The responsibility of the business schools" and NHH is honored to host it for the first time since becoming a member of PIM alliance in 1995.

John Andersen, the Director of NHH's International Office emphasizes the relevance of the chosen theme: "It is a must for all the business schools to be responsible for what they are doing, teaching and researching. In addition, the business schools must know what kind of candidates they want to graduate in the future, and what would be the necessary skills and knowledge of these candidates, in order to go into this "big world" that it is in change all the time."

The program of the PIM Conference is structured in three days, the first one being assigned to the coordinators and administrators. The focus of the conference sessions will be on international cooperation and challenges, future developments for the Norwegian and global economy and the position of Business Schools as contributors in "a world of global challenges".

Explore Bergen and Norway

Last year at the PIM Conference, Ole Johan Berge from NHH's International Office made a presentation about NHH, Bergen and Norway that was "flavored" by the music of the composer Edvard Grieg, and this was very well received by delegates.

It was suggested in advance that guests spend some more extra days in Bergen and Norway to explore the beauties of the country, and many of these guests are willing to do so.

"Instead of giving them many presentations about Norway, we are advising them to go and explore it themselves", says Ole Johan Berge at NHH's International Office.

Working together as a sign of commitment

NHH's international office staff is the organizing committee of the PIM Conference, and the management of the school is also involved: "We are the organizing committee of this conference, but we also have contributors from the management and leadership of NHH. It is important to emphasize that this is an institutional commitment from the school and its management, and we are directly involved in international cooperation", states John Andersen, the Director of the international Office at NHH.

Ole Johan Berge describes how they prepared the conference: "It has been quite a lot of work, and we had to ensure that everyone is registered and that their needs are met. We developed a system to provide food, accommodation, transport and other logistics, and, of course, the main program for the conference. We are in the final stage now with our work."

A very prestigious network

John Andersen and Ole Johan Berge emphasize the importance of the PIM conference for NHH and for the other business schools: "We have had plenty of conferences and events this year. The PIM Conference is very prestigious and it is one of the key elements in our anniversary celebration, when comes to conferences. It might be the largest and the most important conference for sharing experiences with other top universities, and it gives a direction to the business schools in the future."

"living in a world of global challenges"

In the following, John Andersen underlines the role of the PIM conference: "The PIM alliance is a very strong network. The most important element in this network is that the education is adapting to society and to the business community, and to the world's changes as well. We are living in a world of changes and challenges, and it is very important to have those developments gathered in a big conference where everybody can learn how it is to run a business school in US, compared with Asia and Europe."