Imadec Executive Education

Imadec Executive Education GmbH is a business training provider in Vienna, Austria. The company briefly gained accreditation as a for-profit private university in 2001, albeit under dubious circumstances. The accreditation was rescinded in 2006 as a result of compliance issues and persistent diploma mill allegations. Imadec was forced into bankruptcy proceedings by its creditors in 2010 but was permitted to restructure under court supervision. The company continues to operate and is currently offering negotiation and management seminars.

History

Imadec was founded in 1991 as the International Management Development Consulting GmbH.

Founder and director was Christian Joksch, an Austrian insurance manager and sometime lecturer.

From 1991 to 1996, the company operated as a consulting business.

California State partnership

In 1996, Imadec secured a partnership with the California State University, Hayward (CSUH). Acting as an overseas business program subsidiary of the university and supervised by university personnel on location in Vienna, Imadec reinvented itself as a for-profit business school and began offering an Executive MBA program.

The program received accreditation from the FIBAA. Also starting in 1996 the International Gary S. Becker Prize, a prize for scholarly excellence donated and granted by Gary Becker together with a committee of international economists and business executives, was awarded by Imadec.

The partnership collapsed in August 2002. According to Jay Tontz, Dean of the CSUH Department of Business and Economics, the university decided to end the relationship because the venture had failed to turn any profit, even though the university's five other overseas MBA programs were making healthy amounts of money. The contract stipulated profit sharing as opposed to the more conventional revenue sharing; Imadec claimed it was barely breaking even but refused to either cut costs or agree to a revenue sharing arrangement. An additional problem, according to CSUH faculty, was "Imadec's failure to make timely payments" regarding salaries and expenses the company owed. According to Joksch, Imadec was canceling the contract because Kurt Leube, the partnership's academic director, had been misrepresenting his academic credentials. Leube, Joksch alleged, had been fraudulently claiming to hold a PhD in Economics that he did not in fact possess. Former Imadec faculty described Joksch's accusations as "ridiculous". Joksch had been well aware of Leube's lack of a doctorate; he had hired Leube on the strength of Leube's enthusiastic adherence to the Austrian School and his apprenticeship under Friedrich Hayek.

Private university

In May 1999, Joksch ran for the European Parliament on a Freedom Party ticket. Although he did not win a seat, the political connections he established paid off when the Freedom Party gained government responsibility and cabinet positions following the October 1999 Austrian legislative election. As a part of its general program of deregulation and liberalization, the new cabinet paved the way for the establishment of private universities in Austria. Joksch had been lobbying for legislation allowing private universities for years and appears to have played a major role in convincing the cabinet to sponsor the relevant statute. In fact, one of his employees was involved in drafting the statute. When the Accreditation Council established by the new act proved hesitant to accredit Imadec, Joksch's political allies were able and willing to bring considerable pressure to bear.

Current activity

As of 2018, Imadec is offering seminars in "advanced negotiations"

and "C-suite management".

In its sales brochures, Imadec still describes itself as an "academic institution" and refers to its instructors as "university professors" in a way that suggests, although does not claim outright, that the title is due to their being employed by Imadec. Imadec's two current instructors are in fact teachers at legitimate universities; their classes at Imadec are side jobs. Imadec "diplomas", described as "internationally recognized" in Imadec brochures, can be obtained for EUR 12,800 plus ten to sixteen days' worth of attendance.

Now operating out of a mid-market office building in the working class district of Margareten, the company continues to refer to its owners as "President and Fellows" and to its staff as "faculty", and continues to emphasize extravagant academic vestments in its marking materials.

Notable alumni

• Werner Amon
• Andreas Brandstetter
• Tillmann Fuchs
• Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
• Karl von Habsburg
• Princess Adelheid of Liechtenstein
• Gerald Mikscha
• Sylvia Papházy
• Karl-Heinz Strauss
• Ralph Vallon
• Theresia Zierler

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)