ABSTRACT
Many Polish business schools are in a process of transition, as are most businesses in the Polish economy. Wyzsza Szkola Zarzadzania/The Polish Open University (WSZ) was founded in 1991 and, by June 1996, had provided business and management training to more than 3500 students in three locations: Warsaw, Legnica and Krakow. WSZ took operating guidelines from Thames Valley College (TVC) and applied these guidelines to the Polish context and was thus able to develop an educational system that, while not a copy of the British one, corresponded to TVC’s principles and mission. Polish partners, therefore, have to estimate whether short-term costs will be more than compensated for by medium to long-term income received as a result of subsequent improvements in capacity and/or capability. A major shift in the roles of Polish sponsoring organizations can also pose difficult problems for British partners.
