Thirty students are currently enrolled in the first Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program at the European School of Management and Technology (esmt), which was founded by leading German companies including Allianz, DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Bank, Eon and ThyssenKrupp. Its president, Derek F. Abell, taught at Harvard Business School and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). He will step down in September, but has no plans to retire. "Life is long and the idea of retirement is not quite the right one," the 67-year-old said. "We all have to pass on to further projects which are interesting for us and keep us alive."

DW-WORLD: Prof. Abell, if I am looking to do an MBA, why would you advise me to come to esmt and not to any of the schools you've taught at that offer similar programs?

Derek F. Abell: We have a very strong relationship with 25 great companies -- maybe some of these companies are interested in recruiting you at the end. Our MBA program has a couple of extra twists. There's quite a lot of special attention to European business practices. And there's a lot of attention to technology and management and technology-based business.

You have said that Germany needs more leadership programs and less management training. What do you mean by that and what is the school offering in that respect?