Central Europe Human Resource Education Initiative
The Central Europe Human Resource Education Initiative (CEHREI) was created in 1991 as an outgrowth of a project to internationalize the ILR Schools Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS). It was founded through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to assist colleges, universities, businesses, and other stakeholders with the development of human resource management, organizational development and change, labor relations, and training practices in organizations in Central and Eastern Europe.
Initially, the program began with an association with the University of Economics in Prague, Czechoslovakia, then became an actual project collaboration among Cornells New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), the Faculty of Economics at Charles University in Prague, CZ, and the Faculty of Management at Comenius University in Bratislava, SK. Later, the sole partners became ILR and the Faculty of Management at Comenius University, although several smaller projects elsewhere occasionally piggy-backed off of this.
Some of the activities in which CEHREI engaged included:
- Faculty exchanges for teaching and research
- Masters level student exchanges for teaching and research
- Student internships
- Collaborative research
- Consulting
- Outreach development with companies and unions
- Academic library development
- Mineworkers and other union visits, exchanges and educational programs
Major Accomplishments:
- Development of new courses at all three partner schools (including: compensation, Intro to HR, international compensation, international HR, and conflict resolution, as well as additions of content to a range of existing courses at all partner institutions)
- Faculty international experiences in teaching, research, and collaboration among all partners
- Student international experiences in learning and working among all partners
- Cross-cultural experience among faculty, students and administrations among all partners
- Enhancement and development of library resources, primarily for Comenius University and ILR
- Creation of a new HR Journal (Comenius)
- Working paper contributions to CAHRS
- Contributions to 3 or more international conferences
- Links between Czech Mineworkers Union and the United Nations Development Program leading to 2 UN presentations
- Successful, long-term, full-time employment in HR and related positions in US or other multinational firms for many partner-university graduate students
Continuing Activities of CEHREI
Major funding for CEHREI ended in 1996. However, some activities continue, including: faculty exchanges and hosting of visitors, library development (books donated and shipped), collaborative research among individual faculty partners, on-going contacts and participation in various programs, and alumni activities. For further information, contact Linda Gasser
Major Funder:
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Dr. Richard Quandt, Program Officer
Funds were also received from the SOROS Foundation and the Open Society Institute and in-kind donations came from Cornell Universitys New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and many of its faculty.
