Abstract
As the first recognized university, Bologna celebrated its 900th anniversary in 1988 with the signing of the Magna Charta Universitatum1 by 430 rectors. Since those early days the role of universities has changed in reflection of advances in knowledge as well as regional and societal particularities and political, economic, technological and cultural changes. As such the university has been a very adaptive model that explains its near millennium-old persistence as an institution of learning and research. With this in mind, we should not be shy to ask what in the world of learning we should do with universities today, especially with respect to executive university education in our contemporary globally interconnected world. What do global leaders of today need, and can universities be the providers? After all, such provocative questions have been central to university education success and the ability to combine stable routines and flexibility in developing new knowledge and capabilities over centuries.