Sixty-three Eastern European professors will graduate Thursday from a management education course sponsored in part by the Harvard Business School.

The Central and Eastern European Teachers' Program is designed to teach these scholars how to help restructure the economies of the former Soviet satellite nations.

The program should "enable the participants to return to their respective universities and influence the development of business and management education curriculum toward the free market system," according to Gary W. Loveman, an assistant professor at the business School.

Loveman, who advises the Polish government on privatizing state industries, also said the participants "are expected to be centers of gravity for competence," serving as resources for management and technical assistance in their home countries.

The program is sponsored by a consortium of five leading U.S. business schools: Harvard, Stanford, MIT (Sloan), Pennsylvania (Wharton) and Northwestern (Kellogg).

Course leaders aim to recruit approximately 160 scholars from prominent universities in Central and Eastern Europe and enroll them in existing executive education programs offered by consortium members.

Countries represented in this graduating class include Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungry, Latvia, Poland, Rumania, Russia and Yugoslavia.

The first phase of the program is an intense six to 12 week immersion in various functional areas of management such as accounting, marketing and business strategy. In addition, daily discussion groups conducted by students represent varied cultural and career backgrounds. The participants also take frequent field trips to experience first-hand some of the businesses they examine in case studies.

One participant, Dr. Angelika Ballschmiter, anassistant professor of business administration atRostock University, Germany, said she was unableto sleep for the first two weeks of the programbecause "of the high level of anxiety" inpreparing for each class and reading the casestudies. "The cases feel like real-life businesssituations," she added.

Another participant, Dr. lgors Ludborzs, anassistant professor of accounting at theUniversity of Latvia, also praised the HarvardBusiness School's approach to teaching. "[The]case method makes you think in real terms," shesaid. "If we can see how it works here, we can useit [in Latvia]."

"Another key benefit of the program will be anetwork which will develop among the students,"said James Aisner of the Harvard Business SchoolNews Office.

'University to University'

"We never had the opportunity to haveuniversity-to-university dialogue," saidBallschmiter. "Because of the Teachers Programthat will now be much easier."

This year's participants will return to one ofthe five consortium schools next summer to pursuea filed of specialization in one of the functionalareas of management.

Participants and instructors expect that theTeachers Program will serve as a catalyst forchanging "the system", according to Loveman. Butall parties indicated that change may be slow incoming.

"To cause change, I first need to change insidemyself because my fellow faculty members will beresistant to change," said Ludborzs. "It will taketime."

Loveman said the real benefits of the programmay not be apparent for "perhaps three to tenyears...these students will first have to changeattitudes, work up the ladder in theirdepartments, get into positions of authority. It'sa slow process."

According to Aisner, the program costs $25,000per student, with a total cost of $3.5 millionover the four-year period. Most of the money willbe raised from contributions from corporations,foundations and government agencies, he said