Z General - Students and Graduates Archives – Page 23 of 35

December 21, 2020July 21, 2021

In search of the new sustainability trailblazers

Programme leaders are best placed to integrate the myriad of issues around sustainability into Business School content, say ESSEC Business School’s Carina Hopper and Johanna Wagner

Chances are that you have been hearing talk of sustainability and the need for Business Schools to do more to bring forth a new generation of business leaders that are more environmentally and socially inclined than their predecessors. In the broader context of society, we might ask who is responsible for driving this change. While there are many factors at play, we would be doing a disservice to Business Schools to deny their unique influence on the minds they help form. Once set to work these minds can influence society through diverse channels as business leaders and informed citizens in positions of power.

An initial exploration of the topic of sustainability content in management education raises many questions. What change are we looking for? Which strategy will create the greater impact – offering a specialised sustainability diploma to a minority of students, or introducing sustainability fundamentals to the majority? Is the main objective to impart knowledge, or to convince students to care? Who, within the institution, should be responsible for taking the lead on sustainability education? In this article, we propose answers to these questions in an effort to accelerate change.

The changing landscape of business and society

Among other things, Business Schools teach their students to become reliable problem solvers. They give them the techniques and the confidence to approach challenging business situations with a strategic mindset, ideally one that drives innovation and a sense of progress for the company.

These challenging situations have traditionally been about the bottom line and increasing shareholder value through return on investment. Today, however, not only is the concept of shareholder primacy under question, but also the shareholders themselves are increasingly supporting more sustainable business practices. This is due to developments in the regulatory environment at national and supranational levels as well as a search for purpose both from employees and customers.

In turn, these transformations are creating greater demand for new skills and competencies to move organisations forward in a context of growing uncertainty and constraints. While recruiters are seeking candidates who are ready to navigate and help shape this evolving business ecosystem, millennials are breaking with previous generations by expressing an openness to accepting lower pay to work for organisations whose values align with theirs.

Introducing sustainability in management education

In reaction to these signals, the exploration of sustainability in Business Schools is currently two-dimensional. The first dimension is operational and relates to the way Business Schools are run, in terms of facilities and services as well as governance and recruitment. The second dimension, and the focus of this article, is the introduction of sustainability content, mostly emerging as dedicated electives, diplomas and chairs, or one-off activities with specialised partners.

The first issue when discussing academic content is the current practice of siloing sustainability, in which learning is restricted to a limited, interest-driven audience. In this model, a small minority is trained while the large majority remains distant from discussions on topics that are now affecting every field, industry and manager.

The second issue is related to the gap between the supply created by these specialised diplomas and corporate demand. On the one hand, master’s programmes in sustainable business train specialised managers whose profiles are very attractive for only a limited number of organisations. Elsewhere, their profiles may even frighten recruiters or managers whose organisations have not yet made a strong commitment to sustainability.

On the other hand, organisations could use more managers who, while not specialised in sustainability, are well equipped to contribute to sustainable innovation and change. This is especially relevant when working with engineers, scientists and technicians who are themselves specialised in sustainable practices.

It is interesting to note how this siloing of sustainability mirrors corporate trends. There, the development of dedicated CSR departments have, in many cases, proven to be an imperfect answer to lingering issues with a lot at stake. For this reason, Unilever, to name just one example, dismantled its CSR department in 2016 for the purpose of embedding sustainability throughout all of its activities, an approach called for by other CSR professionals across industries.

Towards actual integration

In academia, a comparable de-siloing dynamic is needed. In our proposed model, programme leaders are given the necessary resources and support to integrate sustainability effectively throughout their programmes’ current courses. This involves empowering them to embed a cohesive sustainability message into their existing curricula, organise relevant training for their faculty, and engage with prospective students on the topic.

Programme leaders are in the best position to initiate and foster this paradigm shift. Their proximity with all programme stakeholders bears the potential to accelerate decision making and customise action, which in turn impacts the success of their programmes in rankings, which is one important measure of their performance.

On this trailblazing route to sustainability integration, programme leaders may face obstacles that mirror the experience of visionary business leaders:

+ In the midst of conflicting interests and ideological debates, you should anticipate a battle for resource allocation.

+ As in any process of change, you will find reluctance among your teams (including faculty and staff), who will need to be brought on board using the appropriate support and training mechanisms.

+ You will have to find ways of implementing your ideas even though they may not tick existing boxes in terms of administrative planning and reporting.

+ You will have to define the specific terms of stakeholder engagement adapted to your programmes and region.

+ In a constantly evolving context, there will be few impact measurement tools available at the onset of your work (BGA’s Continuous Impact Model is one) and there will be limited recognition by rankings. It’s important therefore to keep in mind that you are contributing to the development of both, by generating data and providing feedback.

Conclusions on the current state of affairs

As both MBA alumni and postgraduate management programme lecturers, we believe programme leaders hold pivotal responsibility for the integration of sustainability in business education.

This is because they are strategically positioned at a crossroads between companies and the individuals who will one day manage them. Not only will these individuals impact communities through their businesses’ operations, but they will also send signals that, in turn, influence public policy and, more generally, public opinion.

More than just becoming reliable problem solvers, students should be taught to become accountable solution designers.

Higher education should empower students with knowledge on a wide range of systemic reactions to help them make enlightened decisions on what to care about and how to prioritise, thus arming them with the capacity to act responsibly before a full range of stakeholders.

Judging from the current state of affairs, it seems that too many management students are graduating without that capacity.

Carina Hopper teaches sustainable business and entrepreneurship at Business Schools including ESSEC Business School, SKEMA Business School and ESMOD Fashion Business School.

Johanna Wagner is a hospitality finance and asset management expert. She teaches in leading European hospitality management master’s programmes.

Hopper and Wagner are Co-Founders of La Belle EDuC, which offers training for institutions on the path to sustainability integration with the goal of empowering students in their choice of studies.

This article was originally published in Ambition, the magazine of the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

December 11, 2020May 30, 2023

Covid and caution: how we can use universities safely

Steps to take to ensure the safety of those who may be arriving back on campuses around the world in 2021

For everyone at university, whether they’re staff or a student, the future looks uncertain. Universities across the world are transitioning to work through the ‘new normal’ of the world. This involves trying to work out how they can allow students to study safely. In the UK, a big problem has been funding, with many institutions relying too much on fees from international students and now facing the prospect of going bust.

Worries

Many universities have been given the freedom to put their own regulations in place. This has resulted in a lot of big decisions happening in a short period of time before students were welcomed back for the autumn term. Some universities were still offering students a full year of teaching, whether the plan was to use a combination of online and face-to-face learning, or in some cases just online. Cambridge University announced that all of its learning would be done online until summer 2021. In India, only one state has allowed its universities to open as the recorded numbers of Covid-19 cases in the country have continued to rise.

Universities have been making the effort to bring students back in the safest way. However, in some cases, it has not been easy to maintain the necessary social distance standards. Masks are mandatory but how safe can they be when the lecture hall is packed, and many late arrivals have to sit on the floor. Students in France have been using the hashtag #Balancetafac (‘call out your uni’) to post photos of their overcrowded learning rooms. Since French universities reopened there has been a dozen clusters of Covid-19 cases.

In the UK, where restrictions are being heavily enforced, many students are upset about what their first-year experience has turned into. One first-year student at the University of Glasgow told the Guardian: ‘Moving up from London, living away from home for the first time, was scary enough without people now saying that we may not be able to home for Christmas. That’s made me really upset and I did have a little sob last night.’

Regulations

If universities want to welcome students and staff back as safely as possible, they need to follow their own government’s rules and regulations. Here are some key rules that universities need to implement before having large levels of staff and students coming back on campus.

1. Social distancing

Limiting the amount of staff and students on the campus entirely is something that needs to be looked at, as well as considering those who may need to shield. assess how many staff and students are vulnerable, and conduct risk assessments. Use floor stickers and signs to make social distancing easy to follow across the whole campus.

2. Welcome international students safely

The total amount of students from other countries may be lower this year, but there will still be many heading to countries outside their own to study. Many will have a mandatory period of self-isolation, or other requirements, to perform when they arrive in their country of study. Ensure your international students are aware of this and that they have the support they need to get through any self-isolation period, such as ensuring they can receive basic food supplies and providing them with books and materials needed for their studies.

3. PPE

Giving students PPE (personal protective equipment) is not something universities need to do, but it should be considered. Knowing all have students face masks and hand sanitiser as they arrive back at campus gives peace of mind and allows students to concentrate on their learning without worrying about where they can get a mask, or where they can next wash their hands.

Of course, this would come at a cost. If every student and member of staff in the UK is provided with a face mask, it will cost around £4,229,933 GBP, assuming that the number of staff and students are at the same level as the previous academic year (2.38 million students and 439,955 staff members) according to data collected by Where The Trade Buys. For hand sanitiser, for each student and staff member to use two squirts of hand sanitiser an hour, the cost would be £355,314 GBP per day. These costs may sound a lot, but it could be a price worth paying to make sure your staff and students feels safe.

4. Online learning

A lot of universities were already recording lectures so students could watch them back, but streaming lectures is an option in full force this year. It allows students to decide whether they feel safe enough to attend a lecture in person. If they don’t, they won’t feel like they are missing out because they can watch the lecture at home. This will also allow people who have to isolate to do that without worrying they are missing valuable learning time too.

There are a lot of unknowns about this academic year, but if universities want to carry on offering education to those paying, following the steps outlined above could be a must. It’s a positive that many universities are trying to get back to face-to-face learning, but this must be followed with the strictest of regulations to make sure it can be done as safely as possible.

Rachel Gray is is a copywriter based in Newcastle Upon Tyne that writes across a variety of sectors such as healthcare, wellness and lifestyle.

December 8, 2020May 2, 2023

Who is the real king – the customer or the merchant?

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November 26, 2020July 21, 2021

Liquid is the new agile

Covid-19 has accelerated our ‘liquid’ lives – that is, our ability to be adaptable, flexible and fluid have become ever more important – and educational institutions must adapt, say Nick van Dam and Noémie Le Pertel

In an ever-competitive market, universities and Business Schools that build the ability to stay ahead of the game, rather than merely responding after an event, will ultimately be the most successful.

Covid-19 has brought about the kind of change in months that you normally only see after generations. Like most industries, education has had to rapidly acclimatise.

The fact is, universities have always adapted, learned and moved on – that is the basis of academic enquiry and the heart of the sector’s strength. Across higher education, universities are already offering new, and completely online courses, attracting new students from different markets and innovating in how they work.

But in the Covid age, we’re also seeing the disappearance of existing structures, patterns, codes, rules and institutions that once provided stable foundations in society and guided people’s behaviours.

Liquid modernity

The late sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman, described this phenomenon as ‘liquid modernity’. The theory states that liquids are characterised by ultimate agility – they flow and conform to various structures while retaining their volume. Therefore, liquid represents adaptability, flexibility and fluidity. The world we are living in has become liquid across many dimensions, including economic, social, geopolitical, environmental, technological and educational.

The reality is that the ‘new normal’ may differ in quite a few respects – but what unites it all is its fragility, temporariness, vulnerability and inclination to constant change. To ‘be modern’ means to modernise – compulsively and obsessively; not so much just ‘to be’. Each new structure which replaces the previous one as soon as it is declared ‘old-fashioned’ and past its use-by date is only another momentary settlement – acknowledged as temporary and ‘until further notice’. As time flows on, ‘modernity’ changes its forms.

The new agile?

Despite these fluid times, institutions of higher education continue to operate in a state that Bauman calls ‘solid modernity’. But with the absence of stable employment structures, the chaos from Covid-19 and ever-evolving technology, there is no doubt that we are in a liquid state.

But this passage from solid to liquid modernity has created new and unprecedented settings and challenges for individual life pursuits. Essentially Covid-19 has accelerated our liquid lives, which means our ability to be adaptable, flexible and fluid have become ever more important. This renders many of our plans and forecasts irrelevant.

But even before Covid-19, work and careers were becoming fluid. The workplace is a very different place to what it used to be 30 years ago or more. From the introduction of new technology and tools, to the rising trend of remote working, the modern office has adapted in a number of ways. Employees now tend to stay with a company for only a few years before making a change. Gone are the days where people would regularly stay with a company for 30+ years. People are also more likely to change their careers, and not just their jobs, over their lifetime, partly because they will be living and working for much longer than their parents did. Because of this, people will need to develop distinctive competencies as they switch between roles as students, employees, contractors and entrepreneurs. In many ways’ ‘liquid’ has become the new agile.

Educational institutions can and must adapt

It has become almost universally accepted that universities must adapt to the world they live in. But the way that university education has been organised and delivered has not changed dramatically over the last 50 years. Students still turn up on campus, take exams and begin their careers after graduation. They do not operate in a liquid state – the reality is the world has changed so much, but the way students are educated has not.

The current educational model is not sustainable in a modern world. But the pandemic has proved that educational institutions can adapt when they face a compelling need quickly and comprehensively.

At their best, Business Schools are innovators, risk-takers and pioneers, and it is these characteristics that should be brought to the fore. Often, my experience is that university leaders are keen for their institutions to develop, and academic and professional staff share an ambition to deliver the very best teaching and research. However other factors are at play, institutional inertia, governance by consent and the ability of individual stakeholders can hinder innovation. However, as work and careers become more fluid, innovation and progress are more important than ever. The virus has underscored the fact that Business Schools need to develop a liquid learning model – and they need to do it now.

The five characteristics of liquid learning

‘Liquid learning’ is a comprehensive, holistic, complete and interactive educational experience. It blends physical and digital learning ecosystems in innovative ways so that students obtain the highest quality of education no matter where in the world they are and what their current situations might be, as long as they have access to the technology they need. Liquid learning embodies richness of experience through experiential learning and is based on five guiding principles:

1. It’s active and social: in a liquid learning environment, students have active and social experiences that stimulate both their cognitive and emotional development. When they’re in active learning mode, students collaborate, observe others, give and receive feedback, and reflect on their experiences. As they engage in social learning, they also foster human connections.

Active and social learning is enhanced through multicultural group assignments and discussions, individual study projects, multimedia cases, simulations, learning games, labs, role-playing exercises, presentations, networking events, discussion forums, debates, peer evaluation and feedback, and gamification techniques that engage the learners. Through active and social learning, students gain a deep understanding of concepts and boost both short- and long-term recall. They acquire knowledge, develop skills, and change mindsets.

2. It’s multichannel: multichannel learning enables interactive learning at any time and in any place, whether students are taking classes in person, online, or in a hybrid model. Schools that offer multichannel learning can easily switch between formats, so they can still provide a dynamic learning experience for their students even in sudden emergencies. In this way, multichannel learning is ‘liquid-proof’.

3. It’s personalised to the student: today’s students can customise every aspect of their lives, from how they order coffee to how they read the news. It’s no surprise they expect to be able to personalise the way they consume education in order to meet their unique needs and aspirations. Personalisation allows students to opt for learning in any place, at any time, through any pathway, at any pace of study, with any cohort, following any professor, using any technology and any type of pedagogy.

For instance, a student in Europe might enrol in an elective class in Asia that he can take online on a part-time basis. He meets with other international students in virtual classrooms where they’re taught by an adjunct professor and a CEO. He learns by doing when he undertakes to solve a real-world problem at his current job.

Some Business Schools offered a few of these options in the past, but the pandemic has highlighted the need for more Schools to make such options widely available. Customisation allows students to continue learning even if travel bans keep them from returning to campus or if other unforeseen circumstances arise.

Not only is personalised education critical for a liquid world, it’s also more engaging for students, which means it enhances motivation and drives academic achievement. While Schools might find it daunting to offer extensive personalisation, it can be supported by big data and AI.

4. It features faculty excellence: whether Schools are offering online or in-person education, the students’ learning experience will depend on the quality of the faculty. Excellent faculty have the capacity to inspire students to approach their studies with intellectual curiosity, which will lead them to pursue liquid learning for the rest of their careers.

To promote faculty excellence, Schools must require ongoing faculty training and solicit feedback from students and faculty peers. They must align their rewards and recognition with desired faculty behaviours. Schools must also develop a liquid faculty model that leverages a diverse blend of different faculty profiles, including researchers, adjuncts, visiting faculty, practitioners, facilitators, coaches, mentors, teaching assistants, and guest speakers.

5. It’s anchored in the real world: because the real world is liquid, students need to unlearn old habits and develop new behaviours. Once they’ve acquired new expertise and skills, students will be able to drive change and innovation. Because Covid-19 has accelerated the digitisation of real-world work, students who participate in classes that include online components develop invaluable digital skills that will help them on the job.

The future of education

If universities and Business Schools are to prosper, they must be relevant to the societies in which they exist. Universities shouldn’t operate merely as trainers of school leavers about to enter the job market; they should assert their importance as critical builders of knowledge and human capital. They must be relevant and be willing to engage with society to show how that is the case. True relevance could mean substantial change for some – more flexible models, mixed-mode pedagogy, or learning while earning, for example.

The reality is, thanks to Covid-19, the future is here. And the future of learning is fluid, dynamic, adaptable, immersive, personalised, and engaging. It is all about the richness of the experience: curricular and extracurricular, social and individual, global and local, active and reflective, cognitive and emotional, professional and personal, physical and digital, supported by research and teaching excellence.

While this mode of learning has long been in our future, the pandemic has made the transition more urgent. It has shown us that universities must embrace ‘liquid modernity’ so they can not only meet any crisis that arises but also prepare students for an ever-changing world.

Nick van Dam is a Professor at Nyenrode Business University, IE University and the University of Pennsylvania. He is also Chief Learning Officer at IE University.

Noémie Le Pertel is an Academic Director and Professor at IE University.

November 10, 2020July 21, 2021

What contextual creativity can do for your career

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October 29, 2020November 21, 2022

Moving beyond Covid-19: Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, Scotland

How have Business Schools been working to move past the pandemic, both in the short and longer term? Kathleen Riach, Professor of Organisation Studies at Adam Smith Business School, offers her perspective

An initiative designed to help students at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow transition to an online world of work has been rolled out to a wider audience of alumni and partners, says Professor of Organisation Studies, Kathleen Riach.

This is just one example of the School’s response to the challenges presented by Covid-19. In this interview, Riach also discusses the need – and opportunity – for the sector to learn lessons from the speed of response to the pandemic’s outbreak and outlines her belief that global and ‘inward’ strategies are not dichotomous ideas.

Business Impact’s fifth edition in print turned to the BGA network to canvas the collected thoughts of Business Schools based in India, Scotland, Puerto Rico, Poland, and the Netherlands to find out how they expect the pandemic to affect their outlook, strategy and offerings, both now and in the future. Given in June 2020, the below interview offers greater detail of Riach’s perspective on how the emerging situation and challenges had been approached at Adam Smith Business School to date.

The Covid-19 pandemic has, in many cases, led to a greatly increased uptake of online learning technology in business education. Although this has been a short-term necessity, does it present the sector with any opportunities in the longer term?

There is absolutely a need to think about this not as an erroneous year, but rather how we can build on some of the creative virtual teaching and learning practices that have sprung up all around our Business Schools.

Part of this is thinking about how we share what we are doing in lieu of the watercooler and corridor conversations we usually have with colleagues. It is also about ensuring that in the longer term we encourage the creation of ambidextrous learning assets that can enhance our students’ learning experiences in a number of settings, whether that is online, blended, or predominantly face to face.

I also think that it has made us more open to thinking about asynchronous and synchronous learning as not an either/or conundrum and that our curricula might want to be more flexible in this regard, which is a good thing given that more and more of our students are now balancing multiple roles as workers and carers as well as learners.

At the same time, I think there has been a renewed appreciation of what being physically present provides within an educational setting and that there is a qualitative aspect that is very difficult to replicate through other media. Moving forward, it provides us with an opportunity to think about how we use the valuable face-to-face time we have with learners to support and create a transformative learning experience.

Going beyond the pandemic’s immediate impact, have the year’s developments influenced your School’s strategy with regards to the use of online technology?

It’s really important not to underestimate the amount of upskilling and sheer number of hours of labour that has been put into this by faculty and professional staff, and that this effort is going to continue as we seek to create sustainable teaching and learning practices over the coming years. We need to consider this not simply as a matter of online technology, but also a matter of wellbeing and ensure we are promoting practical ways that all Business School staff do not carry the health hangovers of this period of intensive work into the future.

However, amid the exhaustion there has also been some excitement to see just how quickly at Glasgow – an institution that is more than 550 years old – we can change and adapt, which can sometimes be a challenge in any large organisation.

I also think it’s important that now the initial ‘rush’ of pivoting online has occurred, we have the opportunity to think a bit more strategically about not just online technology, but also how we can learn lessons from what was a very rapid response to a crisis. Strategically speaking, how might we be able to learn lessons surrounding quickly enabling and mobilising in ways that help us proactively address broader challenges in the business world and beyond?

The global financial crisis of 2008 has been linked to an increase in applications to Business Schools, as people decided the time was right to reassess their career goals and pursue personal and professional development. Do you think the Covid-19 pandemic could have a similar impact?

Any seismic global event is undoubtedly – and hopefully – going to make people reflect on what they do and why, and I think we will see an increased interest in people taking this time to recalibrate career goals.

What changes do you anticipate to the number and profile of those applying to programmes at your Business School over the coming three years? Do you envisage greater interest in any individual programme(s) on offer?

Apart from having to navigate the logistical challenges that may face our international students, what we see is that students are very aware of how we are proactively responding to and engaging with current events, from sustainability to global inequality.

Business Schools are often encouraged to play a greater role in their local and regional communities. Has Covid-19 inspired any new events, activities or initiatives with this in mind?

Across the School we have seen our staff leverage their existing research expertise to provide thought leadership and new research projects that speak directly to some of the economic, work-related and social issues that circulate around Covid-19.

We have also decided to offer our DigiGallus initiative – an online programme developed to help students transition to an online world of work during lockdown – to alumni and key partners with the Business School. The traction we got from students in the School with DigiGallus has also provided the opportunity to develop an online mentoring scheme between our students and members of the local community who are shielding. We are hoping that this not only provides a service to local residents to navigate online living, but also gives students the opportunity to develop skills in leadership and intergenerational learning during the Summer break when many of their internships and workplaces are suspended or remain closed.

Leaving aside Covid-19, which single new programme, course, or initiative are you most excited about and why?

We just launched our MSc Financial Technology programme which is an interfaculty postgraduate degree with computing science, and law. Students from a variety of disciplines learn practical and conceptual skills, then have the opportunity for either a six-week industry placement or a startup pathway in an incubator developing an investment plan. It’s exciting to see the potential.

But beyond this, what we have seen in Covid-19 is a renewed thinking about how all our course provision is going to respond to the seismic changes we see in the world, and teaching staff are taking this opportunity to think about how we make sure that the skills we develop and way we teach is relevant to the world we are now in.

This might sound a rather obvious point, but as academics we are also all voracious learners, and listening to the different types of conversations with colleagues about exploring and developing provision in our courses that will support and equip our students to face their future worlds of work is pretty invigorating.

Do you think Business Schools will need to focus more inwardly (and therefore less ‘globally’) than they have been in their teaching in order to address industry needs post-Covid-19? If so, could this have an impact on your School’s international exchange and partnership options?

There are certainly practical challenges and possibly uncomfortable conversations that have to take place surrounding what it means to be a global Business School. Covid-19 has perhaps accelerated and brought to the fore a lot of the concerns many already had about the ways and means we think about being international and paying attention to all of our key stakeholders.

However, I don’t think global and inward strategies are dichotomous ideas. Rather, it is about thinking what our students and ourselves achieve from initiatives such as international exchanges and partnerships in their current form, and thinking creatively about how we can maintain and strengthen these aspects in a variety of ways, as well as considering how these competencies and benefits can be garnered through a more intimate engagement with, and contribution to, local economies.

For example, at a university level, our institution is currently thinking about civic engagement as a strategic priority and partnering with local and national government on very practical initiatives. One of the things that struck me when I came to University of Glasgow was that it certainly is ‘home to the world’ in many ways and that students who come here very quickly adopt the city. So, I think it’s more a case of developing these relationships further, rather than an ‘inward’ turn.

Do you anticipate Covid-19, and related issues, influencing course offerings within the programmes on offer from your School?

In many ways, Covid-19 has only further legitimised the direction we were already moving in terms of our provision. We have recently become advanced signatories of PRME and with COP26 being hosted in Glasgow, we already had the momentum of thinking about a different ecology of business education. At the same time, as a research-led School, provision is a ground-up process and courses are led by the expertise of faculty. I think it’s very important that we don’t simply begin introducing reactionary courses that speak directly to a theme per se, but rather think about what capabilities and skills students will need as a result of these global changes and how we can best foster these in our curricula.

There is an argument that the economic challenges that Covid-19 will bring represent a huge and much-needed opportunity for Business Schools to reinvent their value proposition for the better. What would you most like to see change in the business education industry?

We must acknowledge that this has been – and will continue to be – a devastating event for the world that has disproportionately affected certain parts of the population. But using it as a productive moment to think how we can do something is vital.

Business Schools collectively are a powerful force and thinking not only about our multiple accountabilities but also our potential to be incubators for change is so important, especially as we are at the beginning of the United Nations’ ‘Decade of Action’. In my role, one of the aspects we are going to focus on is how we ensure stewardship is central to the curriculum. If we really want to support our students becoming change agents in their future workplaces and the economy more broadly, then we need to ensure they don’t feel they are passive or mute agents in the current systems and ways of thinking.

Kathleen Riach is Professor of Organisation Studies at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, Scotland, having previously held faculty and visiting positions in Australia, Sweden and Germany. She is the School’s inaugural lead of Responsible and Sustainable Management, with her own research focusing on organisational age and gender inequality.

October 16, 2020November 21, 2022

Moving beyond Covid-19: Inter Metro, Puerto Rico

Inter Metro’s Antonio Fernós Sagebién looks at how the Puerto Rican institution’s offerings and plans for the immediate future have been affected by the pandemic

How will Covid-19 affect Business Schools’ outlook, strategy and offerings, both now and in the future? Business Impact’s fifth edition in print turned to the BGA network to canvas the collected thoughts of Business Schools based in India, Scotland, Puerto Rico, Poland, and the Netherlands to find out.

In this third part of our serialisation online, Antonio Fernós Sagebién – Associate Professor at the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Metropolitan Campus (Inter Metro) – shares his views on the awaited ‘new normal’, changes to programme structures, and financial challenges for part-time students that work full time. Please note that this interview was given in May/June 2020.

Yes, my university has a long-standing [history] of 100% online programmes (mostly courses that are 75% asynchronous) but now we have had to move [programmes with] 100% presence to hybrid (courses that are 100% online but that are at least 25% synchronous) courses.

As such, 100% of our faculty is now certified by [edtech company] Blackboard and, in our 100% online courses offer, existing courses are being refreshed with new material and modules and new courses are being created.

Going beyond the pandemic’s immediate impact, have the year’s developments influenced your School’s strategy with regards to the use of online technology?

Yes, faculty and students are now required to use online library resources (for both databases and periodicals/journals).

What will be the core challenges for the business education sector in recruiting new students (at both undergraduate and postgraduate level) over the coming three years?

Our students and my institution take pride in our very low teacher-to-student ratio, along with having personalised class scheduling processes. We now will have less degrees of freedom on our courses scheduling offer.

As most of our MBA students are employed full time, if any specific industry or sector gets affected or labour force is displaced, these students will have no source of funding.

Leaving aside Covid-19, which single new programme, course, or initiative are you most excited about and why?

New concentration in business analysis and a new master’s degree (non-MBA) specialised in banking administration.

Yes, indeed. As part of the US, our borders/immigration policies are the same as those of the US. It is always a challenge to get approval on visas for international students in Puerto Rico.

Do you anticipate Covid-19, and related issues, influencing course offerings within the programmes on offer from your School? (E.g. new modules, or new approaches within existing modules)

Yes, financial hardship from new and existing students will force us to create new delivery channels that are not yet validated. Exploring is a part of innovation and students, faculty and administrators are looking for a return to a ‘new normal’ that we have yet to know. Quite possibly, MBA courses will be [start to be] offered in a bimonthly cycle modules.

However, our position is that until we meet this ‘new normal’, we make no sudden moves.

October 6, 2020May 31, 2023

Four tips for avoiding loneliness when working from home

Loneliness shouldn’t be brushed off as a minor concern in the modern workplace. From joining an online community to lunchtime walks, these pieces of advice are aimed at preventing mental and physical health issues brought on by remote working

This year, remote working has become the norm. While some have relished lounging in their back gardens with minimal distractions, parents have swatted children away from webcams and 20% of remote workers say they struggle with loneliness, according to a 2020 report from Buffer and AngelList.

As an introvert, I thought I would relish being home alone when I went freelance in 2018. After more than 10 years of working in teams, I was overjoyed to set up a business in my front room. I felt more balanced, relaxed and in control of my moods. But, after a year or so, I started to realise that I wasn’t always flourishing in my solitude.

Being socially disconnected can have a serious impact on your mental and physical health, increase your risk of high blood pressure and inflammation, increase stress, and even make you more aggressive. This is why loneliness shouldn’t be brushed off as a minor concern in the modern workplace. Here are my tips on how to avoid loneliness when working from home.

Be proactive

Don’t wait until you feel loneliness descend before taking action. Schedule in social time with friends and family just as ruthlessly as you plan in work meetings and deadlines. Having these interactions as part of your self-care plan is essential, so make sure they are non-negotiable. Whenever you do catch up with friends, take time to acknowledge the positive impact it has on your mood in that very moment and use that as a reminder to prioritise it in the future.

Check in with your friends

I have a close-knit group of friends who, like me, are all freelancers. I know that they are all busy and stressed (also like me) so I make a conscious effort to check in on them every day. I’m not one for Zoom calls unless they’re completely necessary, so I prefer to send voice notes on WhatsApp to say hello. I find that ending a little audio gift to a mate saying ‘good morning’ and offering a pep talk is a nice way to start the day and feel connected to others.

Maximise your lunch hour

There may not be much scope for socialising when you’re sitting at your desk, but you can banish the blues at lunch time. Instead of migrating to the sofa for a Netflix session, go for a walk with a friend. Walking and talking at the same time is proven to be an incredible mental health tool because the forward-facing momentum encourages honest conversation. Not to mention all that glorious vitamin D which can play a pivotal role in helping depression.

Join an online community

Working in an office means that you’re surrounded by people who understand your industry. On the flipside, remote working can leave you feeling isolated and without anyone to bounce ideas off. Online communities can plug this gap and provide you with a space to talk about work, vent and network with like-minded individuals. You can join LinkedIn groups (take a look at these suggestions aimed at entrepreneurs, for example) or search for industry groups on Facebook.

Fiona Thomas is the author of Out of Office: Ditch the 9-5 And Be Your Own Boss (Trigger Publishing 2020).

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September 29, 2020July 21, 2021

Moving beyond Covid-19: Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)

RSM Dean, Ansgar Richter, on how Covid-19 has accelerated the School’s plans to make technology more prominent in its thinking and why Business Schools must avoid turning inwards

In this second part of our serialisation online, Ansgar Richter – Dean of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) – discusses how the School’s online strategy has evolved, how the crisis has given increased importance its sense of citizenship, and the dangers of ‘turning inwards’.

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Most certainly. We have learned a lot over the past months. The turnaround has been quick and effective, and teachers overall are positive. In a post-Covid-19 area, RSM will indeed move to a blended learning approach, and also fully online programmes – but only in those areas where we have unique strengths over what others offer.

Going beyond the pandemic’s immediate impact, have the year’s developments influenced your School’s strategy with regards to the use of online technology?

In the sense that the evolution has been quicker than expected, yes – but the developments were taking place already. For example, we had already established a learning innovation team a number of years ago, and Erasmus University – of which RSM is an integral part – set up an education lab (which includes a television-grade studio). These investments are now paying off, and we plan to accelerate them going forwards. Technology will feature much more strongly in our strategy.

The global financial crisis of 2008 has been linked to an increase in applications to Business School, as people decided the time was right to reassess their career goals and pursue personal and professional development. Do you think the Covid-19 pandemic could have a similar impact?

We definitely saw an increase in applications for our pre-experience programmes for the current academic year, in particular for our MSc programmes. For the post-experience programmes, it is too soon to tell – they will only start next January, but we have no indications of declining demand so far; on the contrary!

I think there are a number of things at play here – students’ desire to reassess their career goals being one of them.

One of our flagship programmes is the MSc in global business and sustainability. This programme has already been hugely successful, and we are now seeing demand for this programme growing further. Our MSc in business analytics is also set for further growth.

What will be the core challenges for the business education sector in recruiting new students (at both undergraduate and postgraduate level) over the coming three years?

There is no doubt that international student recruitment has become much more competitive in recent years, at least until the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. One challenge that all of us in the sector are facing is how to navigate the rapidly changing political landscape – factors such as visa and right-to-work policies come into play here, but also the rise of authoritarian or nationalistic governments in several countries that show no respect for the values that academic institutions around the world stand for: open exchange, freedom of thought and freedom of expression, equality, and the dignity of every human being regardless of factors such as colour, gender, creed or sexual orientation. I believe students will choose their place of study on the basis of these factors, too.

Another challenge that a lot of Business Schools will have to grapple with relates to pricing. In many universities in the UK, the US and Australia, Business Schools are often the cash cows of the universities, whose income is used to cross-subsidise other programmes. Effectively, these institutions have made the study of business administration too expensive, raising concerns about whether Business Schools contribute to inequality. I believe there needs to be a recalibration.

Business Schools are often encouraged to play a greater role in their local and regional communities. Has Covid-19 inspired any new events, activities or initiatives with this in mind?

We offer free webinars on a regular basis which are very well attended. During the crisis, we have also undergone a Business School Impact System (BSIS) assessment exercise, which has demonstrated the impact that RSM has had and continues to have in our region, the Rotterdam and greater Randstad area. This initiative was in the making before the pandemic, but the crisis has raised the importance of our citizenship in this area.

Leaving aside Covid-19, which single new programme, course, or initiative are you most excited about and why?

In the undergraduate programmes, we are rolling out an initiative called ‘Boost the Bachelor’, which will vastly increase flexibility, provide students with greater choice, and transform the student experience. We are also developing new interdisciplinary programmes with other schools within Erasmus University – for example with our medical school (Erasmus Medical Centre) – and with other institutions, such as the Technical University of Delft.

‘Turning inwards’ is a danger that we absolutely need to avoid. Some partner institutions are unable to accept international exchange students at this particular time, so the value of having a large network of partner schools to choose from becomes even more apparent. What has become more problematic are highly rigid programme structures, where you rely on one particular partner, or where a residency can only take place within a narrowly defined time window. So, you need greater flexibility, but not to turn away from the idea of international exchange.

Do you anticipate Covid-19, and related issues, influencing course offerings within the programmes on offer from your School?

Yes, we will have a more blended approach. Whether content will change remains to be seen – we have adopted our teaching in line with our mission to be a force for positive change in the world and this is a broad response to current global issues in any case.

There is already an argument that the economic challenges that Covid-19 will bring represent a huge and much-needed opportunity for Business Schools to reinvent their value proposition for the better. What would you most like to see change in the business education industry?

A large proportion of the jobs that will be done in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. Similarly, the meaning of ‘management’ will be totally different in the future, from what it is today. Tomorrow’s managers will need to be incredibly comfortable with constant change. We will need to prepare them for that. The Covid-19 crisis is providing much-needed focus on what’s really important in business education. We educate our students not only for the purpose of making lots of money, but also to enable them to be a force for positive change in society at large.

Ansgar Richter is Dean of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). Before joining RSM, he served as Dean of Surrey Business School in the UK.

Portions of this interview feature in ‘Moving management education past Covid-19’ – the cover story in the fifth edition of Business Impact’s print magazine.

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