Ambition is AMBA’s thought leadership magazine, offering regular insights into the challenges and trends that matter most in global management education
Ambiti n playing field level The monthly magazine of the Association of MBAs (AMBA) BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY A
Issue 60 FEBRUARY 2023
Getting to grips with the gender gap
BLUEPRINT FOR ENDORSING EDUCATION AMBA & BGA forum sets out the groundrules for becoming an accredited member school
TIME TO TAKE A HOLISTIC APPROACH EGADE dean Horacio Arredondo on the issues facing business schools in Latin America
BREAKING DOWN LEARNING BORDERS Panel debate discusses the strategies used in the internationalisation of management education
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Issue 60 | FEBRUARY 2023
NEWS & INS IGHT
REGULARS
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07 | EDI TOR’ S LET TER Reflections on record-breaking results and key figures, as AMBA & BGA publishes its annual report for 2021/22
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42 | FROM THE CEO
The continued prominence of international students in MBA cohorts and how Covid-19 has impacted approaches towards them
08 | BUS INESS BRI EF ING
News from across AMBA’s global network including research into the continuing gender pay gap and plans to grow a sustainable forest economy in India 12 | ENDORSING EDUCAT ION Highlights from the 2022 AMBA & BGA Accreditation Forum in Barcelona 32 | SIMPLY THE BEST The winners of the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2022/23
OPINION
38 | RISK-TAKING Mastering your very own break-the-rules mindset
40 | FINANCE Preparing for uncertainty
Ambition | FEBRUARY 2023 | 3
AMBA MEMBERSHIP IS FREE FOR STUDENTS AND GRADUATES OF AMBA-ACCREDITED BUSINESS SCHOOLS
AMBA exists to champion brilliance in business schools and nurture impactful graduates who will change business for the better. AMBA’s network of accredited schools has grown to more than 285 institutions in 75 countries, and there are now more than 56,000 MBA, MBM and DBA students and graduates participating in our global membership community
MEMBERS GET FREE ACCESS TO: Award-winning content in our complimentary digital magazine tailored for MBAs Monthly networking and thought leadership webinars, events and masterclasses A vast array of career resources via our Career Development Centre and app, including CV 360 and interview simulator Discounts and preferential rates on business books and leisure benefits through our exclusive affinity partnerships Members can also choose to demonstrate their participation in this exclusive network by purchasing a verifiable digital badge or certificate
VALUED BY GLOBAL MBA RECRUITERS AND EMPLOYERS 93% of more than 1,000 employers polled by AMBA in 2020 were positive about the value of an MBA from a reputable business school, rating the performance of their MBA recruits as “good” or “excellent”
YOUR STUDENTS CAN JOIN TODAY: associationofmbas.com/register
Issue 60 | FEBRUARY 2023
FEATURES
26 | LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD
Henley Business School associate professor Elizabeth Houldsworth identifies programme enablers for female students as she outlines research on how the MBA benefits women’s careers
16 | BEYOND BORDERS Technology is breaking down limitations of reach and opening up new markets. A recent AMBA & BGA roundtable centred on the shift towards ‘borderless’ education
22 | A HOLISTIC APPROACH
The MBA has a lot to offer women when cohorts are managed well by business education
EGADE Business School dean Horacio Arredondo on the challenges facing Latin America and the management education sector and how they can be overcome
providers Elizabeth Houldsworth
Ambition | FEBRUARY 2023 | 5
RESEARCH AND INSIGHT: STAY AHEAD OF THE TRENDS IN BUSINESS EDUCATION
Over the past two years, AMBA’s Research and Insight Centre has produced a wealth of groundbreaking new research and compiled reports citing views from MBA thinkers, practitioners, faculty and leaders across the globe on the issues that matter most in business education. Recent AMBA research has investigated business schools’ attitudes to poverty, rankings, climate change and education technology. We have analysed MBA career trajectories, graduate success in the new normal, application and enrolment figures across a spectrum of programmes, as well as employer and student perceptions of lifelong learning.
We also seek to collaborate with business schools and corporate partners in order to further enhance AMBA’s research offering.
If you are interested in partnering on research, joining one of our roundtables or focus groups to delve into the findings, or even sharing your thoughts on what topics you would like AMBA to explore, then please contact research@associationofmbas.com
EDITOR’S LETTER
Making THE GRADE
EDITORIAL Head of editorial Colette Doyle c.doyle@amba-bga.com Content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@amba-bga.com Art editor
There are now more than 294 AMBA-accredited schools in some 85 countries around the world
Laura Tallon Sub-editor Heather Ford
T
he newly published AMBA & BGA annual report showcases some hugely impressive statistics: in the financial year to 30 September 2022, there were 294 AMBA-accredited schools in no fewer than 85 countries, while AMBA student and graduate membership has grown to more than 62,000. Meanwhile, our BGA brand has developed into the fastest-growing business school network in the world, comprising more than 235 member schools as of January 2023. With its focus on responsible management practices and lifelong learning, BGA has aimed since its launch in January 2019 to provide business schools with an innovative approach to quality assurance. In contrast to AMBA, BGA offers business schools three tiers of association through membership, validation and accreditation, where schools undergo a consultative improvement journey. So what exactly does it take to become an AMBA or BGA member? If you turn to page 12, you’ll see a review of our latest accreditation forum, held at the end of last year at Esade Business School in Barcelona. Accreditation experts and guest speakers alike gathered to provide delegates with all the information required to gain AMBA and BGA accreditation or re-accreditation, as well as joint status. Delegates also heard from schools that have successfully gone through the accreditation journey and were able to pick up a whole host of useful hints and tips relevant to their own efforts. Elsewhere in this issue, our cover story is penned by Henley Business School associate professor Elizabeth Houldsworth. She outlines how the MBA levels the playing field for women’s careers and identifies programme enablers for female students that schools must ensure they implement and retain. The Henley professor notes how the MBA looks set to continue to be a highly desirable business qualification for women, as the sector witnesses an increased drive towards gender equality at senior levels. However, she cautions that there remains much work to be done before all prospective students can agree that the mainstream world of business education no longer looks so male-dominated. Enjoy the issue – we’ll be back in March with a feature from Colombia’s INALDE on the positive social impact that the management education sector in Latin America can bring to bear and an interview with the dean of Milpark Business School in Cape Town. Colette Doyle , Editor, Ambition
Insight, content and PR manager Ellen Buchan e.buchan@amba-bga.com CORPORATE Head of commercial relations Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@amba-bga.com
Head of marketing and communications Leonora Clement
Senior marketing executive Edward Holmes
Head of IT and data management Jack Villanueva
Head of events Carolyn Armsby
HR and employer relations manager Aarti Bhasin Finance and commercial Director Catherine Walker
Chief executive officer Andrew Main Wilson
Executive assistant to the CEO Sharon Sidaway s.sidaway@amba-bga.com ACCREDITATION ENQUIRIES accreditation@amba-bga.com
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
ELIZABETH HOULDSWORTH
SI HUSSAIN
JOHN MULLINS
STUART WARNER
HORACIO ARREDONDO
Copyright 2023 by Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association ISSN 2631-6382 All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. While we take care to ensure that editorial is independent, accurate, objective and relevant for our readers, AMBA accepts no responsibility for reader dissatisfaction rising from the content of this publication. The opinions expressed and advice given are the views of individual commentators and do not necessarily represent the views of AMBA. Whenever an article in this publication is placed with the financial support of an advertiser, partner or sponsor, it will be marked as such. AMBA makes every opportunity to credit photographers but we cannot guarantee every published use of an image will have the contributor’s name. If you believe we have omitted a credit for your image, please email the editor.
Ambiti n
Ambition | FEBRUARY 2023 | 7
The latest news from across AMBA’s network BUSINESS BRIEFING
Research into the continuing gender pay gap and plans to grow a sustainable forest economy lead this month’s selection of updates. Ellen Buchan and Tim Banerjee Dhoul report
8 | Ambition | FEBRUARY 2023
NEWS AND INSIGHT
UNEQUAL PAY PERSISTS
FOSTERING PROSPERITY IN INDIA’S FORESTS COUNTRY: India SCHOOL: Indian School of Business
COUNTRY: Denmark SCHOOL: Copenhagen Business School
In India, the livelihoods of more than 200 million people rest on the collection and trade of forest produce. Although this number spans various industries, from pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to paper and food products, a new deal signed between the Indian School of Business (ISB) and the Government of Odisha’s Mission Shakti in December is focused firmly on those in direct contact with the forest. Its target, in particular, is to support female-led prosperity through the support and development of a sustainable forest economy in eastern India. With plans that include the formation of large-scale, women-led community enterprises and technological support to harness economies of scale, it is hoped that three million women can be reached and empowered over the next three years. The deal with India’s eastern state of Odisha forms part of a wider ‘Initiative on the Forest Economy’ at ISB that is led by the school’s Bharti Institute of Public Policy (BIPP) research centre. With the aim of transforming India’s forests from spaces seen as being home to poverty and deprivation to fulcrums of future economic growth, the BIPP initiative is currently running pilots in the states of Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh as well as in Odisha. “The forest economy, anchored in secure tenure, and built on women-centric community-owned enterprises, is a triple-win model. It is a win for people, profits and the planet,” said Ashwini Chhatre, associate professor and executive director of ISB-BIPP. Chhatre added that the Odisha initiative would benefit forest‑dependent industries with secure and traceable sources of supply and ensure sustainable management of forest landscapes. With a focus on seasonal forest produce that includes bamboo and chironji seeds, ISB’s role in the Odisha government agreement will encompass providing business training for community resource persons (known as Van Sakhis ) and creating smartphone applications for forest boundary mapping as well as financial essentials such as online claim filing. TBD
A new study has found that men and women are still not paid the same for the same job in 15 economically developed countries and – what’s worse – there is still a long way to go. The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour , adjusted its findings for age, education and part-time work but still found that men made more than women. The results also showed the scale of the difference in pay received for the same job in the same workplace. Japan had the biggest difference between male and female pay, with a 26 per cent difference, followed by South Korea with a 19 per cent difference. European and North American countries also showed stark differences in the research. It found, for example, a 14 per cent difference in the US and Slovenia, a 13 per cent difference in Germany and a 12 per cent difference in Spain. “What is new about these findings is that the documentation is based on huge amounts of data which includes information about employers. Moreover, the study shows that in all countries – including Denmark – a large share of the gender pay gap occurs between men and women who work the same job at the same workplace,” said Lasse Folke Henriksen, associate professor at Copenhagen Business School and co-author of the study. To solve these issues, the study calls for policies that enable more women to reach leadership positions and that boost the number of women in traditionally male fields. It also suggested that the onus should be on individual workplaces to solve this issue. “When we see such a significant pay differential between men and women working the same jobs, it points to workplace pay practices as a significant societal problem,” added Henriksen. “Our study does not identify the specific mechanisms by which these pay inequalities arise, but we do know from previous studies that, for example, parenthood, informal workplace roles and employer gender biases play an important role in determining pay and allowances.” EB
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MOOC UPTAKE SIGNALS DEMAND COUNTRY: Norway SCHOOL: NHH Norwegian School of Economics
REDUCING
HIRING BIAS COUNTRY: UK and Switzerland SCHOOL: University of Exeter Business School and University of St. Gallen A simple CV change of replacing specific dates of past employment experience with the number of years worked can reduce bias faced by those who have taken a career break, according to a new study. This form of bias impacts parents who have taken time off due to caring responsibilities in particular. “Despite employees commonly experiencing career breaks throughout their work lives (for example, due to caregiving, sickness or downsizing due to the Covid-19 pandemic) these employees – especially women and mothers – face additional challenges to re-enter the workforce. Potential employers consistently disregard these employees despite research showing that short gaps have little to no effect on their skills and abilities,” said study co-author and University of St.Gallen assistant professor Jamie Gloor. The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour , found that using the number of years worked instead of specific dates on a CV increased a candidate’s call back rate by an average of 15 per cent among those with employment gaps. It also increased the call back rate of those without employment gaps, by eight per cent on average. The results stem from an analysis of 9,022 real job openings. The researchers then undertook a follow-up experiment with 2,650 experienced hiring managers to check that these results were driven by the applicants’ experience and not because the newly designed CVs were simply easier to read. “While the onus should not be on unemployed applicants to prevent bias against them, there is plenty of evidence to suggest job applicants with employment gaps face lower employment prospects. We found that by replacing the standard employment dates on the résumé with the length of time of employment applicants are highlighting their experience to prospective employers, thus eliminating employment gap penalties that hinder these applicants’ advancement beyond the first gateway of the selection process,” said Oliver Hauser, an associate professor of economics at the University of Exeter Business School. Hauser and Gloor carried out the study together with researchers at Harvard Business School and the UK’s Behavioural Insights Team. EB
Interest in NHH Norwegian School of Economics’ (NHH) first MOOC, ‘Business Models for Sustainability’, has been so high that the researchers behind it are convinced of the format’s potential and the growing demand for courses in this area. “The potential is enormous,” said NHH associate professor Sveinung Jørgensen, who developed the course together with professor Lars Jacob Tynes Pedersen alongside researchers from Copenhagen Business School (CBS) ESCP Berlin and Esade Business School. Jørgensen added that he expects the numbers enrolling to climb to a level akin to the 48,000 achieved by a MOOC on sustainable fashion offered by CBS. A total of 1,200 people completed the course between its launch in the summer and the end of November. The NHH academics believe that MOOCs are a great way to widen the reach of an institution’s research and break down barriers of access. “New knowledge should not be exclusively available to those with the resources, time and money. For those who don’t have the means to take such courses, a MOOC is fantastic and it’s also extremely flexible,” Pedersen reasoned. The two researchers feel that they have also been able to widen the reach of their 2018 book, RESTART Sustainable Business Model Innovation , since it became freely available under open access in 2020. “The book topped 800,000 downloads this summer,” said Pedersen, adding that, “the book is now on the reading list of a school in Chile.” Interest in the NHH MOOC, meanwhile, is testament to the growing demand for knowledge of sustainable business models. The rising number of NHH students taking Jørgensen and Pedersen’s Sustainable Business Models course underlines this point further. “In 2014, we started with perhaps 30 to 40 students. Now, we have between 400 to 500 NHH students each year,” Pedersen surmised. “Our house is on fire. Norway and the world need new sustainable solutions. We see that more and more people are interested in this and we are receiving an enormous response, from academics as well as the business community,” Jørgensen explained. TBD
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NEWS AND INSIGHT
ENHANCING PROVISION FOR
CO-WORKING SPACES’ WEAKNESS EXPOSED COUNTRY: UK SCHOOL: Bayes Business School (formerly Cass) City, University of London Co-working spaces are often heralded as a hotbed of entrepreneurial thinking and innovation, but a new study has exposed weaknesses in their ability to foster collaborative practices that are key to creativity. Bayes Business School professor Stefan Haefliger, who co-authored the study with IESEG School of Management associate professor Ghassan Yacoub, highlighted that while co-working spaces’ informal setting was great at supporting initial opportunities to work collectively, it ultimately hindered collaborations from developing further. Co-working space, or hub, users surveyed in the study also flagged problems caused by the hub’s own reliance on occupancy and scalability. Moving more companies in, for example, was said to have negatively impacted how incumbents could make use of the space. The study centred on Level 39, a hub in London’s financial centre of Canary Wharf that is popular with tech and fintech startups. Published in Organization , it has clear takeaways for those who run co-working spaces as well as those who use them. “It is the responsibility of the host of the space and those that use it to make it a setting that can see booming partnerships and a hotbed of next generation ideas. Entrepreneurs need to embrace the early-stage interactions to take the first step towards collaborative working, with workspace managers working as catalysts to drive these partnerships,” Haefliger said. The Bayes Business School professor went on to underline the importance of managing co-working spaces effectively. “The rise of co-working spaces as new forms of work has redefined our understanding of the traditional physical, temporal and spatial boundaries of organisations. Post-pandemic, we can expect more uncertainty in how space is re‑appropriated by individuals and entrepreneurial teams forming collaboration. Workspace managers may need to leave room for experimentation and allow flexibility,” he explained. TBD
THOSE WITH DISABILITIES
COUNTRY: France SCHOOL: EDHEC Business School
EDHEC Business School (EDHEC) has reinforced its disability policy and increased its technical and human resources to provide students with more support. “It’s important to clearly understand the needs of each person and their disability,” explained Ségolène Binet, who is the main point of contact for students with disabilities at EDHEC and provides customised support from enrolment to graduation. “We also take the time to determine which support measures are liable to help them the most, in conjunction with the university doctor, and talk about their wellbeing,” Binet continued. The school’s Handicap Committee is designed to ensure that all students can access all of its services. The committee, for example, has identified 160 partner institutions which also operate a handicap policy and which would, therefore, offer internship or academic exchange opportunities for those with disabilities. The school has also underlined its commitment to help students with disabilities with their academics – for example, by lending computers to students and granting students extra time during exams. Ayrton, an EDHEC student who suffers from dysgraphia, has personal experience: “When I arrived at EDHEC, I presented my records straightaway in order to have the right to do my classes on a computer and to obtain specific adjustment measures for my exams, such as use of a computer and Excel for quantitative subjects, right to extra time and printing of subjects on A3 paper. I was impressed by EDHEC’s adaptability and attentiveness.” The school has also put in place facilities to help students move around its campuses in Lille, Nice and Paris, installing lowered wash basins and steps as well as direction-finding floor strips. In addition, it also runs an annual day-long event which aims to raise the visibility of all disabilities and at which employers are invited to showcase how they are fostering inclusion in their companies. EB
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing AMBA & BGA’s content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul at t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
Ambition | FEBRUARY 2023 | 11
education Endorsing
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ACCREDITATION FORUM REVIEW
The 2022 AMBA & BGA Accreditation Forum took place from 14-15 November at the Esade Business School in the vibrant Catalan capital of Barcelona. With content provided by a team of expert speakers keen to share their knowledge, it was specifically designed to provide accreditation professionals at business schools with lots of essential information. Ambition editor Colette Doyle reports on the proceedings MBA, which recently celebrated its 55th anniversary, can now count 295 schools in its network, while the number of student and graduate members has grown to more than 62,000. This overview of AMBA’s present status was presented by CEO Andrew Main Wilson at the start of the two-day event. Wilson also hailed the “remarkable growth” that fellow body BGA has experienced: it can lay claim to having some 235 accredited institutions after only being in existence for the past four years. The session on AMBA new criteria and accreditation updates was presented by AMBA & BGA’s senior accreditation manager Joseph Pilkington, who described the 2022 review led by Steef van de Velde, professor of operations management at Rotterdam School of Management, as “evolution, not revolution”. Pilkington outlined the quantitative criteria: faculty teaching at MBA level must be appropriately qualified and credible, so therefore at least 75 per cent of the teaching staff must hold a relevant postgraduate qualification. The most critical criterion revolves around student numbers: to achieve adequate group interaction and diversity, the expected intake on each accredited programme would involve a distinct learning group of at least 20 students. Pilkington also drew attention to the fact that learning should focus on a generalist curriculum, as MBA graduates are “well-rounded leaders, not specialist experts”. However, specialised MBAs are acceptable if catered to by a range of specialised elective modules offered in addition to the core, generalist curriculum. Understanding the AMBA accreditation process Schools must appreciate that MBA programmes need to be accredited as a portfolio, meaning that they cannot pick and choose which MBAs are submitted for accreditation. In addition, schools cannot seek MBM-only qualification if they already award an MBA programme. This is a multiple-stage process and successful accreditation requires a visit by the assessment team. Maintenance of accredited status means periodic visits, adherence to the conditions set by visiting panels and a commitment to continual improvement. Pilkington then outlined the process. Step one is the application, which involves an initial exploratory conversation with AMBA to establish compliance with the main quantitative criteria. The school is assigned a specific AMBA accreditation director with whom it will liaise throughout the process. Step two is pre-assessment and schools need to complete a document known as SAF (self-assessment form), which is then reviewed by the AMBA International Accreditation Advisory Board (IAAB) to confirm whether the application can proceed. Next, the school must work with the association to set a mutually agreeable date for an assessment visit by an AMBA panel and completion of a self-audit report, or SAR, that tells the school’s story in around 100 pages. This must be submitted along with the existing SAF to the visiting panel members no later than three weeks prior to the visit.
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assessment visit SAF, which includes the Impact & Responsible Management Exercise as an appendix. This takes the place of the Continuous Impact Model (CIM) undertaken by the BGA-only accreditation assessment. The agenda is broadly similar to the standard AMBA MBA assessment visit, with some notable amendments and additions. For instance, the visit takes place over two full days and the formal discussion sessions begin after lunch on day one, as opposed to 9am on day two. Moreover, two additional sessions are scheduled on day two, to discuss the non-MBA BGA sample programme and to meet non-MBA BGA sample programme stakeholders, including students, alumni and employers. Hedenberg then remarked on the benefits of joint membership, including measurement of the school’s impact on society, value creation and alignment towards responsible management practices, plus the way it functions as a key differentiator for the institution, offering enhanced networking opportunities for students. Examining the accreditation journey On the second day of the conference, a panel of newly accredited and re-accredited schools talked through their experiences. Stéphanie Villemagne, chief operating officer for international development at the ESSCA School of Management, began by saying that “having to explain what you do is the biggest challenge; there is a ‘laser-focus’ on your MBA programme and how that fits in the context of your university”. Leila Guerra, vice-dean of education at Imperial College Business School, said there were three main challenges as far as she was concerned: “Getting the internal audience on board and persuading them of the importance” of achieving the accreditation can be difficult at first; you must also be prepared to last the pace and not to “lose sight of who you are when you first read the requirements”. Álvaro de la Rica Aspiunza, dean of Deusto Business School, noted that it was important to “differentiate your programme” and ask yourself, “what is your mission?” He also referenced the “cultural challenge in terms of collecting the necessary data”; initially, the school may think it’s a drain on their resources, but then they realise how useful the process is, as “the data can be used for internal communication and as the basis to make certain decisions”. Oriol Amat, rector of Pompeu Fabra University, noted that “higher education is very fast moving” and claimed that “in a few years, the key players will not be the universities of today”. He added that his institution needed “an engine to improve our speed and accreditation was a means of doing that”. Guerra observed that the process is beneficial as it “gets you in the habit of reporting, allowing you to measure your peer place, with the mentality of having to record things.” Villemagne agreed, noting that “it helps you to focus on the right metrics”, adding that becoming part of the AMBA & BGA network brings another dimension to the accreditation process – “it lifts you up to international standards”. Aspiunza concurred, saying that such endorsement has helped Deusto to take “an international approach” and position its MBA “as a flagship programme for our school”.
The assessment visit is based around an agenda that spans a day and a half; according to Pilkington, it is “collaborative and developmental”, featuring a “peer-review mentality”. It consists of four people: the chair, usually a current or former dean of an AMBA-accredited school; two other faculty or staff of current AMBA-accredited schools; plus an AMBA representative, who acts as “guardian of the criteria”. The final decision is given at the end of the visit. The last stage is post-assessment: verbal feedback given to the school at the conclusion of the visit is incorporated into a written report, which is fact-checked by the relevant institution and endorsed by the IAAB. BGA’s accreditation principles Next up was an overview of BGA’s quality assurance philosophy, provided by membership director Victor Hedenberg. He began by relating a telling anecdote from history. In Prussia, prior to industrialisation, there existed guilds where young people undertook an apprenticeship until they became a master of their chosen trade. In the mid-1700s, King Frederick the Great decreed that the country should standardise its education policies as it would make for a strong foundation for the nation, noting that “an educated people can be easily governed”. The standardised learning outcome became so popular that US educators would travel to Europe in order to study the Prussia model. Hedenberg then turned his attention to the present day and noted that the “value of education is changing”. He referenced the three pillars of BGA: positive impact, responsible management and lifelong learning, and mentioned by way of example a Colombian school that had created a fully recycled campus, featuring a water plant that also benefitted the local community. He encouraged schools to think about their unique selling point (USP) and advised them that if they didn’t already have one, then it was high time to think of one; this could take the form of forging industry partnerships, offering certain teaching modules, or particular staff expertise. BGA’s Continuous Impact Model (CIM) is a way for schools to track and impact metrics in the areas of intent, graduate achievement, value creation (eg entrepreneurship), scholarship, ecosystem and society. The BGA Impact Report shows why the school was accredited, creating, in Hedenberg’s words, “a level of transparency not seen before in accreditations”. Differentiation is encouraged in BGA in the sense that the association looks at a business school’s USPs, as well as its impact on stakeholders and society, which can be demonstrated in any number of ways. He urged delegates to “think of it like a bowl of fruit, individual, each offering something different.” The benefits of joint accreditation Joint accreditation was the theme of the fourth session of the day, with Pilkington firstly outlining the key differences in terms of reports and agenda. The same documentation is required as an AMBA-only assessment visit, plus an additional BGA joint
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ACCREDITATION FORUM REVIEW
In terms of the nitty-gritty of completing the documentation required, Villemagne advised that “200 pages is way too long – you don’t have that much to say”, and said she believed 100 pages was more than enough to avoid repetition: “Focus on what makes you different”. Amat concluded by noting that schools must “push their competitive advantage and tell a good story”, but added a note of caution: “Don’t leave finishing it until the day before the deadline.” Triple crown accreditation overview Statistics presented by AMBA accreditation director George Iliev showed that as of November last year, some 121 schools were triple- accredited, with AMBA, Equis and AACSB certification; this figure grew by 33 per cent between 2018 and 2022. The UK is home to the highest number of triple-accredited schools, with 25 such institutions, followed by France (18) and China (14). Speaking at a panel debate featuring a range of triple crown schools, Luis Vives, deputy dean for programmes at Esade business school, described such accreditation as “a way to showcase to the world that we check our quality standards and that we are serious about improving the way we deliver our programmes.” Guerra from Imperial agreed, calling it “an important marketing tool with great PR impact”, demonstrating that the school “has gone the extra mile”; it is something that enhances its reputation which, in turn, influences students. She added that each body brings a different perspective, so all three “provide a 360-degree outlook, bringing value to the different stakeholders”. ESSCA’s Villemagne noted that it enables the school “to reach out to different audiences”. Vives likened it to becoming a member of a club that other people recognise: “it sends a signal to the market – here we are and this is what we do”. In terms of the different bodies, Guerra noted that Equis tends to “focus on specific KPIs, whereas AMBA is very refreshing, a dedicated space where you can discuss the MBA programme and speak with like-minded people”. Villemagne said she liked Equis for its “international perspective”, while US body AACSB focuses more on “continuous improvement. Each one brings a different outlook: AMBA is on the consulting side, looking at a specific programme and how to develop it, whereas Equis is very data-driven.” Vives advised schools aiming for triple crown status to “build upon the work that you did previously. It helps you to gain an insight on what the data has to say”. He refrained from using the term, “copy & paste” but noted that “there is information you can leverage”. Guerra assented, noting that there is “no need to reinvent the wheel, you don’t have to rewrite everything from scratch, content can be repurposed, reflect on your KPIs and your achievements”. She ended by posing an intriguing question: “How far away are we from getting artificial intelligence to compile our reports for us?” How to use humour in education The event concluded with a fascinating talk from Dr David Stolin, professor of finance at Toulouse Business School (TBS), who
Esade business school boasts triple-accreditation status
propounded his theory that humour can be beneficial when teaching MBA classes. Humour is something that is initially perceived as incongruous but, after a moment’s reflection, makes sense and is a highly valued business skill, argued Stolin. The impact of this approach is positive student feedback, as well as higher video engagement and learner quiz scores. It is used at more than 100 business schools across 30-plus countries and has garnered awards from bodies such as AMBA, QS and the Academy of Management. Stolin has been collaborating with comedian Sammy Obeid, known for hosting the Netflix series 100 Humans , on various ‘edcom’ initiatives. Together with his TBS colleagues, he has made several humorous videos that students and educators can access on demand. He gave the example of students having difficulty grappling with a statistical formula called Bayes’ theorem. In response, he devised a video that examined the likelihood of a clown appearing in a horror film. He has also created other short films based on colleagues’ requests, focusing on such diverse and seemingly uninspiring topics as loan amortisation, the efficiency of financial markets and iPhone pricing. He then doled out some advice to delegates on the art of polishing a joke: the need to wildly exaggerate topped the list, then came the importance of using specific words, rather than general ones. You should also abbreviate as much as possible, put the least important information first, remember not to telegraph the punchline and end on the laugh trigger. Stolin noted that those faculty staff who give humour a try in their classes may end up developing their own “sharable recipes for creating educational humour”. Even if they come up short, by taking the time to look at the material through their students’ eyes, they will have taken a meaningful step towards becoming an even better teacher.
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Beyond borders
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ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
With the move to online and blended learning, schools are no longer so limited in their reach and can open up their educational offerings to a new market of global learners. Ellen Buchan reports on the shift towards ‘borderless’ education
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of investment for business schools, with a recent AMBA & BGA survey finding that 82 per cent of business school leaders say they are planning to invest further in digital teaching methods over the coming two years. How is your business school going to take advantage of borderless education and what strategies are you putting in place to become borderless? Peter Konhäusner, professor of digital entrepreneurship, Gisma Business School, Germany “The interesting thing is that for us borderless education started even before the pandemic happened because we have a hyflex model here at Gisma Business School. This means you can always join in a hybrid way and we are able to offer students maximum flexibility. “Students can basically join from around the globe whenever they want and can work through all the programme topics whenever they want. This is our take on reaching the maximum audience in terms of students.
ogether with online learning platform Kortext, AMBA & BGA recently brought together a group of senior leaders from European business schools to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with borderless teaching and learning. The discussion centred round the transformation that the Covid pandemic has wrought. As well as geographical borders, the term ‘borderless’ also refers to time; with the switch to online, business schools are no longer facing time zone limitations as technology allows students to complete their programmes at their own pace, wherever they may be in the world. To offer this borderless education, business schools need to provide an intuitive and integrated product that is both fit for purpose and personalised towards the needs of students. This is a key area
Students can basically join
from around the globe whenever they want and work through all the programme topics whenever they want
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“I think we’re still in a period of flux; the pandemic is not over completely and we are part of a sector trying to find the right balance between online and face to face. “We’re seeing different demands for this at different levels of provision. Undergraduates are still largely learning in a face-to-face environment, but post-graduates and our executive or post-experience provision is highly blended and online. “I think there’s certainly an appetite here for further investment – there are a lot of opportunities. We’re exploring all manner of things in terms of emerging technologies, such as augmented and virtual reality. “In a way, the pandemic accelerated that. The appetite is there to grow this area of provision – certainly when it comes to blended. Blended learning has been around for decades, it’s just that the ratio of the blend has started to shift post-Covid towards a better balance between online and face to face. The ability to deliver that has grown, developed and matured to a certain extent over the past couple of years.” Diana Limburg, MBA director, Oxford Brookes University Business School, UK “This is all demand-driven. At Oxford Brooks, the Global MBA has been an online programme since the early 2000s and a blended programme since around 2016. “The reason why we are a blended programme is that we’ve have students all over the globe and they are all working. Therefore, it is demand driven in terms of how we can make an MBA work for this type of student; then it becomes horses for courses because different types of students will need different pedagogies and different delivery modes. “That’s the basis of how you make decisions on where to invest and focus. For us, we need a mixture of asynchronous delivery to make it flexible for students, but also synchronous delivery so they can have that real-time conversation and feel more strongly engaged.” How have you adapted your strategies to attracting and retaining a more international cohort of students? Aldis Sigurdardottir, MBA director, Reykjavik University School of Business, Iceland “We don’t have that many international students, it is more of a local focus. We have
“On the other hand, it’s also about offering diversity in different stages – this is about synchronous, as well as asynchronous, content. “If students are having problems with their visa for coming to Germany for example, they can learn from anywhere in the world and watch recordings of sessions when they have time.” Steven De Haes, dean & professor of information systems management, Antwerp Business School, Belgium “In our case, embracing digital capabilities towards amplifying impactful learning journeys was already in the core of our strategy for many years. Of course, the Covid pandemic has accelerated this journey. “We are further enriching our product portfolio itself, so we are broadening our reach towards having programmes that are mainly organised in interactive campus learning experiences, but at the same time we are also unfolding a fully online portfolio in a digital campus. Programmes in this digital campus are delivered either synchronously or asynchronously, so in that way we can reach a global audience. “We are accelerating in hybrid learning approaches, blending the optimal mix for an impactful learning experience of synchronous and asynchronous and online and on-campus experiences. We have also had some visa issues and problems with students arriving on time at the campus, so they have the opportunity to attend classes in a high-flex online formula before they come to Europe. “As a result of having digital-enabled learning journeys, we are capturing more high-quality data on the learning journey itself and the learner experience and impact. We can now accommodate the learning journeys and impact on students in a much better way than previously because we are capturing much more data.” Mark Dawson, director of digital education and senior teaching fellow, Lancaster University Management School, UK “Prior to the pandemic, the university already had a strong online provision but Covid-19 has enhanced the capability of the university – and our school in particular – so it is now more flexible when delivering blended or hybrid teaching and can accommodate a number of different pedagogical and delivery models.
ROUNDTABLE ATTENDEES CHAIR Colette Doyle Head of editorial AMBA & BGA PANELLISTS Mark Dawson Director of digital education and senior teaching fellow Lancaster University Management School, UK Steven De Haes Dean & professor of information systems management, Antwerp Business School, Belgium Yasmina Kashouh Head of international programmes and academics College de Paris International, France
Peter Konhäusner Professor of digital
entrepreneurship, Gisma Business School, Germany Diana Limburg MBA director Oxford Brookes University Business School, UK Aldis Sigurdardottir MBA director, Reykjavik University School of Business, Iceland
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The challenge is to adapt in a way that maintains the aspiration of a borderless education, while steering our technological systems away from the impersonal
Mark Dawson, director of digital education and senior teaching fellow, Lancaster University Management School, UK “I think the challenge here is to embrace the potential of digital education in a post-Covid world, while still retaining that intimacy of face-to-face teaching. I’m not sure that the technologies are there for that yet, but that is hopefully where we are heading. “The challenge is to adapt in a way that maintains the aspiration of a borderless education, while trying to steer our technological systems away from the impersonal and towards a more intimate, challenging space for education to happen.” Steven De Haes, dean & professor of information systems governance & management, Antwerp Business School, Belgium “At Antwerp Business School, our full-time MBA-type programmes and our executive MBA are primarily geared towards intensive face-to-face interactive learning experiences, supported by a hybrid mix of online synchronous and asynchronous learning formats. I think impactful is the key word here. “The whole conversation that we are currently having should not be about the technology itself, but rather about how we can amplify the impact of the learning experience towards the student – and of course – technology is a very powerful instrument in terms of amplifying that impact. “Along with amplifying the learning impact, technology opens opportunities to more easily reach the global market. At this moment in time, we already have more than 44 different nationalities on our full-time master’s programme, so being and thinking global is already, and has always been, in our DNA. We continue to fully focus and invest in the global outreach and impact.
about 85 per cent of our students who are local, they are here for networking – that’s a big draw for them and creates a big demand. That is usually the reason they are coming to the programme because they really want the face-to-face interaction.” “We have actually taken that direction – we don’t have that many international students at the moment. Those who are international, they live here and they work here – its more or less always in‑house. Because everyone lives locally, we have decided not to offer any online streaming of classes next year.” Yasmina Kashouh, head of international programmes and academics at College de Paris International, France “Essentially, we did something different, mainly due to the fact we have a large portfolio of schools around the world and we support portfolio enlargement by adding programmes to the local offer of our international partners. “Our strategy was very clear: we move the programme – we don’t move the campus and we don’t move the students. So we worked with our partners to combine local operations with our strategy. Within these programmes, we use traditional on‑the-ground sessions with the online sessions to support our reach locally. “We had a lot of challenges when students had to come to study internationally in France. We had the rise of the cost of transportation, visa issues, political instability, Covid – we also had issues with international forms of finance, something that complicated the payments from our students. “The strategy we use is to move the operation itself – we produce our programme locally and then we can blend together online and on the ground.”
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the field, which is great. But it means that you have to find a common level playing field to pick them up and carry them forward. All the students are coming out of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, origins and so on, which is fantastic for networking as many of the students want to have global opportunities after their programme to work and to travel. “But there is also a challenge associated with managing this diversity and this different level of knowledge. It’s great to let people talk about their own experiences – because that is such rich content. I think this is something that is really enhanced by having a global audience, the richness of cultural and business backgrounds.” What is your business school’s unique selling point? How do you stand out in a truly global education market? Aldis Sigurdardottir, MBA director, Reykjavik University School of Business, Iceland “We are looking into sustainability and the use of sustainable energy – that is our niche. That is how we differentiate ourselves and use our specialities and knowledge, for example, in the fisheries industry. It is certainly very niche, but that’s where our natural resources and knowledge are. “We have a dilemma though, because our students are mainly from Iceland and I think this would be very interesting for an international student, but not so much for people from Iceland. “That means we are reluctant to go all the way into this speciality because of that. Our students are really looking for a good international programme that is compatible globally.” Yasmina Kashouh, head of international programmes and academics at College de Paris International, France
“To give you a very typical example, over the past two years we have developed two professional digital teaching studios that allow faculty to engage in a very interactive way when we have students studying abroad, so they are not on campus. With this professional digital studio, you can have faculty members teach as if the class were on campus. This optimises the experience for both the faculty member and for the learners, leading to higher impact with a global reach. “In terms of reaching an international audience, we are also currently building smaller micro- credential-type lifelong learning journeys, both synchronous and asynchronous self-paced modules, in order to reach new global audiences we could not reach before.” Diana Limburg, MBA director, Oxford Brookes University Business School, UK “We had online capabilities prior to Covid, so it’s not about reaching a new market, it is about being able to engage with people in a new way. “We were doing successful online teaching before all of this happened. You can imagine trying to do this before everyone knew what Zoom was – it makes it a very different challenge. “For us, it became easier, as suddenly all these technologies were accessible and not just for people based in the UK, but for people all over the world. “Before Covid, there were platforms but they were clunky, expensive and not easily accessible. Now, with these platforms, you’ve have a global audience who can use the technology, as it’s even been embedded into their personal lives. People do yoga and have social engagements online, so they have much more of a foundation to use that technology in an integrated way in teaching and learning. “It is absolutely about enhancing the experience, but also about enhancing the ability to learn. They were learning what they needed to learn before, but it’s easier now to have more engagement, to have more interaction and to have more social aspects through that interaction. I think that’s important and it’s much more straightforward online now than it was previously.” Peter Konhäusner, professor of digital entrepreneurship, Gisma Business School, Germany “Another big topic we can touch upon when thinking about going online – which is also a challenge as well as an opportunity – is diversity. “Right now at Gisma, we have in our MBA programme an average of nine years’ experience in
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“Going back to the business school’s USPs and how they became more crucial, the differentiation will come from the ability and the capacity of the school to match the jobs that are needed. “The closer business schools are to be able to train people to find jobs, the better. That is why the traditional knowledge, although it’s important, is not enough. “The capacity to generate self-
determined, reliable, proactive learners who are able to learn, unlearn and relearn – that will remain the main role of a business school.”
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