AMBA & BGA GLOBAL CONFERENCE 2025
EFFECTIVE FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES Wooclap’s head of expansion, Annelies Dejonckheere and edtech international business developer Antoine Moulin outlined the primary goal of their workshop: to help delegates understand the key benefits of formative assessment in higher education and gain inspiration for integrating it into their schools’ teaching practices. Dejonckheere elaborated on some of the benefits of formative assessment, which include low pressure, real-time feedback and adaptation. This type of assessment is important as it teaches autonomy, enhances critical thinking and problem-solving and focuses on learning rather than passing an exam. In contrast, summative assessment offers accountability and standard alignment, programme evaluation and student motivation by way of milestones. The Wooclap platform can be integrated into daily teaching using a quick diagnostic assessment before class and regulated formative assessment during classes, along with low-stakes assessments after class. INDUSTRY-RELEVANT SKILLS INTEGRATED INTO ACADEMIA Personalising learning in order to give business graduates a competitive edge is the aim of talent acquisition and management solutions provider Cappfinity. The company works with more than 50 universities around the world, helping them to build more diverse and talented pipelines for the future of work. Chief skills officer Celine Floyd and global talent and leadership specialist Abi Parker identified the key skills sought by employers, noting that demand for green and AI skills tripled between 2017 and 2023, while the demand for broader digital skills doubled in the same period. In addition, only one in four workers feel
Attendees get to know one another at the launch session of the MBA Directors’ Club
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES FOR DEANS & DIRECTORS The purpose of the session moderated by AMBA & BGA chair Wendy Loretto, professor of organisational behaviour at the University of Edinburgh Business School, was to discover what the main priorities of school deans are and to help them address their most pressing concerns. The MBA qualification is in rude health, maintained Loretto, using data from recent AMBA application and enrolment reports to show that applications are up by three per cent on average, with enrolments up by five per cent. Standards are being maintained as offer rates dropped from 43 to 40 per cent; 72 per cent of candidates who received an offer accepted it – up from 65 per cent the previous year. Meanwhile, AMBA & BGA’s director of business school engagement, Debbie Kemp, used her session to launch the MBA Directors’ Club. In a survey recently sent out to members, more than a third (36 per cent) cited the chance to introduce innovative new programmes as being one of the principal highlights of their role as MBA directors. In addition, 27 per cent of respondents said they welcomed the opportunity to transform students, while gaining accreditations was referenced by 20 per cent of respondents and leadership opportunities by 17 per cent.
The top three challenges facing MBA directors were said to be recruitment, marketing and reputation, cited by 34 per cent, followed by resources, support and staffing at 31 per cent and curriculum development at 16 per cent. THE AI REVOLUTION TRANSFORMING EDUCATION Kunal Saigal, deputy vice-rector for international studies at IU International University of Applied Sciences, introduced the audience to Syntea, a synthetic, AI-driven teaching assistant. Saigal said IU is the first university worldwide to integrate GPT4 technology in order to provide personalised learning . Syntea is being rolled out to IU students across 200 English-language and 750 German-language courses via the IU Learn app, which is being used by 73 per cent of the university’s students. The system has an avatar-based natural interface that students have commented makes it feel like “talking to a human being”. The benefits of the system include increasingly targeted personalisation to shape students’ learning experience and make it more engaging. Education is one of the few key sectors in which using AI creates an outcome for the customer that is “not only more efficient, but vastly superior” maintained Saigal, adding that for business schools, it represents the biggest disruption since the invention of the classroom.
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