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CEO'S COLUMN
Business education in a post-Covid-19 world: part one
Andrew Main Wilson shares his thoughts on the impact of Covid-19 on business education as well as what will change – and what will revert 'back to normal’ – in the wake of the pandemic
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have always believed that we shouldn't leave changing the world to political and military leaders alone.
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The first MBA programmes, created more than 100 years ago, focused on developing future business leaders to build profitable businesses. Today, MBA programmes are far broader in scope, balancing responsible management, inspirational leadership and commercial skills development. The MBA is more of an all-round, ‘21st-century ready’ management qualification. This evolution has helped maintain the global popularity of the MBA, and the degree has proved resilient during economic highs and lows, such as the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. When you think of global educational qualifications – outside of medicine and science – the MBA may well be the world's best known education brand name. Covid-19 has presented new obstacles to economies, governments, businesses, and Schools worldwide. This highlights two trends. First, demand for MBAs is countercyclical to the economic climate. The weaker the global economy, the higher market demand grows for high-quality business education. Business executives realise that, in a tough job market, you need to be better educated than your rivals. They want to ensure that they’re going to emerge strongly.
Second, most high-quality Schools transformed quickly from 100% face-to-face on-campus teaching to hybrid teaching, or even 100% online teaching. One of the few benefits arising from the pandemic is the acceleration of digital education transformation. Now, the multi- million-dollar question is what is going to happen when Covid-19 is finished? In my view, much of the digital transformation to blended learning or 100% online learning will be permanent. However, nostalgia for face-to-face human interaction and genuine belief among many deans and students that face-to-face learning is superior and more desirable than online learning, will mean that campuses will experience a strong return to classroom learning. Every organisation needs to consider where they are going to position their products and programmes on a scale between 100% face-to-face learning and 100% digital online learning. At AMBA & BGA, we are ensuring that all our accreditation assessments, services and conferences fit comfortably anywhere along that scale – and I will discuss these ideas in more depth in my column in the next edition of AMBITION magazine.
The world’s business communities can achieve the biggest changes because business funds everything. You can only generate taxes from individuals, or from corporations, if businesses make profits. The business community, particularly over the past five years, has started to realise this and to take on its responsibility for making the world a better place through better business practice. Last month, I was asked to outline my thoughts on the above for a feature in Foreign Policy magazine, and I would like to use my first columns of 2021 to share the ideas discussed in this interview with you. I think the global collective conscience of business leaders recognises the crucial importance of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The global Business School community has a huge role to play in championing the SDGs and preparing future leaders who are both commercially astute and ethically responsible.
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