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Business Schools will need to rethink and review from a native digital perspective all contact points and customer interactions along all value chains. Globalisation is increasing the pressure on Business Schools as well. According to the EMN Study on the Attraction and Retention of International Students in the EU, almost half of all EU Members consider attracting and retaining international students a policy priority. Higher education is moving from being a local industry, by regions or by countries, to becoming a global industry. The diversity of prospective students will increase, but also the number of resources that will need to be allocated on marketing and the quality and efficiency of it. Finally, the use of technology and the implementation of technology- based projects will serve as a permanent innovation engine for the higher education industry. Business Schools will have to continually invest not only in digital transformation, but also in cultural change management to guarantee team adoption in their processes and work culture. But aside from these external factors, there is also the element of internal disruption that is going to transform the educational sector in the coming years. Education is a sector in motion After an initial stage where everything went from 100% in- person to 100% virtual because of Covid-19, everything will move to an omnichannel hybrid ecosystem with both physical and online environments, depending on the nature of the activity. All services provided from Business Schools to students along their journey should be rethought to add value to students and be operationally efficient from a hybrid and omnichannel ecosystem perspective. With this new ecosystem, Business Schools are also ‘unbundling’ their
learning offerings. Thanks to online programs, students will be able to learn anytime and anywhere. The disaggregation of the learning journey is not going to be defined entirely by the Schools alone. Rather, it will be co- owned by the students, based on their personalised needs and interests. Since the learning process will be composed of many small journeys, they will need to be validated and accredited with micro-credentials – and that process has to be organised transparently to build trust. Students will pick their trusted higher education institution, based largely upon their proven ROI, to be well and successfully prepared for the labour market and their professional careers in ‘Economy 4.0.’ They will also need to relate to social values the world needs and demands, for example the Sustainable Development Goals. In this hybrid and omnichannel ecosystem, where everything moves very fast and the learning and teaching process happens anywhere and anytime, the well- being of students, professors, and staff needs to be a constant concern. Furthermore, the key for Business Schools in tackling all these challenges, is to connect new trends seamlessly, providing a personalised and rich life-long learning experience for their students, thereby providing a holistic digital transformation strategy. When strategy leads, success follows Although every Business School has its own digital journey and strategy based on their vision and values, at the same time, nonetheless, there are still common themes. On a high level, a digital transformation strategy will follow these three steps: • Digitally determined: this means having a digital mindset, a clear understanding of the status quo, and a vision for the strategic journey to guarantee becoming a relevant School in 2025 and beyond. • Digitally enabled: implementing this
vision and new strategic priorities and organising the execution process in the four core areas of the organisation: internal processes, products & services, 360° contact point, and business model approach. • Digitally transformed: including professors, staff, and students in the change management process so they embrace all these innovation projects, implementing an innovative work culture focused on a digital imperative mindset. 2020 has taught us to expect the unexpected. It has also revealed both the readiness and maturity of higher education institutions when it comes to digital transformation. Trailblazers who had already started their digitalisation journey had a clear advantage in reacting to the pandemic and all its implications. Now is the time for the industry of education to catch up and to prepare for the trends of the future. I like to think of institutions of higher education as bicycles: They will only achieve stability and balance by moving steadily forward, and by pedalling at their unique cadences. And this pedalling represents their digital strategic signatures defining their unique contributions to innovation.
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