INTERVIEW
W hen Ambition last sat down with Mikko Laukkanen, Academic Director at Aalto University Executive Education, the world was a very different place. In that interview, we discussed international student study tours, and the idea of transformation in MBA students and graduates. Nearly four years on, as climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, education technology, and globalisation dominate the business education agenda, how is Aalto innovating in the face of unprecedented disruption – and what has changed? We saw down with Laukkanen once more, to find out. What are the biggest challenges facing international Schools? Broadly speaking, the biggest challenges facing international Business Schools all have to do with finding our own voice. Schools and individual E/MBA programmes need to have an identity with which our various audiences can identify and to which they are drawn; generic generalists will have a hard time in the future. Similarly, just as consumers expect companies to demonstrate their values, Business Schools and their leaders must be brave enough to express an opinion about the big topics being discussed in society – even when these discussions seem not to link directly to operations, or you fear a backlash. As well as these, there are, of course, smaller challenges around having the
ready to justify why certain elements of a programne are delivered in a classroom, some online, and others in a hybrid format. During the pandemic, the justification has always been that we are simply adhering to the guidelines set by the authorities. Now, we must be more detailed about the reasoning and should expect some criticism from participants if we were to bring them on-site for something that would have made more sense as an online delivery. During the pandemic, there has been some great ‘myth-busting’ around what you can and can’t do in online delivery. For example, we used to think that online group work was somehow superficial and cumbersome, but when you design it well and use the technology to its full potential, you can actually have more impactful breakouts online than in a classroom setting. It was also commonly believed that deeply personal and emotionally engaging topics need to be covered face to face, but we’ve found that some of these topics are actually easier to discuss when people are joining from their homes or offices (and can turn off their cameras if they need a bit of privacy). When we last spoke, we discussed your study tours to Silicon Valley and Tehran. How have you worked to adapt these elements of your programme? We still do a study tour to the Bay Area, but, increasingly, attention has been shifting from Silicon Valley to also other technology hotspots around the world.
right organisational competences to take advantage of new technologies, resourcing issues around one generation of faculty retiring while the younger generations are sometimes too burdened with publishing pressures to teach in our programmes, and challenges stemming from shifts in the market – from degree programmes to shorter engagements. What do you think differentiates the MBA at Aalto University? Our MBA and Executive MBA programmes build on the unique strengths of Aalto University, which brings together business, technology, and design. This means we can complement our more business-oriented topics with rich perspectives from technology and design, as well as having dedicated content around topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) or sustainable design. Along with this interdisciplinarity, we value the personal development of each participant, and the programmes are designed around the idea of a journey of personal transformation. Finally, and maybe this relates to our Finnish heritage, we place a lot of focus on equality, openness, and fairness in our programmes. Taken together, these elements build a unique programme identity and compelling narrative. How did the Covid-19 pandemic change your School? The long-term impact will likely be around how our participants, faculty, and other stakeholders view online and offline delivery. We must be
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