AMBA & BGA ASIA PACIFIC CONFERENCE REVIEW
prevention; this was especially important given that the fraudulent credential market at that time was estimated to be worth $1billion. Beyond combatting fraud and facilitating recognition, digital credentials offer a transformative opportunity, said the Instructure executive. He commented that they can “reshape how learners accumulate and present their educational qualifications and experiences; provide a mechanism for verifiable, discoverable and more informed credentials; create stackable learning pathways; and ensure learner agency can occur with strength of trust”. India’s demographic dividend Shikha Taunk, AMBA & BGA’s strategic engagement manager for India, began her panel session with a remarkable statistic: by 2030 India will supply almost a quarter of the global workforce. “India is rising”, commented Bidya Shanker Sahay, director of IIM Jammu, adding that he believed it was time for the country to focus on the APAC region in terms of collaboration opportunities. Manmohan Prasad Gupta, director of IIM Lucknow, recommended that local schools “look into integrating with international institutions”, while TAPMI dean Navaneetha Krishnan noted that India is producing graduates with a managerial skillset and that the focus is on them becoming “transformational leaders”. IIM Visakhapatnam director Chandrasekhar Mylavarapu referenced the “onslaught of AI”, advising that students must be au fait with new-gen technology, citing the need for them to be “digitally talented but ethically grounded”. Krishnan cautioned against “blindly trusting” the tech due to its documented hallucinations. Gupta flagged that job losses will happen, so urged students to think of “entrepreneurship and startups”, recommending lifelong learning as a way of combatting AI taking over from humans in certain roles. Sahay agreed that tech skills are vital and highlighted the importance of live projects and company placements. Mylavarapu welcomed the “greater representation” from industry nowadays, advising that “case teaching must be live to be relevant.” “We must reskill to adapt to new technology and redefine the way we teach”, maintained Sahay, while Krishnan compared the AI revolution to the advent of computers: although alumni will have to embrace new skills, the technology will pave the way for new jobs. He encouraged students to “get creative and innovative” to keep up with today’s fast-moving business landscape. BGA accreditation as a lighthouse for societal change Pumela Msweli, executive dean of Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership in Pretoria, noted that although there are around 2,300 universities operating in the African continent, fewer than 15 of these are accredited by AMBA. She advocated for the use of sister association BGA’s accreditation as “a lighthouse to bring about societal transformation”. Msweli then sought to explain why the concept of a lighthouse is so vital across Africa. She referenced the region’s ‘polycrisis’, involving climate emergency, geopolitical fragmentation and erosion of trust. BGA accreditation is “more than a badge, it is a beacon that helps us see through the polycrisis fog and avoid the rocks”, commented the Unisa business school executive dean.
“close relationships are key – graduates want to give back and ensure their school comes out on top”. Karadenizli remarked that an “entrepreneurial mindset” is vital, while Stangl described Massey’s alumni network as “an important element” of the MBA programme. Lifelong learning & responsible management Prattana Punnakitikashem, dean of the College of Management at Mahidol University in Bangkok, told the conference audience that CMMU views lifelong learning as “essential to preparing leaders for the future”. Through flexible programmes, corporate partnerships, international collaborations and digital learning platforms, the college aims to empower working professionals to grow and adapt. “Transform lives, transform organisations, transform society” is CMMU’s stated aim, explained Punnakitikashem, who picked up on the country’s workforce transformation involving AI, meaning that people must engage in continuous learning and reskilling. She then referenced the school’s MUx online platform for asynchronous lifelong learning, as well as its partnership with MIT Sloan School of Management. CMMU also offers a range of micro-credentials, such as a certificate of strategic risk management, something that “grew from the needs of our alumni”, noted the dean. A pioneering curriculum design includes collaboration with no fewer than 11 faculties and a dual degree with Massey University in New Zealand, while innovation spaces include a professional studio, practice labs, a financial lab and a collaborative learning hub known as The Starter. The CMMU dean elaborated on how the institution encourages faculty to experiment with new teaching methods: these include case studies from local contexts; impact-driven conferences, such as marketing and healthcare management; the integration of research into classroom practice and the creation of a culture of co- learning and innovation. Digital credentials: a guarantee of authenticity The talk given by Daniel Hibbert, APAC vice-president of Instructure, focused on how digital credentials are delivering “transformational change” for business schools around the world. He spoke of the “triangle of trust”, which refers to issuing, sharing and verifying authenticated documentation pertaining to degree qualifications. He provided the case study of Kaplan Business School in Australia, which used the My eQuals system: during April 2024, the school saw a 65 per cent pick-up rate on the first weekend, plus a 90 per cent pick-up rate by the end of the month. In fact, all 47 public universities in Australia and New Zealand recently came together in order to have one unified
national network that is responsible for issuing official academic credentials. A business case by KPMG focused on a number of qualitative and quantitative outcomes, with a major factor being fraud
Ambition • ISSUE 1 • 2026 21
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online