NEWS DIGEST
SURVEY UNPACKS THE VOTER EXPERIENCE AND MINDSET IN COLOMBIA
SCHOOL EAFIT University Colombia
A lmost half (44 per cent) of Colombians believe that it is essential for citizens to participate in the country’s political decision-making, although 62 per cent feel that democracy there is under threat. These are some of the results of a national survey conducted by the Protect Democracy initiative, spearheaded by three locally based organisations and 11 universities, including EAFIT. Nearly 70 per cent of the 1,700 people polled by the study believe that recent events can influence their satisfaction with the functioning of democracy. When asked about the factors that most influence this perception, corruption (42 per cent) and inequality (39 per cent) top the list, followed by political clashes (34 per cent), poverty (33 per cent) and protests (31 per cent). “Making these findings visible and convening public discussions is a way to influence the upcoming electoral process in the country,” explained the dean of the School of Finance, Economics & Government at EAFIT University, César Tamayo Tobón. Among those surveyed, 92 per cent believe voting is important because elections can make a difference, in a country where turnout has historically hovered between 50 and 60 per cent. “The challenge lies in connecting this positive perception of voting with the actual act of going to the polls,” noted Andrés Preciado, a researcher at EAFIT’s Centre for Public Value. CD
THE STUDENT VIEW ON THE VALUE OF FACULTY DIVERSITY
faculty members’ “cultural distance”, or the fact that they differ from them in terms of geographical origin or perspectives, with these differences perceived as enriching the learning experience. However, the overall picture masks layers of nuance, as Bashirzadeh cautioned. “When you delve deeper into this observation, everything becomes more complex.” This complexity is particularly pronounced when looking at female professors slightly higher than male professors, while male students tended to do the same for male professors. Gender also had a significant impact on the relationship between a professor’s age and their evaluation scores, as Bashirzadeh detailed. “Male professors’ ratings decline as they age, while female professors’ ratings are low at the beginning of their careers, peak around age 48 and then decrease; but they remain higher than those of their male colleagues until the end of their careers.” TBD diversity of gender. Female students were found to rate
SCHOOL GEM Alpine Business School, France
ith some notable political exceptions, business schools are generally encouraged
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to promote faculty diversity. It accounts for 10 per cent of the final score in the Financial Times ’ master’s in management rankings, for example and makes up one of three sections relating to faculty in the BGA accreditation guidelines. A new study led by GEM Alpine Business School assistant professor Yashar Bashirzadeh, however, sought to find out if faculty diversity is valued by schools’ key stakeholders – students. To do so, it analysed evaluations given by almost 20,000 students to approximately 1,000 teachers over a period of nine years at a French business school. “At first glance, students see the diversity of their professors as a plus,” Bashirzadeh shared. What students value most, he revealed, is
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Business Impact • ISSUE 2 • 2026
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