DEANS & DIRECTORS CONFERENCE
BGA’s International Accreditation Advisory Board (IAAB). Some 30 platforms – 15 in China, the remainder located in different European countries, as well as one in Brisbane, Australia – have been established, while eight memoranda of understanding (MOU) were signed with a range of schools in 2019. Antonio Maciel, associate dean at the Faculty of Economics & Business at Anáhuac University in México, related how his institution has created a business accelerator to change the focus of teaching entrepreneurship given that “young students talk about setting up a company rather than being an employee”. Anáhuac, therefore, is focused on helping its management education cohort “develop and maintain an entrepreneurial mindset”; its main concerns revolve around how to measure it and how best to collaborate in this regard with other schools. Bin Shen, vice-dean at Glorious Sun School of Business and Management at Donghua University in China, commented on how his MBA programme “actively works with industry on how to inject an entrepreneurial approach into education”. The school has helped elaborate an ESG framework issued by the government for the textile and apparel industry related to a living wage project. Gaston Labadie, dean of the Graduate School of Business at ORT University in Uruguay, reflected on the university’s “long history of trade with China for products and the US for services”, adding that it is essential for a small country such as Uruguay “to build bridges with communities all over the world”. Haitao Wu, dean of the School of Business Administration at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, homed in on how his school is developing leadership ability and confidence; given that nearly 80 per cent of its students are women, it has concentrated on developing a female leadership programme. Why is sustainable entrepreneurship and leadership development so important, asked Wang. “The two go hand in hand – it is a collaborative endeavour”, replied Maciel, adding that the new generation is “very concerned about green energy and recycling, it comes naturally to them”. “China is open to collaboration,” remarked Shen, referring to how a Chinese delegation had visited Bogotá earlier that week and agreed on two initiatives involving the bimonthly, online mentoring of Colombian biotech ventures by the Chinese university network. This will also include an exchange of students so that they become “more comfortable with their respective cultures”. Why collaboration is key to success Professor Wang echoed this theme of collaboration at a panel debate held the next day, entitled Strengthening connections and fostering collaboration between Latin America and China , chaired by AMBA & BGA’s accreditation and China director George Iliev. Explaining that it was his fifth time in the region, Wang remarked on the “energy, warmth and exciting atmosphere” at local business schools, adding that in terms of entrepreneurship, there is “so much for Chinese schools to learn and share with each other”. He urged each party to “contribute using their own strengths to make the collaboration more effective”.
social dimension”, commented Sivarajah, adding that it is important to share best practice. Pérez noted that “when you ask business students in the US, ‘Why are you here?’ the answer is often to make money, whereas in this region it is to improve society”. Students should be taught “how to think and make their own judgement”, remarked Arandia, adding that they should be equipped with “the right tools and a moral compass”. For Sivarajah the starting point is establishing “a learning environment for creative debate and the constructive questioning of right versus wrong, as leaders need a strong sense of purpose”. He said he believed that sustainability should be embedded across all aspects of management education, including finance and marketing: “We must return to fundamental principles, it can’t just be a ‘greenwash’.” The ITAM dean agreed, noting that “strategic thinking is necessary in terms of the journey and partnerships that schools make… we are focusing on those sustainable development goals that we can actually impact”. He added that since one of his school’s strengths lies in the area of finance, faculty there has agreed to help draft Mexico’s financial regulations on sustainability, including risk assessment and the evaluation of climate factors. At Bradford, meanwhile, Sivarajah said the school decided it was time to “go back to basics”, examining the student journey and introducing a responsible management module on climate action. The institution’s summer school, which has been operating for seven years now, focuses on social change, justice and the circular economy and involves cohorts from undergraduate programmes all the way to the MBA. UDEM also benefits from a “strong relationship with the community”, according to Arandia, through consultancy work and students being embedded in companies where they deal with social issues. Pérez commented on how ITAM has “never had 100 per cent of faculty only doing academic work”, as they have always also conducted grassroots projects. “In the Anglo-Saxon environment there is often an ‘Ivory tower’ approach, but in Latin America we could not survive if we were only doing academic research,” he maintained. Sivarajah noted how UK business schools generate some £30 billion a year and therefore have “a huge impact on society”, while Arandia suggested that management education “needs to use resources more efficiently”. Pérez remarked that schools must strive to be “more impactful”; the session concluded with Sivarajah saying: “Create a change you believe in and deliver graduates who have a strong sense of civic responsibility.” Promoting partnerships with China Active since 2014, the Silk Road Entrepreneurship Education Network promotes partnerships and joint initiatives among business schools through the establishment of collaborative platforms and workshops that are organised both in-person and online. The name was chosen as the Silk Road has historically connected China with the West, so the government has embraced it as “a new symbol of globalisation”, according to panel chair Zhongming Wang, international advisor on AMBA &
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