ASIA PACIFIC DEANS & DIRECTORS CONFERENCE
With her Western ideas and background had it been hard to adapt to Kazak culture, wondered Maheson? Lewis conceded that it had been a challenge at times: “You have to work out how things play out in that environment, like a ‘safe space’ for instance, what does that look like in our classroom context?” Professor Sarah Kelly, head of the Graduate School of Business at Queensland University of Technology, remarked on the importance of policy and what she termed “walking the talk”. We must, she insisted, “embed DE&I practices in curricula, implement them every day and have the humility to learn what works and what doesn’t”. Kelly commented on the “multiple perspectives” surrounding DE&I: it has legal ramifications, as well as an ethical and moral aspect, plus there is a business case to be made for it. Future leaders “must be educated in terms of cultural sensitivity awareness”, she urged. Kelly then touched on the importance of belonging and noted that inclusion is about “feeling comfortable”. The concept of inclusion is of primary importance at Queensland given that there are “complex issues of colonialisation” in Australia and the school is committed to engaging with the “world’s oldest indigenous culture”. One example of this, pointed out Kelly, is having indigenous faculty teaching at the university who work with not-for-profit local enterprises. The school offers scholarships for both the MBA and EMBA and it also organises roundtable debates and events centred on the UN’s sustainable development goal number five, which relates to gender equality. Lewis added that her school works towards making students more confident in terms of their place within the MBA cohort; “‘I have things to offer and I belong here’ – that is the attitude that we aim to foster”. A mentorship scheme in professional development has been set up for junior faculty, which is incredibly diverse, she noted, as it is made up of some 15 different nationalities. The school’s goal is to ensure that 50 per cent of teaching staff are Kazaks; currently 85 per cent of academics come from international backgrounds. In terms of gender equality, Lewis commented on how the first question a woman may face at a job interview in Kazakhstan is often: “Are you married and when do you plan on having children?” That’s why Nazarbayev is aiming to create a “corporate community identity” to engage with organisations that are more willing to take on female employees. Kelly commented on how Queensland saw a rise in female enrolment on the MBA programme after Covid, a trend that she attributed to “the flexibility of doing a hybrid degree”. Her school advocates for students in terms of coaching sessions with external sponsors, so they are able to participate in the programme “from a variety of different perspectives”. Increasing enrolment with micro-credentials Zheng Wei, co-founder and CEO of Accredify, which creates and manages verifiable digital documents via its TrustTech technology, began his session by pointing out that the average age of an MBA
“change the mindset of faculty so they will teach new things”. Chen agreed, but added a note of caution, noting that despite the fact Shenzhen’s mission statement is to encourage change, it can be a process fraught with difficulty. According to Qi, it revolves around gaining students’ trust and building up the credibility of your school’s faculty. Wang then asked how the participants would define the concept of globalisation in management education. Qi replied by saying that the way they teach in China is “little or no different from the West” and that it is a “cross-cultural experience, teaching students to understand the global business context”. Chen talked about how the world has become “a global village” and Wang remarked that while the focus was previously on the differences separating business schools, nowadays “it is on our similarities, as we share many common goals”. Cultivating inclusive leadership Ben Maheson, BGA membership and account manager, chaired a fascinating discussion on DE&I, which examined how business schools can build a diverse leadership pipeline, create a culture of belonging and implement sustainable practices. Jenifer Lewis, vice-dean of academic affairs and accreditation at Nazarbayev University’s Graduate School of Business, explained that one of her institution’s key principles is “policy supporting practice – once you have that, everyone understands where you’re coming from”. She maintained that it “shouldn’t be a top-down effort, we actively welcome feedback from students in the areas where we can improve and students need to understand that they will be the ones to lead that transformation”.
Accredify’s Zheng Wei discussed how to attract Gen Z students to MBA programmes
Ambition | FEBRUARY 2024 | 25
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