‘Every undergraduate student, no matter
their subject area, must take a course in social responsibility’
The road ahead Not all discoveries have been positive, however. ‘If you asked me what professors and students are thinking, I think they would say that Zoom is stressful. Teaching a class where you can’t see the reactions of students, or where only one person can talk at a time is tough. When you have a group discussion, then it’s actually a lot of stress.’ On balance, Nava believes – like many in the industry – that the path ahead will be blended: ‘We might not go all the way back to campus because the students are really enjoying not commuting. They’re saying: “Well, if I had the choice, I would go to some classes, and others I can take by Zoom and have the experience of being on campus when I have to be on campus.’ Prior to becoming Director of the Economics and Business School at Anáhuac México in 2018, Nava was Director of Anáhuac Online, so distance learning models – and the differences between them – are an area in which he is steeped in experience: ‘On-campus education is only being switched to another platform to have the same experience. It’s not the model that we use online. People need to understand that it is a different model and it is not like you are receiving an online education. The business model involved from the side of the university is totally different. It’s not like we’re saying: “OK, we’re switching to classes online and just forget your professor because you’re just not going to have those office hours.” Professors still have those office hours in Zoom; they’re just not able to see the students in person… The traditional online model is big cohorts of students and very low contact with the professor. For professors, having the same contact hours for students [online] is actually more stressful for them and they are putting in more time. Some of them have to really adjust to be on Zoom with their students and for their classes. You have to prepare your course in a different way. What on-campus education is doing is trying to become a
hybrid… So, I think we are evolving into a new model. Now the question is, if this goes further and this takes more time, then it’s going to be the new normal and will become typical.’ Evidence of this transition can already be gleaned from the School’s plans to launch a blended executive MBA – a significant departure for a School that has previously been against taking any of its programme offerings online. It seems the experience of seeing how the use of technology works in practice has convinced them otherwise. ‘We, the faculty and as a Business School, which previously said, “no, we don’t want to go online,” are now saying, “this is not that bad”. Social responsibility Something that is not a new direction for the School of Economics and Business at Anáhuac México is the inclusion of aspects of sustainability in course curricula. ‘Even though it’s a hot topic right now, for us it has been a topic for many years. Ethics has always been a course in the MBA for as long as I can remember – social responsibility as well,’ explains Nava. ‘It wasn’t that professionalised as a subject, but we’ve been asking those questions for many years – what’s the purpose of a firm and what should it do; is it only for maximising profits or is it really to enhance society and have a shared value?’ As an example of the increasing international interest in this area, the Anáhuac Director talks about the emergence of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in finance and how the subject has grown to become the focal point of the 2020 edition of the annual report, OECD Business and Finance Outlook that was released at the end of September. ‘The name of the game now is ESG – you get the sense that big firms not only need to solve their business problems through corporate governance, but also try to attend to what society and the business world is asking for from them – it’s a big question.’
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