BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
I n a world in which change is now demanded by almost every segment of society, it’s worth remembering how influential business can be, because business funds everything. In the last five years, the global business community has started to realise this and to take on its responsibility for making the world a better place through better business practice. This topic was the subject of a recent interview I gave in Foreign Policy magazine, and it’s one of such importance that I would like to use my next two columns to explore some of the critical ideas around this subject. Globally, I think the collective conscience of business leaders has now embraced the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). And there is a huge role to play for the global Business School community in championing the SDGs and preparing future leaders who are both commercially astute and ethically responsible. Today’s management programmes are far broader in scope than those of the twentieth century, paying greater attention to sustainability and soft skills development, for example, alongside the more traditional commercial and technical aspects of management. This evolution helps maintain the global popularity of business and management degrees and allows the subject area to prove resilient during economic highs and lows, such as the 2008 financial crisis and the ongoing problems associated with the Coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19 has presented new obstacles to economies, governments, businesses, and providers of business education worldwide. However, there has again been evidence that the weaker the global economy, the higher the market demand for high-quality business education. Business executives realise that, in a tough job market, you need to be better educated than your rivals. They want to ensure that they’re going to emerge strongly. In addition, it’s been revitalising to see how leading Business Schools transformed quickly from 100% on- campus teaching to hybrid teaching, or even 100% online teaching. One of the few benefits arising from the pandemic is the acceleration of digital education transformation. Of course, the big question now is what will happen when Covid-19 is finally finished? In my view, much of the digital transformation to blended or 100% online learning will be permanent. However, nostalgia for face-to-face human interaction and genuine belief among many deans and students that face-to-face learning is superior and more desirable than online learning will mean that campuses will still experience a strong return to classroom learning. Every organisation needs to consider where they are going to position their products and programmes on the scale between pure face-to-face learning and fully online learning. At AMBA & BGA, we are ensuring that all our accreditation assessments, services and conferences will be able to fit comfortably anywhere along that scale.
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Reflections on business education, post-Covid-19 Andrew Main Wilson offers his thoughts on the role of business education in society and how it might adapt to a post-Covid-19 future
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