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ISSUE 6 • 2025 • VOLUME 84
NEWS & INS IGHT
REGULARS
07 | EDI TOR’ S LET TER
36
22 08
Examining the evolving skillsets business graduates need to flourish in the workplace of the future 36 | IN FOCUS Delving into the executive MBA experience at HEC Lausanne, Switzerland, as well as its potential to instigate positive change 38 | VIEW FROM THE TOP CEO Andrew Main Wilson reports on encouraging levels of application and enrolment numbers and how MBA students are forging ahead with their own ventures
30 | MAKING WAVES University of Bradford School of Management student Karl Baz and his business partner, Luke Cunningham, describe how an executive MBA has helped their AMBA-award winning water safety company to grow from strength to strength AMBA & BGA EXCELLENCE AWARDS
08 | BUSINESS BRIEFING A selection of the latest news and research from AMBA-accredited business schools based in Peru, New Zealand, Italy, India and Canada. Topics covered include the unexpected value of conversational pauses, how age impacts sustainable travel proclivities and the need to embed wisdom and ethical values into modern leadership education. Plus, an important update to AMBA’s MBA accreditation criteria
Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025 3
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AMBA & BGA joint accreditation emphasises the importance of an institution’s overall impact and value creation for students, employers and communities, with a focus on responsible management, while maintaining the same level of rigour found in AMBA’s accreditation of postgraduate business programmes. Achievement of joint accreditation allows your business school to demonstrate the quality of its MBA, as well as responsible management practices and positive impact on stakeholders.
Undergoing a joint accreditation means that your institution requires only one visit of highly experienced assessors. This combines the necessary documentation from the two accreditations, reducing the amount of administrative work and tasks required to achieve two internationally recognised business school accreditations.
EXPLORE AMBA & BGA JOINT ACCREDITATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS SCHOOL AT: www.amba-bga.com/joint-accreditation
ISSUE 6 • 2025 • VOLUME 84
FEATURES
12 | COVER STORY SHAPING THE NEXT-GEN SKILLSET
Highlights from a roundtable discussion around how business schools can best prepare students to forge a successful career path to the future of work
24 | LEADING BY EXAMPLE
The role of in-company learning projects and personalised mentorship on ITESO Business School’s MBA programme 28 | FORGING FUTURE- READY LEADERS Reimagining management education, using an approach that centres on collaboration, simulations and a global outlook
20 | CROSS-CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS How the University of East Anglia executive MBA combines international immersion with experiential learning in Prague
34 | REMAKING THE GRADE Peter Daly and Emmanuelle Deglaire from EDHEC analyse how Gen AI can assist faculty in assessing students’ work
Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025 5
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EDITOR’S LETTER
TOMORROW’S WORLD: NEW CAREER COMPETENCIES Graduates need a skillset comprising strategic leadership & data fluency to succeed in the workplace
EDITORIAL Head of editorial Colette Doyle c.doyle@amba-bga.com Content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
T
Art editor Sam Price Sub-editor Heather Ford
he future of work is being defined by rapid digital transformation and the emergence of hitherto unexplored skillsets. It’s a hot-button topic and that’s why we recently convened a roundtable comprised of international business school deans to discuss how MBA graduates should shift away from standard operational management towards strategic leadership and data fluency. Graduates will need to be able to translate complex data analytics into clear, actionable strategic vision and ethical decision-making. In addition, they must learn how to integrate sustainability and biodiversity principles into core business models. Employers will also require evidence of demonstrating competencies, ie taking key skills and applying them in high-stakes contexts such as crisis management or international negotiation. Preparing for this requires a conscious shift from passive learning to proactive, experiential skill development. While technical skills are necessary, our panellists agreed that the greatest value will come from human traits such as communication, emotional intelligence and agility. MBA cohorts must gain real-world experience of the competencies they learn on the programme – hence the rise in popularity of internships and capstone projects that involve live industry challenges. Schools are also offering longitudinal skill development programmes, such as skill passports that identify any blind spots, along with AI simulations to run scenarios, with students then spending time in class discussing the results and the decisions made. A “learn to learn” mindset was identified as a crucial element of future career success, as were micro-credentials and cross-skilling. Moreover, students were urged to use the resources offered by their business schools, including paid subscriptions, mentorship and coaching, to maintain a personal development plan that keeps them actively engaged in continuous learning. By blending technical understanding with a sharpened focus on human, ethical and adaptive leadership, MBA graduates can transition from being knowledgeable managers to becoming transformational explorers of the future business landscape.
Insight, content and PR manager Ellen Buchan e.buchan@amba-bga.com
CORPORATE Director of business school engagement Debbie Kemp d.kemp@amba-bga.com
Head of business development – BGA Richard Turner r.turner@amba-bga.com
Commercial relations director Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@amba-bga.com
Head of marketing and communications Leonora Clement
Senior marketing executive Edward Holmes
Colette Doyle , Editor, Ambition
Head of IT and data management Jack Villanueva
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Head of events Carolyn Armsby
HR and employer relations manager Aarti Bhasin Finance and commercial director Catherine Walker
Chief executive officer Andrew Main Wilson
KARL BAZ
JULIAN CAMPBELL
LUKE CUNNINGHAM
PETER DALY
Executive assistant to the CEO Amy Youngs a.youngs@amba-bga.com ACCREDITATION ENQUIRIES accreditation@amba-bga.com
SOHEIL DAVARI
EMMANUELLE DEGLAIRE
MARTHA LETICIA SILVA-FLORES
FRANCISCO JAVIER VÁZQUEZ JUNIOR
Copyright 2025 by Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association ISSN 2631-6382 All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without the permission of the publisher. While we take care to ensure that editorial is independent, accurate, objective and relevant for our readers, AMBA accepts no responsibility for reader dissatisfaction rising from the content of this publication. The opinions expressed and advice given are the views of individual commentators and do not necessarily represent the views of AMBA. Whenever an article in this publication is placed with the financial support of an advertiser, partner or sponsor, it will be marked as such. AMBA makes every opportunity to credit photographers but we cannot guarantee every published use of an image will have the contributor’s name. If you believe we have omitted a credit for your image, please email the editor.
Ambiti n
Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025 7
BUSINESS BRIEFING
All the latest updates from across AMBA’s global network
Featured among the latest updates from AMBA-accredited schools is a growing global digital learning network, research into whether age affects sustainable travel practices and how conversational pauses can positively impact the way you are perceived. Tim Banerjee Dhoul , Ellen Buchan and George Iliev report
COLLABORATIVE ALLIANCE BRANCHES OUT WITH FIRST MEMBER IN LATIN AMERICA SCHOOL : Centrum PUCP, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Peru
Centrum PUCP has become the first institution in Latin America to join the Future of Management Education (FOME) Alliance. The addition marks FOME’s second regional expansion of the year, following on from the recent arrival of Henley Business School Africa. In total, there are now 15 members of the collaborative network focused on digital learning, including EDHEC Business School in France, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in the US and the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University. Centrum PUCP general director Ruben Guevara said that the ability to share insights into the latest innovations in online business education with other members of the network would complement the school’s existing strength in this area. “Being part of the FOME Alliance will allow us to exchange best practices and experiences in the use of digital technologies and teaching methodologies with other world-class business schools, to increase the quality and impact of our online programmes.” Centrum currently offers
an online MBA and a suite of online master’s degrees, as well as a wide- ranging portfolio of executive education. Harald Øverby, FOME Alliance chair and a special advisor in AI & technology at BI Norwegian Business School, highlighted the advantages of the network’s international expansion: “FOME is now on its way to becoming a truly global alliance of business schools. The cultural diversity and global mindset of its members will be a key asset for collaboration and moving forward to create cutting-edge learning experiences that shape responsible leaders.” Formed in 2018, FOME pools expertise and drives research across its network with the aim of delivering flexible, engaging programmes that meet the needs of today’s busy and often on-the-go learners. Deputy chair of the FOME Alliance and professor at Vlerick Business School, Steve Muylle explained that members “dare to innovate to stay ahead of the curve in management education”. TBD
8 Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025
NEWS & INSIGHT
In recent years, mass tourism has been a point of contention for many countries, with renowned sites such as Maya Bay in Thailand closing for periods due to the effects of high footfall. Tourists can be both a blessing and a curse for popular locations, bringing money into the local economy, but also litter, erosion and antisocial behaviour. But does age have an impact on the sustainable travel practices of tourists? In a recent study led by UC Business School professor Girish Prayag, Generation Z tourists were found to be more likely to adopt sustainable travel practices. However, it was also found that environmental awareness of these practices varies widely within each generation, suggesting that sustainability values are not uniform across age groups. “Our research challenges the assumption that younger generations are automatically more environmentally conscious and travel sustainably,” Prayag explained. “While Gen Z travellers are more likely to demonstrate sustainable behaviours, our findings show that attitudes towards the environment are complex and influenced by more than just age or generational identity.” The study examined the attitudes and behaviours of 600 international visitors to the region of Canterbury, on New Zealand’s South Island. It used the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) to assess how age and generational identity shape sustainable travel practices, comparing Baby Boomers with members of Gen X, Gen Y and Gen Z. Examples of sustainable behaviours demonstrated included saving resources and purchasing local food. The study says its findings can help those working in the tourism sector not to make age-based assumptions. “Understanding the diversity within each generation allows tourism operators to design more effective sustainability initiatives that resonate with travellers’ values and motivations,” Prayag advised. The research was published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism . EB STUDY EXPLORES DIFFERENCES IN GENERATIONAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL SCHOOL : University of Canterbury (UC) Business School, New Zealand
To enhance flexibility and stackability, while creating an additional pipeline for MBA recruitment, AMBA now permits accredited institutions to launch MBA-compatible Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) programmes. The move is being described as the biggest change in the AMBA accreditation criteria since the association’s decision to start accrediting fully online MBA programmes back in 2016. PG Cert programmes are composed of up to a third of the credits of a full MBA programme and must be based on courses from the school’s existing AMBA-accredited MBA. Importantly, AMBA also allows for the credits from PG Certs to be transferred to a subsequent MBA within five years of their completion. The transfer of up to 33 per cent of an MBA programme’s credits is conditional on an institution’s strict application of AMBA’s MBA-level standards in admission, delivery and assessment in the PG Cert. This means that only applicants with at least three years’ work experience can be enrolled on an AMBA-compliant PG Certs. Furthermore, the required mandatory and rigorous assessment distinguishes the PG Cert from most forms of executive education, where there is little or no assessment. When designing an AMBA-compliant PG Cert, institutions are free to choose the MBA courses that will be included in the programme. A PG Cert, therefore, can be composed of any combination of MBA core courses, MBA electives, or a mix of the two. The new AMBA policy is designed to enable prospective students who are not ready to commit to a full MBA to stagger their studies and stack credits over a number of years. AMBA-compliant PG Cert and full MBA courses can either be delivered jointly in the same classroom to students from both groups, or take place using a format of separate streams, at the discretion of the institution’s management. GI AMBA OPENS UP NEW STACKABLE MBA PATHWAY ORGANISATION : The Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association (AMBA & BGA), UK
Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025 9
A new study from SDA Bocconi School of Management underlines the intertwined relationship between nature and GDP. Its starting point is the revelation that more than 50 per cent of global GDP – or $58 trillion of global economic value – is exposed to risks linked to natural degradation. Specifically, these risks encompass extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, critical changes in Earth systems and resource scarcity. The upshot is that working to regenerate nature also equates to regenerating the economy and the SDA Bocconi report illustrates the role business can play. Entitled Regenerating Nature Means Regenerating the Economy , the report calls for moving beyond the climate dimension alone and focusing on nature-based solutions. It explores the potential of regenerative agriculture and the challenges linked to soil, water and oceans. It also highlights how companies can engage in remediation activities, for example, through the use of water treatment or low-emission transport. The report was presented in Paris to an audience of 400 students from various grandes écoles institutions by its author Sylvie Goulard, professor of practice in global affairs at SDA Bocconi. It is the result of a collaboration between the Milan-based business school and French initiative 2050Now. Examples from several major companies affiliated with 2050Now are presented in the report, such as the use of regenerative agriculture practices in the supply chains at luxury goods multinational LVMH and utility firm Veolia’s work on purification, water treatment and a reduction in fossil fuels’ use. The report also makes recommendations for organisations that include the engagement of people and territories; the fight against misinformation; the use of positive psychological levers to drive action, as demonstrated by neuroscience; and the role of companies as places of learning, participation and collective alignment. EB THE BUSINESS IMPERATIVE FOR NATURE REGENERATION SCHOOL : SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy
The modern business landscape is undeniably challenging, with those at the helm forced to negotiate new technologies, continuing volatility and pervasive inequalities. A new white paper from SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR) argues that these evolving realities are increasingly demonstrating that traditional leadership methods are no longer fit for purpose and that a new approach is needed to deal with today’s global challenges. That approach, the paper postulates, should be based around a shift from performance-focused management towards wisdom-based leadership that is grounded in ethics, reflection and compassion. Wisdom at the Helm: Redefining Leadership for a Complex World is authored by Surya Tahora, professor of organisational and leadership studies at SPJIMR and Tanvi Mankodi, assistant professor of organisational and leadership studies at the school. “Leadership today demands more than vision and agility; it demands wisdom – the ability to harmonise performance with purpose, innovation with integrity and human values with technological progress. Embedding wisdom into leadership is not a soft ideal, it’s a strategic necessity. As workplaces become more complex and AI redefines how decisions are made, wisdom provides the compass leaders need to stay human-centred and purpose-driven,” declared Tahora. The paper suggests that leadership programmes should encompass ethical decision-making scenarios to assist in formulating new strategies, while also promoting reflective practices, encouraging humility in leadership and fostering cultures around wisdom-oriented values. There is also a focus on the ethical integration of AI in organisational decision- making, with recommendations for establishing AI ethics boards and roles dedicated to overseeing responsible AI use. The paper was released through SPJIMR’s Centre for Wisdom in Leadership, of which Tahora is the executive director. EB PAPER CALLS FOR LEADERSHIP APPROACHES TO BE REDEFINED AROUND WISDOM & ETHICS SCHOOL : SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, India
10 Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025
NEWS & INSIGHT
IT’S GOOD TO PAUSE… IN BUSINESS INTERACTIONS SCHOOL : Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada
Brief pauses in conversation can make speakers seem more helpful, improve interpersonal impressions and foster more collaborative dialogue, according to new research co-authored by Schulich School of Business marketing professor Grant Packard. The research investigated how even a split-second pause can shape the way people perceive one another in everyday exchanges, spanning everything from workplace meetings to customer service interactions. Based on the study’s results, the research argues that pausing briefly encourages verbal assents from conversation partners, such as a simple “yeah” or “uh-huh”, which leads them to perceive speakers more positively. “These findings run counter to the common fear that pausing makes us look unsure of ourselves. In reality, taking short pauses gives our conversation partners space to engage. When people respond with small acknowledgements, it subtly reinforces that the interaction is working – and that you’re someone who’s easy to collaborate with,” Packard elaborated. The length of the pause is all-important, with the study pinpointing that a brief pause constitutes a gap of under three seconds. Longer pauses that are often
associated with uncertainty or discomfort, meanwhile, tended to elicit negative impressions of the speaker. Understanding the dynamics around these forms of momentary silence, the study notes, can be powerful in professional settings, where being perceived as attentive, collaborative and helpful plays a crucial role in building trust and achieving positive outcomes. The Power of Pausing in Collaborative Conversations, published in Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes , was authored with researchers at Rutgers Business School, Siena University (US) and the Wharton School. Its multi-method study included an analysis of customer service calls and two experiments manipulating pause frequency. “For anyone who collaborates with colleagues or clients, the message is simple,” Packard concluded. “Short pauses give conversation partners room to chime in – and even a small opportunity to say ‘yeah’ or ‘uh huh’ can make interactions more positive and productive.” TBD
SHARE YOUR NEWS AND RESEARCH UPDATES by emailing AMBA & BGA content editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul at t.dhoul@amba-bga.com
Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025 11
FUTURE PERFECT: Shaping the next-gen skillset
In a world of accelerating technological change and evolving business models, the path for MBA graduates is being redefined. Management education must now go beyond traditional curricula to equip students with the skills needed for a different kind of landscape. Together with media consultancy BlueSky Education, Ambition editor Colette Doyle recently convened a roundtable to discuss how business schools can best prepare students to forge a successful career path to the future
12 Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025
ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
A newly published GMAC report has highlighted the increasing demand for strategic thinking, problem solving and ethical leadership skills in the workplace. Furthermore, it emphasised the growing importance of digital literacy and data fluency as new hybrid roles emerge. To have a successful MBA career in the geopolitical environment of tomorrow will hinge not only on possessing a strong business foundation, but also on a graduate’s ability to be agile, adaptable and conscientious in navigating these next-gen shifts. Just as vital will be soft skills such as critical thinking, ethical judgement and the ability to manage and inspire diverse, global teams. Given that employers outside the US value online and in-person degrees equally, while US employers still prefer the in-person format, how can business schools strategically adjust their programme delivery models to cater to diverse global employer preferences? José Esteves: “Something I often observe in education is the trade‑off between what employers require and what students want. I’ve noticed that some employers are currently telling us the one thing they would really like their employees to have is an international perspective and [experience of] diversity. “What we have found at Porto is that you need to combine different modes of study during the programme. Students may have online classes, but we combine the asynchronous with the synchronous, so they can still work during the week, then at the weekend they prefer to have synchronous classes, plus there are also residential courses. I think it’s a combination of things [that works]. “In fact, last summer we launched our flexible global online MBA [because of that student perspective] – I’ve been developing the career pathways, where students can select the content. Personalisation and flexibility are key not only in terms of the mode of study, but also in terms of the curriculum, with different specialisations offered.” Delphine Manceau: “At NEOMA, we have a hybrid approach; we combine online and face-to-face teaching because the objective is to leverage the advantages of both systems. Online teaching enables us to have people from different parts of the world working together and sharing ideas in a specific course or class. “But we know that in an increasingly technological world, leadership skills, or soft skills, are even more important for MBA graduates than they were before. I think this is what will make a real difference in the job market today – developing those leadership and soft skills among MBA participants. “It’s important for them to come together, to share, to debate with the professor and to have discussions in person. We combine the two [models] and we also organise trips where students from all over the world get together for a few days to exchange viewpoints.”
Ajit Parulekar: “We primarily cater to a domestic audience at Goa. We have students who come from across the country, so our set- up is a little bit different. The other thing is people talk about two types of programmes, [full and part-time], whereas our campus is residential, so all the students live on site and therefore the emphasis is on in-person study. “Having said that, a large part of the executive education programme is online and blended because it fits in well with that cohort’s preference priorities. But in terms of [the importance of] smaller group interactions, many things cannot be done online. Even our executive programmes, therefore, will have immersive components, where participants have to come to campus so they can get to know the other people that they’re working with.” Barbara Majoor: “At Nyenrode, what we invest in on our MBA programmes is the development of personal skills. Now we are investing in a form of hybrid or blended learning, so that we can offer a really good content experience. “If you offer a hybrid course, you must invest in the quality of teaching and that’s what we do in the blended learning mode. We also continue to focus on the development of personal skills; in order to successfully develop them, we require our students [to have a physical presence] on campus. “This means that across all our MBA programmes, both executive and full-time, the students are on campus [for part of the time]. On other parts of the course, we offer blended learning so they can follow it via a platform. Then there are the teachers who they can chat with, but [the real investment is in] the blended format. To sum up, it’s a combination of online and offline, where we still focus on the in-person format because it’s essential for developing personal skills.” Kieran Fernandes: “I think there are two parts to the question: the first one is about signalling and the second is about portfolio. The reason some employers value face-to-face interaction more than online is probably because the signals are not strong enough in terms of the value proposition of online programmes. “At Durham we are sending out that signal, ie that the value proposition of an online programme is exactly the same as a face- to-face experience. We allow our online students to mix with the in-person cohort on certain occasions and vice versa. The content of the online programme is something our in-person and residential students have access to; that has allowed us to argue this point that you can have different modes, the same connectivity, but these are different pathways. Employers need to understand this; it’s the job of all business schools [to promote it] a lot more proactively. “The second aspect is about the portfolio problem. At Durham, we are very clear on the outcomes of our programmes, so people understand what’s being learned and how it is being taught. Even if you have a residential experience, a lot of the content is still online – I mean, that’s the nature of how education is delivered [nowadays]. Those employers themselves are discussing with one another how to best engage in an online world.
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PANEL PARTICIPANTS CHAIR Colette Doyle Head of editorial, AMBA & BGA
“The other thing is the concept of assurance. Accreditation kitemarks [such as AMBA] signify that what you are getting as the end product is of the highest quality.” While AI knowledge is gaining greater importance, interpersonal skills such as emotional intelligence and adaptability remain top priorities for employers globally. How can business schools ensure these critical skills are embedded and developed within their programmes? Ajit Parulekar: “I think it’s what business schools do and what they have been doing for a long time, AI or no AI. The challenge with generative AI is to make sure that you don’t lose the focus on personal skills – for example, communication. This entails a deep understanding by faculty because they are the ones who matter here. The way that they design programmes, carry out assessments, evaluate their use of technology and [examine] every individual’s experiential learning journey – all of these are extremely important.” Barbara Majoor: “At Nyenrode, our mission is to shape responsible leaders and that’s still paramount in the way we educate; we have tried to adapt the word responsible because it doesn’t mean the same nowadays as it did previously. “We are constantly adapting our educational programmes and learning goals to [match] what we think a responsible leader should be. This means that we do research into what types of human skills the responsible leader requires nowadays – and for the coming decade. You need to have entrepreneurship in your skillset and you must have integrity; it’s vital to have an inner moral compass.” Kieran Fernandes: “We need to realise that interpersonal skills can be learned. We ensure that we reinforce them in some form through the mechanisms we have at our university. One of the things that we focus a lot of energy on is the idea of longitudinal skill passports for our MBA students. We have a strong 360-degree system; students meet regularly with the academics and their mentors. “We have incorporated co-partners from the employer side, so the student feels that this is a skill they are gaining. Not everybody comes to a business school with all the skills they need; these are things they come to learn as part of the journey. We need to ensure that this is embedded and not just some sort of trivial assessment. The employer co-engagement [approach] is the way we are moving our learners through this experience to foster interpersonal skills. “I think we have to move away from [someone getting a good mark on an exam] towards asking, ‘How are we developing this skill longitudinally over a period of time?’ We need to understand that though there is a strong interaction between managers and technology, students will still need to make decisions. We have taken a very open approach to AI; rather than restricting its use, what we have said to students is we’ll provide them with broad guardrails on good – and not so good – uses of the technology.”
DELEGATES José Esteves Dean, Porto Business School
Kieran Fernandes Executive dean, Durham University Business School
Barbara Majoor Rector magnificus Nyenrode Business University
Delphine Manceau Dean, NEOMA Business School
Ajit Parulekar Director, Goa Institute of Management
Delphine Manceau: “Soft skills are becoming increasingly important, so on the NEOMA executive MBA programme we are really trying to foster and develop them. Of course, there is a large range of soft skills, so I will give just two examples. “The first one concerns crisis management in an uncertain world. We organise a crisis management seminar with the French Gendarmerie , a branch of the national police force. It’s a three-day seminar: we plan a crisis and see how the students react, we debrief and then we help them analyse how they behaved and made decisions under pressure in situations they’ve never encountered before. It’s held in the Alps, so the setting is quite extreme and it really [ramps up] the tension. Afterwards, they can reflect on what happened. “We are also putting a lot of emphasis on intercultural management. Most businesses these days are international and you could say with AI translating everything so easily, then it could provide help in these situations. But this is precisely the
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ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
How can business schools further strengthen partnerships with organisations to ensure their curriculum remains highly relevant, reflecting the real-time needs of the workplace and offering practical experiences to enhance graduate employability? Kieran Fernandes: “One thing we have focused keenly on is this concept of shared governance with industry. We have [put in place] a social contract with our employers… and there are a number of clear key performance indicators regarding the sort of things we are talking to them about through that mechanism. One of our biggest employers [in the region] is Nissan; we have a social contract with them called Nissan Launch, where we look at that core journey between us as a business school and them. “It’s also meant that the way we teach is very different – all of a sudden, they [the company representatives] are not guest lecturers; they are co-tutors. We have another session where we bring in [UK hairdressing chain] Toni & Guy; their principal success has been around returning customers. And then there’s a huge local employer, Durham Constabulary; the challenge they face is how to treat the citizens of the North East as customers, rather than as people they help when there’s trouble. “We run a joint session where both organisations work together in the same forum; that peer-to-peer learning experience is what they’re looking for and we’re acting as facilitators of this conversation. The nature of that module looks very different from somebody coming in and giving a [standard] lecture. “All our labs [have been renamed] practice labs – our industrial partners come in and use them when we’re not using them, it’s a live set-up, with people doing experiments on a daily basis. Our school is in the heart of the innovation district in Durham, we are surrounded by hi-tech companies and [we encourage them to] use our building, so our students are really benefitting from that experience. We need to genuinely pick up on that keyword, ‘business’ in the business school definition and bring it to the heart of what we are trying to do.” Ajit Parulekar: “I’m always worried about employability, but I think our objective in education is not just to make students ‘know and do’, but also to ‘think and be’. I’m conscious of the fact that under this banner of making students employable, we mustn’t end up moving towards being [something akin to] trainers. Our job is much broader than that, it’s about being educators. “We see ourselves as an institute of management, not as a business school and therefore we don’t look at profit alone and we don’t serve only business, but also society, covenant, government, policy, the public good and other things [of that ilk]. “I think it needs to be an end-to-end partnership – right from the design of the programme to its relevance as time goes by at various levels, from governance to advisory boards to preparing students for internships. We have a strong internship programme; all of them are paid, so the value that companies get out of it is significantly high and we have a solid career support programme
difference between what AI can do, ie provide a perfect translation and what it cannot do, ie help people adapt to local [norms] or conduct international negotiations properly by taking into account the differences in cultures around the world.” José Esteves: “We’re talking about skills, but actually now the big trend is about competencies, that’s the next level. Competencies go a step further, which is how you apply a skill in different contexts. It’s not enough any more to say, ‘I have good analytical skills’. Competencies go beyond that – it’s a mix of context, features and values. I think some people are too focused on the technical aspect, but AI is about intelligence – the algorithm is trying to simulate human behaviour – it’s not just about the analytics and providing reports. “I believe we should think from a future perspective, not only about what the technology can do today. Remember, one year ago very few people were using AI, now around 66 per cent [of the world’s population are] and the second-most popular use of ChatGPT is for coaching and personal development. We still aim to develop human skills at Porto, but we are increasingly using simulations and AI [in the context of] the student experience and to help them apply their skills. “We are using an AI platform, which I think was developed by INSEAD, where you learn about face-to-face negotiation and use simulations that put you in different scenarios. Our negotiation course has been well received, but there is an inherent limitation [in terms of how much can be done face-to-face]; after the class, however, students can use the platform to extend the impact of the course.”
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a job when they leave. We put them in contact with our alumni network during their studies and most, I think at least 90 per cent, will have a job before they finish.” José Esteves: “We also have embedded capstone projects, as well as consulting or entrepreneurial projects, depending on the pathway. Something that works well is how students want to get to know role models, so we have created a leadership talk series where we bring in business people to discuss their own experiences. This has been particularly successful on our female leadership programme – they are really interested in listening to key executives talk about their career journey within their companies. “[The other thing that’s worth mentioning is how] we are collaborating with industry partners on generative AI. We have partnered with OpenAI, Google, and so on – once the student completes the course, they can get an official professional certification, which is very valuable in the job market.” What are the ethical and reputational risks associated with rapidly evolving intelligent technologies and how can business schools prepare students to lead responsibly in this context? Delphine Manceau: “In a fast-moving international environment, it’s important to train our students to think globally and understand the geopolitical challenges and situations. Technology is also a source of responsibility: managers must be aware of the bias and risks associated with an extensive use of AI within organisations. “In the past, graduates from business schools would take up an analyst job for a few years and they would learn how to understand numbers through their first jobs, how to identify intuitively inconsistencies and outliers. Now it’s going to be much less the
that means almost all of our MBA students will secure jobs around three months before they graduate. Most of these jobs will come out of the internships that they do, so it really is a great fit. “One thing we are wary of in all of this is that we don’t want to custom-make [partnerships] with just any organisation. We’re looking at broader roles, industries and sectors, rather than making anything organisation-specific; the organisations primarily function as partners on centres of excellence and research hubs, more so than on specific programmes.” Delphine Manceau: “For our master’s and bachelor’s programmes, all our students do internships and on the master’s programmes I would say 100 per cent of our students get a job in the first three months [after graduation]. We have very close links with the business world – top CEOs at companies like Club Med, LVMH and Siemens are part of our board – and we have corporates as part of the advisory board of each programme. “About half of our classes are taught by practitioners and the other half by faculty members who do research. It’s a great combination between people who reflect on what companies do and publish research, while on the other hand you have people teaching about how things are done and how they could be improved. “For our executive MBA, it’s a different story because all our participants already have a job. However, if they come to us, it’s because they want to get another perspective. In this instance, corporate projects have a different role to play. The programme helps participants to think outside of the box, or their own company’s way of reasoning, and adopt a different point of view. “We also ask all our EMBA participants to develop an entrepreneurial capstone project. For those who have been working for a while at a large company, it allows them to think as entrepreneurs and to change their mindset.” Barbara Majoor: “We also have very close connections with the business world. We were founded by business, for business; we have good contacts, for example, at KLM, one of our founders. At Nyenrode, we use both faculty and external speakers from the world of work – a great combination for a business school. “Sometimes we co-create our programmes [with industry partners], so that we are really up to date with what they [employers] are looking for from our students because they get involved in programme development. “If people come to us to study for an executive MBA, it’s important that they get the opportunity to bring in their own business case and that we help them with it, using our knowledge and our research, but also our practical experience, in order to expose them to other points of view. We have an incubator where they can bring in their personal case and where they can work on that to, for instance, develop a new business model. “Connections are extremely important when it comes to being successful as a business school in the MBA category and the same applies when [ensuring] our full-time MBA students have
16 Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025
ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
Ajit Parulekar: “At our school, responsible leadership is an integral part of what we do; it’s possibly one of the most important things that we do. I think it’s important in today’s world to make sure that students are able to navigate difficult conversations because there’s so much complexity around every issue and so much information is available. It’s easy to be able to find data that conforms to viewpoints you already hold. “Although data is easily available, understanding it to be able to make meaningful conversations is more complex. We need training, therefore, for students to be able to view that data from multiple perspectives [so they can extract richer insights]. “I think we can break it down into two parts: understanding how to navigate difficult conversations and secondly having the courage and conviction to be able to look at multi-stakeholder perspectives. The challenge really is the polarisation of thoughts – [it feels like] moderates no longer live in this world. I think that’s a challenge that cannot be taught, it has to be lived, in the sense of being built into the curriculum through different kinds of scenarios.” What other emerging trends besides AI should business schools be actively researching and incorporating into their long-term strategic planning to future-proof their cohorts’ skills? Barbara Majoor: “What we have seen, due to the polarisation [of opinions], is a loss of dialogue and that’s problematic because dialogue is essential when it comes to solving problems. I think that we should do research on how to stimulate that dialogue, as well as how to encourage people to work together to find solutions. That is the main aim of our research – to avoid polarisation and get a good conversation going between different factions – but we also need to bring it into our education. “We need to look at how we can foster dialogue between different perspectives because each stakeholder has [their own] views on a specific problem. This is especially important given that nowadays we communicate much more online and we have fewer conversations in person; I think we have to do more research [in this area].” Kieran Fernandes: “I feel we need to understand the root causes of these trends. One concept [that business schools need to be more aware of] is the global market: it’s about disruptive innovation, then there’s workforce transformation and climate policy. I think if you look at most of the conversations that are taking place, be it around green innovation, digital technology, or supply chain transformation, you will see that the root causes are one of those things. “Business schools also need to understand what sustainability looks like as a strategy. Then there’s AI – the platforms, the technology and the role of humans in this conversation, how do you develop human-centric platforms for instance? There’s also a huge conversation around distributed growth between local and global and how we can do both. [Our sector has] a major role to
case because numbers are going to be analysed by AI, so how are managers going to be able to see when the numbers don’t make sense or when they are not consistent? I think this is where our role becomes even more important. “Responsible leadership is about making students understand these topics, but also teaching them how to face dilemmas. In many cases, it’s a lot about trade-offs and dilemmas, so at NEOMA we train students to face difficult situations, to analyse what’s at stake and how to make the best decisions [in times of] uncertainty.” José Esteves: “Responsible leadership is not only about ethics, although it’s a very important aspect, it’s about corporate social responsibility and the way leaders interact with society and their own stakeholders. The latest trend [in this regard] involves decision-making; sometimes we spend too much time in class doing the analytics, the process, getting the results and less time on discussing the results. We are changing that: we are encouraging students to use AI to plan scenarios and then they will have time to come to class and have a big, in-person discussion [on the topic]. “Decision-making is a critical aspect; some decisions may not be unethical, but they have an impact – we cannot delegate these choices to machines. In terms of future careers, that is going to be a key trend: decision-making with [the application of] responsible behaviour.” Barbara Majoor: “I think that we have to take decisions that are valuable for the future. These definitely need to be taken by humans, together with AI. The quality of our degrees is so important because as the role of knowledge becomes less, [we need to focus on] the development of our moral compass, to take the right decisions and to navigate the challenges facing our world today. Business schools need to equip their students with the skills required to take up their role in society – that’s what we have to concentrate on.” Kieran Fernandes: “I agree, but I would say that the idea of a moral compass is contextual. For instance, one of the things we are putting a lot of emphasis on at Durham and within the UK education system currently is the concept of decolonising the curriculum. It’s about looking at a problem through a different lens. “I’m involved with innovation management and we’ve taught the same innovation paradigm for as many years as I can remember. But if you look at the subject, there’s a classic book that my colleague wrote about jugaad innovation [a flexible approach to problem-solving that emphasises ‘doing more with less’] that this whole paradigm is about. There are other forms of innovation that are as successful as the paradigms we teach from our perspective. The same rules apply when we talk about ‘moral compass’; we need to be open to that concept, but question what it means in different settings.”
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“Then there’s human-machine interaction in terms of intrusion in our life spaces, eg cyber security and the potential risk of losing everything that you’ve built over a lifetime, whether that [refers to] organisations, or an individual’s financial assets, their personal data, online identity and so on.” José Esteves: “At Porto, we are trying to [put together] a course on the defence industry, not about arms and weapons, but focusing on the defence economy from a business perspective, for instance [areas such as] agribusiness. We have a strong connection with Africa, which is the next big continent in terms of young people and recruitment talent. We are also working with the Blue Economy [the sustainable use of ocean and other water resources for economic growth and improved livelihoods while preserving the health of the aquatic ecosystem]. “In terms of sustainability, we’ve just launched a core course on biodiversity and nature-based solutions. Our new intake [of students] is going to have that as mandatory, part of the sustainability track. “I think what we really need to change is the mindset on what learning is to something I call ‘learn to learn’. We need to think, as business schools, about how we can encourage our students to [do this]. It’s not only about lifelong learning, but also how you can learn new ways of doing things. We need to develop leaders as explorers – and that means having skills, [such as] curiosity, ambition, willingness to take risks and so on. “We also need new leadership styles – eg the transformational leader. I’m currently doing research about AI and how emotional, responsible leaders [interact with the technology]. That is another dimension of this perspective of AI, how our response to these sudden and rapid changes in society will create leaders who are not afraid to explore new worlds or the unknown.” In a rapidly changing technological and economic landscape, how can business schools instil a strong sense of adaptability and a commitment to lifelong learning in their graduates, ensuring they are equipped to continuously upskill throughout their careers? José Esteves: “As well as upskilling, there’s another [term worth mentioning], lateral or cross-skilling. In terms of lifelong learning, we recently launched an alumni initiative campaign, where a student comes back and does certain electives and then they will receive a micro-credential. It forms part of our social responsibility [commitment] to our alumni to offer them the opportunity to come and do these new courses with various pathways. “We need to think about [creating] new kinds of programmes and shorter ones too, as well as developing different modes of study and the mindset of having a continuous need to learn. And not only learning, but changing your mindset because what you knew yesterday may not going to be valid tomorrow. [This echoes] what Albert Einstein said that it’s not so much about knowledge, it’s about the thinking process – that will become way more important in the future.”
play in addressing these things because we are the natural glue, with science at one end and social science, arts and philosophy at the other.” Delphine Manceau: “What we’re doing at NEOMA is defining some areas of excellence where we want to stimulate research and go beyond the traditional disciplines of marketing, finance and so on. The first of these we call The World We Want. It’s about diversity, climate change, biodiversity and about how companies today can contribute to [creating] a better world. “The second topic we came up with was AI, Data & Business and how all this is changing so rapidly these days. The third is about the Future of Work; the way people work and their relationship to their jobs is completely changing. This is true both for Gen Z and for remote workers. I completely agree with what Barbara said: people need to learn more how to discuss things [calmly]. It’s very hard these days to disagree, with the younger generations messaging each other on social media – they don’t really [know how to] discuss. “The last topic is about complexity. We are in an increasingly complex and uncertain world and that is fundamentally changing the way of doing business. We are including [these elements] in our curricula… and helping our students explore them, so they can become game-changers within their organisations.” Ajit Parulekar: “I see that there is a convergence of disciplines [happening] and there’s a revolution around the whole biological and medical sciences space. There is a lot of work going on around cell biology and genetics and that’s not an independent discipline – it’s being accelerated by artificial intelligence and quantum computing. “Related to that is the whole [concept of] longevity economics and sociology as it affects the future of work and people’s incomes, as well as the world’s population growing older. There is the implication, therefore, of what medical science or genetics can do in the context of regenerative tissues, stem cells and the like.
18 Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025
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