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.
Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025 13
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