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.”
Ambition • ISSUE 6 • 2025 15
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