Business Impact covers the big challenges facing global management education as the world asks more of its future business leaders.
THE MAGAZINE OF THE BUSINESS GRADUATES ASSOCIATION (BGA) | LEADERS NEVER STOP LEARNING | AUGUST-OCTOBER 2022
PLUS: • HOW STUDENT FEEDBACK INFORMS LEARNING EVOLUTION • PARTNERING TO PROVIDE CONTINUITY FOR THOSE IN NEED
CREATING THE CONDITIONS FOR NECESSARY CHANGE ACTION AREAS TO HELP SCHOOL LEADERS ENERGISE THEIR INSTITUTIONS BY CULTIVATING CURIOSITY AND ENGAGEMENT
AMBA & BGA Latin America Deans & Directors Conference 2022 Cartagena, Colombia 21–23 September 2022
This unmissable gathering of Business School leaders from across Latin America is designed to address pressing issues in business education. Expert speakers from around the world, representing leading corporate organisations as well as your fellow Business Schools, will join us in this beautiful city to inspire collaboration, facilitate debate, and share personal and professional experiences from the world of business and management education.
For more information about the venue and conference programme, and to book your place, visit: www.businessgraduatesassociation.com/ bga_events/latin-america-conference-2022/
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Student voice Sherif Kamel, Dean of the School of Business at The American University in Cairo, on the role of student feedback in his School’s moves to rethink learning
Creating cultures of change To challenge traditional structures and content, leaders must first enable their institutions to embrace change, says LBS's Andy Craggs
Continuity for students in crisis POLIMI Graduate School of Management’s Tommaso Agasisti on the value of partnerships with three Business Schools in Ukraine
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CONTENTS August-October 2022
04 Editor's letter 07 From the CEO 08
22 IE Business School
School leaders must create the conditions for curiosity, engagement and action at their institutions 16 Continuous interaction, continuous improvement In meeting evolving student needs and remaining relevant, Sherif Kamel, Dean of the School of Business at The American University in Cairo, says student feedback has been critical
of unimaginable unsettlement, says the School's Associate Dean, Tommaso Agasisti 34 0 International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) IBSS’s Ellen Touchstone on ‘15 Ways in 15 Weeks’ – a winning initiative at the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2022 42 Guest column Fintech as a force for good
IE’s Dean, Lee Newman, on ‘Turn It Around’ – a winning lifelong learning initiative at the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2022 30 Partnering to provide continuity POLIMI Graduate School of Management’s partnerships with three Business Schools in Ukraine aim to provide continuity to students at a time
Cover story: Energising and enabling cultures of change ‘Learners want to partner with more innovative institutions with cultures that excite and engage them, the faculty and staff.’ London Business School’s Andy Craggs outlines why Business
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EDITORIAL
this new agenda, they will need to focus as much on the ‘who’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ as the ‘what’. These are the factors that build the internal culture to make change happen,’ explains Craggs. Learn more in our cover feature on page eight. At The American University in Cairo School of Business, the input of students and learners has played an important role in moves to implement change and rethink learning, according to the School’s Dean, Sherif Kamel. He talks about the importance of student feedback on page 16 in an article that also draws on case studies from the University of Edinburgh Business School and the University of Newcastle, Australia – home to Newcastle Business School. Elsewhere in this edition, we feature interviews with two winners of the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2022 – IE Business School and International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University in the lifelong learning and sustainability categories, respectively. There’s also a look at the potential power of partnerships in providing
Content Editor Tim Banerjee Dhoul t.dhoul@businessgraduates association.com Art Editor Laura Tallon Insight, Content & PR Manager Ellen Buchan e.buchan@ businessgraduates association.com C orporate Business Development Manager Victor Hedenberg v.hedenberg@ businessgraduatesassociation.com Senior Marketing Executive, BGA Shareen Pennington s.pennington@ businessgraduatesassociation.com BGA Account Manager Ben Maheson b.maheson@ businessgraduatesassociation.com Head of Commercial Relations Max Braithwaite m.braithwaite@ businessgraduatesassociation.com Head of Marketing and Communications Leonora Clement l.clement@associationofmbas.com Finance and Commercial Director Catherine Walker Director of Accreditation and Director of BGA Services Mark Stoddard Chief Executive Officer Andrew Main Wilson Executive Assistant to the CEO Sharon Sidaway s.sidaway@ businessgraduatesassociation.com General Enquiries info@businessgraduates association.com
Pathways to lasting change in business education
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An overwhelming 80% majority of Business School leaders agreed that their institutions are under pressure to change their fundamental value proposition and business model, in recent AMBA & BGA research. That change is required seems to be almost universally accepted, but what is the best way to go about it? It starts with leaders creating, ‘the conditions for curiosity, engagement and action’ – according to London Business School’s Andy Craggs – ‘that energises and enables the institution and its faculty to embrace and drive the change it needs.’
Measuring what’s been done in the past against what can be improved, Craggs identifies four key action areas – identity, content, culture and purpose – for Business Schools to focus on and around which leaders must cultivate an effective ‘change mindset’. ‘If Business School leaders are to deliver ‘If Business School leaders are to deliver this new agenda, they will need to focus as much on the “who”, “why” and “how” as the “what”’
continuity for students in Ukraine, with POLIMI
Graduate School of Management.
As ever, we hope that you find this edition of Business Impact informative, inspiring and thought-provoking. Tim Banerjee Dhoul,
Content Editor, Business Impact
Copyright 2022 by The Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association. 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, BGA 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 BGA. Whenever an article in this publication is placed with the financial support of an advertiser, partner or sponsor, it will be marked as such. BGA 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.
RESEARCH AND INSIGHT: STAY AHEAD OF THE TRENDS IN BUSINESS EDUCATION
Over the past 18 months, AMBA & BGA’s Research and Insight Centre has produced a wealth of groundbreaking new research and compiled reports citing views from MBA thinkers, practitioners, faculty, and leaders across the globe on the issues that matter most in business education. Recent AMBA & BGA research has investigated Business Schools’ attitudes to poverty, rankings, climate change, and education technology. We have analysed MBA career trajectories, graduate success in the new normal, application and enrolment figures across a spectrum of programmes, and employer and student perceptions of lifelong learning.
We also seek to collaborate with Business Schools and corporate partners in order to further enhance AMBA & BGA’s research offering.
If you are interested in partnering on research, joining one of our roundtables or focus groups to delve into the findings, or even sharing your thoughts on what topics you would like AMBA & BGA to explore, then please contact research@associationofmbas.com
Take advantage of AMBA & BGA’s free webinar series for Business
School leaders
AMBA & BGA is working with Business Schools
and business education leaders to develop a raft of fresh online content in the form of live interactive webinars, especially tailored for Business School leaders, decision makers, and professionals. In addition to our growing virtual and hybrid conference programme, our one-hour webinars (all of which can supplied as recordings to all
Topics include: Education technology Business School innovation Lifelong learning Career development Leadership skills Building partnerships Regional updates And much more.
registered delegates), offer perfectly bite sized insights from industry experts.
For more information visit www.businessgraduatesassociation.com/events/events-webinars/ Make the most of your coffee breaks, and keep up to speed with the trends in the business education arena.
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I n May this year, more than 300 Business School leaders, corporate heavyweights, and industry partners and sponsors met with us in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon to network in person once again at the AMBA & BGA Global Conference 2022. It was also a chance to collaborate as a group, take stock of the past two years, and begin to plan for the next phase. Paul Polman, author of Net Positive and the former CEO of Unilever, delivered our opening keynote address, and, for me, his words were, perhaps, some of the most profound. He said: ‘Management education needs a drastic change, and not a day too soon if we want to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. ‘Frankly, universities are not responding at the level we need... Research shows that the bulk of people at your institutions recognise the importance of climate change, but only one third of them have them integrated in their curriculum – and not embedded in the whole learning experiences.’ This thinking resonated with delegates throughout the four-day event. We’ve become all too familiar with change, but the message from Polman is that more dramatic and long-term innovation is required. It’s also a message that chimes with one of the key takeaways of a new piece of research from AMBA & BGA, in association with Salesforce.org. In the Transformation and the Emerging Business Model Shift in Business Education report, 80% of responding Business School leaders agreed that their institutions are under pressure to change their value propositions and business models. This finding is suggestive of the type and scale of innovation that lies ahead. As is the increasing attention commanded by personalised learning and microcredentials. Indeed, while the same report found that 72% of participants believe their institution already provides a personalised experience for their students, this trend is only set to advance – 88% agree that personalising the learning experience is something that will grow in importance over the next five years. Meanwhile, 50% of the leaders we surveyed told us that their Schools have already delved into the world of microcredentials. Furthermore, 25% expressed their belief that microcredentials represent the future of higher business education, with 35% viewing those provided by companies such as LinkedIn as a threat to how their Business School will operate over the next five years. Business Schools are on the precipice of change, and while many have dipped their toes in the water of this transformation and model shift, there is an awareness that things will change to an even greater extent. However, the findings also show that Business Schools do have the energy, the drive and the passion to embrace this change today, and to move forwards into the next era of uncertainty.
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Innovation and transformation
AMBA & BGA CEO, Andrew Main Wilson , reflects on May’s Global Conference – at which Business Schools were challenged to step up a gear in their innovation – and introduces findings from new AMBA & BGA research
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CREATING CULTURES OF CHANGE:
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Traditional Business School structures and content must be challenged. To remain relevant to future learner needs, leaders should begin by enabling their institution and faculty to embrace and drive the change it needs, says London Business School’s Andy Craggs
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how Business School leaders can energise and enable their institutions
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T he global Covid-19 pandemic has forced adapting teaching methods to meet diverse learner needs, and teaching faculty new skills to engage with their students in the 'new normal’ of hybrid learning. Unfortunately, the results of these efforts have been mixed. Accelerated responses Some leading Business Schools have been able to respond by leveraging long-established online offerings into new virtual spaces, such as HBR IdeaCast within the Harvard University ecosystem. many Business Schools to accelerate their response to trends in postgraduate education, from ramping up virtual delivery to redefining pricing models, Other, newer entrants, such as Coursera and Udacity, which also offer learning content for professionals, quickly accelerated their digital business during the pandemic to enhance content and access to their online offerings. These forward-looking institutions enjoyed a surge in enrolment and profits as campus-based learning became less practical (and less desirable). Other providers offering more general learning through MOOCs and podcasts also gained traction, although without equivalent certifications. But for most Business Schools – including London Business School (LBS), where I work – the pandemic forced us to accelerate change by adding new ‘digital assets’ to Zoom and Teams-based faculty sessions, layering in more intermodular coaching and application work, and increasing the frequency of virtual lectures to maintain the pace of learning. LSE, INSEAD and other global Business Schools made similar adjustments, but again student feedback has been mixed. A case in point appeared in the lawsuits filed against dozens of Business Schools, including Harvard, in 2020 as students sought refunds for the shift to online teaching. As an article on these lawsuits in Forbes surmised, much of the perceived value of Business Schools lay in live interactions with faculty, access to School resources, learning that occurs with peers both inside and outside the classroom, and valuable networking. But a significant and unexpected consequence of the pandemic was also a hiatus that gave students an opportunity to revise their expectations of what Business Schools really offer.
The outcome is creating a direct challenge to traditional educational models. What is changing? The new normal has prompted many of us to question fundamentals about our personal lives, professional choices and business models. For Business Schools and postgraduate education, this acted as an accelerator to educational megatrends that had bubbled in the background for years. Recent demands for change by students at one such institution (LBS) include those in the table below.
The types of change demanded by today’s students
• ‘Customised solutions’ for education content and style, with less classroom time
• ‘Smart hybrid’ that more directly optimises mixed physical and virtual learning
• ‘Digital assets’ that leverage technology via self-directed learning and platforms
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• ‘Flex-learning’ that adds dialogue, group-work and application to traditional lessons
• ‘Cross-learning’ that mixes learner cohorts for greater sharing and impact
• ‘Strategic ROI’ requiring development dollars to now drive real business outcomes
Surveying our networks in other Business Schools, from Harvard to INSEAD and Singapore Management University, as well as learning organisations like Korn Ferry, the Center for Creative Leadership or the NTL Institute, this familiar pattern is being echoed everywhere. This is sending a clear message to Business Schools to ‘up their game’, despite their historical legitimacy and reputations. Educators ignore these demands at their peril. Implications for Business School leaders and faculty But what does this mean for educators and how can they meet these emerging needs in practice? It starts with Business Schools redefining their value
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and relevance in a world where the definition of ‘learning’ has suddenly broadened into wider concepts including ‘lifelong learning’, ‘meaning’, ‘purpose’, or ‘paying it forward’. Students come to Business Schools to enhance their business skills but are now also seeking insight about their important life and business choices in the broader context of society, the environment and their role within it. The so-called ‘Great Resignation’ is indicative of how large groups are weighing up their options, including where to go for useful and relevant postgraduate education. Business Schools which offer this new insight and innovate their learning formats in this broader context stand to win in the future educational marketplace. So, the question is: How can Business School leaders create a culture across their institutions to help faculty and staff embrace change, so that their Schools remain relevant to future learner needs? To answer this question, it’s useful to look back at the wider context of postgraduate education over the last several decades and then use this as a basis to imagine a more innovative and relevant future. Trends in postgraduate education As far back as the early 2000s, students and clients have been challenging the conventional wisdom of Business Schools and their approach to professional development – both the content and the methodologies. What have people been increasingly dissatisfied with? In the traditional context – and something which is still a dominant model in many institutions – Business Schools applied tried and tested methods to impart business knowledge to students. Content was
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‘The new normal has acted as an accelerator to educational megatrends that had bubbled in the background for years’
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‘Knowledge was assumed to flow from teacher to student, and the “truth” was controlled by the institution. Students paid
to access this truth’
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2. Methodology: ‘Unidirectional knowledge transfer’ . Professors and academics shared their expert knowledge with students who would listen, take notes and then reproduce the same information to pass exams. The simple absorption of facts and knowledge by students was the measure of success, rather than the ability to think, debate or create alternative insights. Questions and debate, if any, were limited to after- lecture Q&As and occasional tutorials. 3. Impact: ‘Linear learning’ . Courses were taught in a linear fashion, chronologically and in terms of content. Methods and theories would build on each other in lectures within a set timetable of weeks/months. Testing of knowledge at the end was proof that the learner had been ‘educated’ and impact was measured by the learner’s retention of classroom content.
fixed, structures were clear, and testing was based on theories and models. If we break down the Business School experience into ‘content’, ‘methodology’ and ‘impact’, we can characterise this model as follows:
1. Content: ‘Sage on the stage’ . Traditionally, subject-area professors with years of academic research would teach
content in a lecture setting on campuses that felt like exclusive ‘seats of learning’. Topics were traditional, from accounting to finance, strategy or marketing, reflecting then- prevalent corporate structures in the world’s major economies. Knowledge was assumed to flow from teacher to student, and the ‘truth’ was controlled by the institution. Students paid to access this truth, with little opportunity to challenge the status quo.
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This established order for learning can still work in educational settings where students need to get to grips with essential facts and knowledge on a well-established topic, such as accounting. It also worked at a time when management theory was well established and the corporate world shared common attributes. Classic management models and case studies provided predictable solutions to common business problems for Fortune 500 or FTSE 100 companies, where Six Sigma or Lean Manufacturing provided repeatable methods for accurate business decisions. Today, the global business landscape is a patchwork of startups, tech firms, VCs, NGOs, collectives, and partnerships. Businesses are faced with new stakeholders, activist investors and emerging ESG requirements. Geopolitics are forcing a fundamental rethink of supply chains. And leaders must develop new talent strategies to manage diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) needs, hybrid work, labour shortages and an inflationary global economy. Hence, while traditional Business School structures and content can still be effective for baseline learning on established topics, they are increasingly in need of review to meet new student needs and business realities. The pandemic has caused a huge acceleration of these pre-existing trends, as businesses moved fast into digital adoption, flexible working, shortening supply chains, or reassessing their business models. So, what now? Reinventing the Business School model to meet emerging learner needs The pandemic and its related consequences call for novel Business School content, structures and impact. How can leaders respond? A good place to start this transformation is by revisiting the three elements of content, methodology and impact using a future focus, and asking ourselves what might be possible.
sharing of experiences equalises the older learner-teacher dynamic as groups make sense of issues through exploration and dialogue. Hybrid and virtual structures lend themselves very well to these new methods as leaders interact across timezones, industry sectors and professions. 2. Methodology: From ‘unidirectional knowledge transfer’ to ‘smart hybrid’ To reverse the old one-way learning model, the key is to inject dialogue, meaning-making and application into the process. Optimising physical and virtual learning is also key. For example, small groups can work offline to share ideas, while coaches or tutors can engage in deeper debates on a topic. Alternatively, mixed learner cohorts (for example, from different class years or programmes) can cumulate their shared knowledge and directly drive innovation back in their companies. So-called ‘digital assets’ can be created by educators, experts, business leaders and students themselves as they share ideas and case studies. Technology can capture best practices and AI can match data to learner needs over time to supplement faculty content. These flexible learning mechanisms can include simple and well-planned experiments, immersion, panel conversations and TED-style formats that further customise learning and democratise knowledge and insight across learning topics and student groups. 3. Impact: From ‘linear learning’ to ‘strategic ROI’ With a tighter economy and scarcer resources in many sectors, students and their sponsors are making more selective trade-offs about where to invest in talent development. Students are also looking for closer alignment between what they gain from a Business School and how they have impact in their roles. Making invested development dollars drive business outcomes requires new metrics beyond traditional Kirkpatrick levels [based on the renowned model for analysing and evaluating the results of training and educational programmes] towards longer-term, measurable change. Business Schools can up their game by co-creating impact dashboards that measure business and behavioural change, post-programme. Even for open programmes, like MBAs, metrics can track individual change through application of learning, innovation, promotional rates, salary increases, and career development. Strategic ROI for Business Schools themselves is also important, and can start with investments in learning capacity, such as partnerships and ecosystems. As an example, LBS currently partners with Singapore Management University to create immersive learning experiences for African multinationals. Schools can also embrace their rivals, and partner to create value. One recent example is the ‘Learning Aggregator’ platform, Emeritus, which has partnered with MIT Sloan, Wharton, Kellogg and Cambridge, among others, to handpick content and aggregate it into new custom programmes. Such ecosystems and partnerships offer broader
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1. Content: From ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘shared learning solutions’
Learners will always need the wisdom of the expert at the front of the room. However, they now also want challenge and ‘meaning-making’ rather than merely the passive absorption of facts. Educators can experiment with content and styles that include dialogue and facilitation, panels, group-work, ideas exchanges, experiential learning, off-campus visits to widen perspectives, debriefs and meaning-making, and practical application of new ideas to real work. New learning content topics might also include: business model disruption; emerging value chains; big data and AI; ESG; sustainability; and the future of work. Creativity, innovation and the broader value of DE&I in business are also hot topics. One example of these new methods is London Business School’s Horizon Scanning Forum which pairs students with external leaders around a focused strategic question (for example, ‘how can we diversify our customer base to capture millennials?’ or ‘how can we engage and retain a diverse and remote workforce?’). The ensuing debates and
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content, add relevance and can even help reach new markets like India and China with large potential student populations. Creating the conditions for successful change in Business Schools The actions outlined above will go some way to responding to the ‘what’ as Business Schools meet new student needs. But, we also know from experience that most large-scale change initiatives fail at some level – and as has also been explored in the book, Organization Development , by Mee- Yan Cheung-Judge and Linda Holbeche. Therefore, if Business School leaders are to deliver this new agenda, they will need to focus as much on the ‘who’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ as the ‘what’. These are the factors that build the internal culture to make change happen. How is this done? I believe the key is to develop an effective ‘Change Mindset’, as covered in my book of the same name, to respond to the current uncertainty. There are four key action areas in which Business Schools can do this: 1. Identity – reinventing the brand ( who we are) • Why change is needed – to respond to educational megatrends and attract future students through a more compelling identity • How leaders can respond – by creating a clear view from the top that answers the questions: What do we stand for? How are we relevant to today's learners? What is our customer/learner experience? How will we prepare leaders for the future of work? 2. Content – adapting instructional design to new learner needs ( what we offer) • Why change is needed – students want new
learning formats and more relevant content through a differentiated offer that provides new learning experiences • How leaders can respond – by restructuring their learning offering to match new external realities: Wider content reflecting topics from sustainability to ESG, AI, and DE&I Smart hybrid learning that leverages virtual, face-to-face and experiential formats New structures that offer customisation for both groups and individuals New partnerships that offer complementary knowledge and learning 3. Culture – creating the conditions for innovation ( how learners will experience us) • Why change is needed – learners want to partner with more innovative institutions with cultures that excite and engage them, the faculty and staff • How leaders can respond – by building energy about new possibilities and creating permission to change: Build a change mindset to open up people's minds to the value of change Create psychological safety to encourage experimentation and change Practice curiosity and use positive framing to encourage action Entertain ‘ridiculous ideas’ that push current thinking to innovate 4. Purpose – creating a new business model and purpose ( why we exist and our aspiration for impact) • Why change is needed – learners need a clear and compelling reason to choose you, based on a clearly stated purpose and business model • How leaders can respond – start by examining
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‘Learners want to partner with more innovative institutions with cultures that excite and engage them, the faculty and staff’
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‘The definition of “learning” has suddenly broadened into wider concepts including “lifelong learning”, “meaning”, “purpose”, or “paying it forward”’
the School's history and attributes to then build on those strengths to refresh and reinvent the learner experience: Build on legacy successes (reputation, impact, innovation) to refresh purpose Build new content and capability that will enhance the core purpose Create flexible business models (pricing, learning structures, certifications) Build wider ecosystems through partnerships, experts and competitors Enrolling and engaging in the change This article has looked at how leaders of Business Schools, and their faculty, can remain relevant and profitable in a post-pandemic world, when at the macro level postgraduate education is at a crossroads. Teaching methodologies and content are clearly in need of a refresh to meet emerging learner requirements, but equally important are the cultural elements required to enrol and engage faculty and staff in the change.
This is easier said than done: change requires clarity within each Business School about who that Business School is, what it does, how it is delivered and why change is needed. Contradictory, yet complementary, skills are needed for this: hard skills such as courage will get things done while softer skills, like empathy, are critical to bring others on the journey. If it is reframed as an opportunity to meet the real, emerging needs of students and clients, a change mindset can unblock the threat response so often encountered in business at times of transition, especially when externally imposed. With a refreshed vision and purpose, an updated learning curriculum, and the culture to support change, Business Schools can bring their institutions successfully into the 21st century. The key starting point is for leaders to create the conditions for curiosity, engagement and action towards an envisioned future that energises and enables the institution and its faculty to embrace and drive the change it needs.
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Andy Craggs is a Leadership Consultant and Programme Director of Executive Education
at London Business School. He has more than 30 years of experience in leadership development and business consulting and is the author of The Change Mindset: The Psychology of Leading and Thriving in an Uncertain World (Kogan Page, 2022).
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How can students help institutions rethink learning and deliver transformational business education? Sherif Kamel , Dean of the School of Business at The American University in Cairo highlights how student feedback is ‘a powerful informer’ of his School’s evolution
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CONTINUOUS INTERACTION, CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
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T he evolution of business and management education, as well as the focus on experiential learning to prepare students and learners for an agile, competitive and regularly changing global marketplace, have been gaining in pace for decades. This trend has been impacted by Covid-19, turning specific and lifelong learning at large on its head, but opening endless opportunities for change and accelerating discussion about the future of learning. The disruption can push Business Schools to be more creative and expand their academic teaching, research and service offerings while capitalising on the power and reach of digital transformation. One thing should be clear: we should not go back to a pre-pandemic business-as-usual mode of operation. If that happens, it will suggest that we have missed an opportune moment to leverage the possibilities offered by advanced technologies to transform and enhance students’ and learners’ educational journey and better prepare them for the future. A future that will surely be impacted by the growing digitisation trend and opportunities enabled by the emerging technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, including, but not limited to, AI, data analytics, cloud computing, and robotics. Rethinking the future of learning It’s time to rethink the future of learning through the lens of improving the skillset and capacities required in the marketplace, instead of focusing on legacy approaches reflected in traditional curricula, lecturing and conventional exams, and assessment techniques. More attention should be directed towards creative learning modes, the depth and breadth of content covered, student and learner mobility, on-campus extracurricular activities, and off-campus pre-experience learning environments. Undoubtedly, in the not-too-distant future, the learning process at one end and the assessment of learning outcomes at the other end will rely on a more innovative and interactive model. This is likely to include more embedded remote collaboration in research projects, opportunities for virtual and cross- border internships, integrated hands-on learning and participation in virtual co-op programmes. However, given that the learning environment, by design, promotes peer-to-peer and in-person communication, we need to find the right balance between in-person and virtual interactions. One thing is for sure, the future of learning will undoubtedly be based on a hybrid model.
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FEEDBACK MATTERS: UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH BUSINESS SCHOOL CASE STUDY Inger Seiferheld and Helen Ryall outline how student voice is captured and acted on at the University of Edinburgh Business School
2021-22 Undergraduate School Representative, Florence Barnard, and 2020-21 Undergraduate School Representative, Pippa Gosden, said: ‘The Business School is placing increasing emphasis on the importance of feedback in improving student experience. Through schemes such as course, programme and School representatives, as well as public Student Council meetings, the student voice is not only getting louder, but being heard. The feeling of working with the representatives is really empowering and it is especially rewarding when the School listens and acts on our advice.’ We are very happy with the progress being made and are confident that the School is well on its way to having a comprehensive student feedback system that can be replicated for years to come. Whatever direction the pandemic or other global events take, and their impact on teaching and learning, effectively capturing student voice is a proven approach to informing quality assurance and enhancement within Business Schools. In our case, the combination of rich data from our various surveys combined with substantial student engagement provide us with rich insights into the student experience.
‘It’s time to rethink the future of learning through the lens of improving the skillset and capacities required in the marketplace’ The School is supported in this by a number of student representatives at both a School and programme level, who work as a conduit between the student body and the School. Placing students at the centre of governance (the two School representatives are full members of the School Executive, and School or programme representatives may lead on the SSLC meetings and the ‘Town Hall’) is seen as being especially valuable. Jointly reflecting on the strategy and progress, As part of the mid-course feedback, course organisers respond either immediately or subsequently, whichever is feasible. Through the ‘feedback on feedback’ process, they respond to the course enhancement questionnaire in two ways. One recognises the incumbent class’ feedback and outlines proposed action, where relevant. The other, given to next year’s class, acknowledges feedback from the previous year and provides information about action taken. We introduced a new student voice policy at the University of Edinburgh Business School two years ago. Its aims are to foster student reflection on their own efforts and engagement; review and, where appropriate, amend our programmes, courses and extensive student development programmes; inform students about action taken where possible and reasons why action could not be taken, if relevant; identify and celebrate good practice; and focus on enhancement. This policy is implemented though means that include mid-course feedback, end-of-course enhancement questionnaires, end-of-programme mini surveys, as well as Student-Staff Liaison Committees (SSLC), ‘Town Hall’ meetings, and informal and ad hoc feedback. Our approach is to collect and respond to feedback about different aspects of the experience at different points in time – while a course is ongoing, when a course has ended, and when a student completes their programme of study.
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Inger Seiferheld (above, left) is Director of Quality and Accreditations, and Helen Ryall is Head of Student Experience, at the University of Edinburgh Business School
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A holistic, student-centred learning experience
At the beginning of 2021, the University of Newcastle embarked on a cultural shift in how we use course and teacher evaluations to drive excellence and measure impact. By increasing the reliance on the student voice, the university has created a successful performance development process that encourages, nurtures and rewards individuals for their impact on their students and the wider community. Teaching was previously viewed as something separate and largely unmeasurable. Simplistic feedback scales left academics feeling judged by a blunt measure and largely unreliable model of success. Many viewed course and teacher evaluations as potentially career limiting, which stifled engagement with feedback processes, as well as innovation and creativity in the teaching space. Even after implementing a blended-learning model of teaching across all courses in Newcastle Business School, the impact of this innovative teaching style was rarely featured in the regular performance evaluation processes; and best practices remained siloed rather than proliferating across disciplines. In response, we developed the Foundations for Inspiring People framework that looks to capture quantitative and qualitative indicators of our impact across the three domains of academic work: research, teaching and engagement. The framework was an exercise to reorient our ‘performance review’ culture from a ‘one size fits all’ measurement and evaluation framework to a personalised development model that aligns academic achievements against institutional priorities and values. The Foundations framework offers a structure for reflection and identifies avenues for development. In the teaching domain, the redevelopment of our performance culture works hand in hand with our realignment of feedback culture, and student voice has been reframed from a ‘consumer satisfaction’ model to a participatory model of teaching quality improvement. A key challenge we have encountered is managing bias in feedback. In the past, we have taken a rather costly, yet effective, approach of trying to mitigate this issue by reading every student comment and removing destructive or offensive phrases. We look now to a powerful machine learning tool to help us immediately categorise unstructured data and detect deviations from trends in feedback requiring further investigation. This will allow us to provide balanced, normalised scores with a reduced negative influence of bias related to gender, LGBTIQ identification, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status and ethnicity. Ultimately, all this enables us to support our teachers better, to identify more accurately our outstanding teachers, and to track themes in student voice. We look forward to creating an environment where our academic staff are more independently engaged in the feedback process, see the impact they have on their students, and are supported to achieve the University of Newcastle’s vision for the future. FEEDBACK MATTERS: NEWCASTLE BUSINESS SCHOOL CASE STUDY Jennifer Milam looks at how the University of Newcastle, Australia – home to Newcastle Business School – derives, analyses and responds to student feedback, and considers its impact on teaching and learning
The transformation in learning model will not happen by investing only in digital platforms. It will materialise by developing a holistic, student-centred learning experience on campus and online. This learning experience should form part of an ecosystem that includes a changing role of faculty members becoming mentors; classrooms transforming into roundtable discussions; more campus-wide interdisciplinary curricular activities; and off- campus projects that advance societal impact and support community development. At the School of Business of The American University in Cairo – a School that in 2022 celebrates 75 years in the higher education space in Egypt and the Middle East North Africa region – one of the primary learning goals for students is career readiness. Since 2019, the School has been working with one of its long-standing strategic partners, PwC, to ensure that students’ skills, capacities and knowledge are relevant to today’s changing global marketplace. Last year, we also introduced an experiential learning co-op programme. This elective, three-credit course offers undergraduate students the opportunity to get that all-important hands-on experience with an organisation before graduation – whether from the private sector, government, or civil society – over the course of six months, on a full-time basis. For our School, rigorous assessment has always been an essential pillar through a well- established and integrated culture of continuous improvement among faculty, staff and students. In this new programme, students are evaluated on the basis of learning objectives that are pre- identified by a faculty member and an executive from the host organisation. The programme seeks to provide a personalised experience for each student, depending on their field of study, with the aim of developing challenging opportunities for students to fully immerse themselves and fulfil the learning objectives. It is a win-win proposition for both sides. On the one hand, the programme provides an excellent opportunity for employers to identify potential talent, manage short-term hiring needs and enhance their on-campus brand. On the other hand, the process of matching each student with a host organisation related to their field of study ensures a value-added and student-centred learning experience. Accordingly, Business Schools should continue to transform themselves as vibrant
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Jennifer Milam is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic Excellence) at the University of Newcastle, Australia
BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
‘We need to find the right balance between in-person and virtual interactions’ environments through a series of reimagined and adaptive hybrid learning models. Doing this entails moving into a constant state of assessing risks and leveraging prospects, from disruption to adoption, from local to global, from risk avoidance to innovation, and from offering one-way education platforms to enabling multiple interactive and interconnected learning ecosystems. The power of learners’ voice and opinions All these suggestions about the way forward are reflections of students’ (in degree programmes) and learners’ (in executive education and community development activities) voice and opinion, as I recently wrote in Explorance’s Feedback Matters: Business and Management Education Focus Report . Their thoughts were expressed through continuous interactions with them in focus groups, surveys, deliberations, panel discussions and engagement with student-led clubs and associations. Representatives of undergraduate and postgraduate students and learners also participated in the School’s council and advisory board meetings. The input of students and learners, together with comments received from the School’s corporate partners and employers, is invaluable in ensuring that the School’s different academic,
executive education and community development offerings are able to adapt to remain impactful and relevant. Ultimately, the future of learning will require an increase in experimentation, discovery, collaboration, creativity, adaptability, inclusivity and community development. There is still a lot to learn within a continuously dynamic and changing global environment. However, rest assured that while the future of learning will continue to change, student voice will be a powerful informer of that change. You can read a related article on the Feedback Matters: Business and Management Education Focus Report in the Business Impact section of the BGA website: www.businessgraduatesassociation.com/business-impact- business-schools/
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Sherif Kamel is Professor of Management and Dean of The American University in Cairo School of Business. He is also a member of AMBA & BGA’s International Management Board and the author of Leading Change in Challenging Times: Lessons of Disruption and Innovation from Egypt.
BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
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BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
Designing the Business School experience of the future
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Earlier this year, IE Business School won Best Lifelong Learning Initiative at the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards. Its Dean, Lee Newman , talks to David Woods-Hale about IE’s ‘Turn It Around’ programme to support students and alumni during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond
BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
T hank you for speaking to us and sharing your views. You became Dean of IE Business School in 2021. Could you tell us a little about your role, and what it involves? When you spend time with peers, you realise there are different definitions of what it means to be a ‘dean’. My role centres on educational entrepreneurship and innovation. I believe business education (and higher education, more generally) is at an inflection point. The psychographics of learners is changing, and exciting new edtech is emerging, along with new entrants into the education sector, and the new world of work is creating new and multidisciplinary career pathways. Taken together, these forces portend disruption – and my role is enable us to disrupt ourselves at IE Business School, so that we are a leader in redefining business education and what it means to be a business professional in today’s world. I am spending a lot of time with companies and potential students to understand their needs and to predict how these might evolve in the coming years. I am also working with our design team to think about innovative new programmes, innovation in existing programmes, and what a radically new and impactful Business School ‘experience’ of the future might look like. Congratulations on winning Best Lifelong Learning Initiative at the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2022. Can you share some insight into your winning initiative, Turn It Around? In response to the abrupt lockdown across many regions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, IE University designed a virtual ‘Turn It Around’ toolkit, from March to July 2020. This was designed to support students and alumni during a difficult time, extending premium online learning content free of charge, showcasing alumni making a difference in the world, and hosting a comprehensive virtual experience related to professional development, networking and personal wellbeing. The response from the community was phenomenal: more than 3,000 alumni and students participated in 56 online events, 906 signed onto our peer-to-peer mentoring platform, and 119 alumni volunteered as speakers or shared their story ‘up close’.
MBAs care very much about being responsible leaders. Can you share a little bit more about why the issue of making a difference was core to your alumni strategy, as well as how this was addressed in the programmes? At a time of extreme global uncertainty, we felt it was more important than ever to recognise and showcase our MBA alumni leaders who quickly defined and launched social impact initiatives in the midst of the pandemic. From hotels transforming into Covid-19 hospital wings to the worldwide production and distribution of protective suits and medical equipment, these alumni leaders truly represented IE´s core values of adopting an entrepreneurial mindset and changemaking spirit to impact their worlds positively. They have set a positive example and have served as an inspiration to their peers.
Peer-to-peer mentoring is a key facet of the initiative. How did this work in practice?
On launching the initiative, we sent out a survey to all Business School alumni to engage with the community, asking whether they needed help, or would be willing and able to provide help to fellow IE members through a variety of engagement opportunities. Those who showed a specific interest in peer mentoring were contacted by our Talent and Careers team, and were invited to join our online peer-to-peer mentoring platform, ‘Firsthand‘. Firsthand enables users to sign up as mentees or mentors, enabling relationships between IE alumni across sectors. The platform helps people to ‘Peer-to-peer mentoring is a powerful mechanism for our IE Community to give back, and help make a tangible difference’
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