BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
I n a world packed with billions of people with different – and conflicting – needs, technology has been a driving force in allowing us to feel ‘individual’. Our lives are tailored, curated and personalised for us. This is evident from the personalised information we receive from search engines, as well as our reading recommendations. Even our television sets know what we want to watch and when. Those handy little suggestions have become commonplace. But arguably, business education is playing catch- up in this hyper-personalised arena. The topics our students learn about, and how they learn about them, are beginning to become more tailored to individual needs and preferences. You may well have already seen the results of AMBA & BGA's research into transformation and the emerging business model shift in business education, in association with Salesforce.org, which was released earlier this year. This report, based on a survey of 144 business school decision-makers, found that 72% of business school leaders believe their institution provides a personalised experience for their students. This trend is only set to advance, with 88% agreeing that personalising the learning experience of their students is something that will grow in importance over the next five years. A staggering 80% of these business school leaders believe that their schools are under pressure to change their value proposition and business model. This suggests that the sector may see further changes in the short term as business school models shift to enhance the personalisation of learning offered. To gain insightful quantitative findings, in June this year AMBA & BGA and Salesforce.org brought together a group of decision-makers from schools across Europe to delve deeper into topics highlighted in the report: the purpose of the business school; user experience of business schools; personalisation; online and hybrid learning; micro-credentials, and professional lifelong learning. Here are some highlights of the conversation, which discussed these opportunities and challenges. PART ONE: Who is the main customer of a business school? Jacqueline Bagnall, MBA programme director, University of Exeter Business School “There is a tension between the term 'customer’ and ‘student’. As a customer, someone may expect more passive engagement with the education they receive, expecting simply to receive the goods or services purchased. But as a 'student', there is an expectation that the learning comes from active effort and engagement with what is taught. We liken education to a gym membership; you get from it what you are prepared to put in. Learning requires some sweat.”
Students are there to progress their own learning and development, but there’s also a process of collaboration; they are contributing towards the development of their programme and their community. We often fall into the narrative that there is a transaction taking place, but there is a much more developmental journey on both sides.”
Sofia Brito Ramos, academic director, Global MBA, ESSEC Business School
“I agree that the school works for the community and society, but the student is at the centre. It is for them that we provide the learning experience and the learning transformation. In saying that, we have seen more companies in France contacting us looking for specific training, and they are a growing stakeholder for us.”
Dieter Vanwalleghem, director, iMBA programme, Rennes School of Business
“Our institution runs primarily from a stakeholder-management perspective, where the customer really is the customer; and that customer is the student. We view all the other actors in our ecosystem, such as the local community or corporations, as stakeholders in support of our single customer: the student. That doesn’t mean, of course, that the other stakeholders are not important to us, but we approach them in different ways, tailored to their needs. We essentially seek to collaborate with the other stakeholders, primarily to deliver value to the end customer – the student. For instance, we nurture our corporate network so that it enhances the employability of our students, and to gain input on how we should form our courses.” Jane Usher, head of department: postgraduate studies, Milpark Business School “Before Covid-19, most of our students were sponsored by their employer, but now we’ve got more people funding themselves because they are going on a personal journey. For us, the development of the student into a (lifelong) client is what we want. We need to make sure that our influence is positive in organisations and in wider society. We are developing people who are going to be leaders in these areas, so we need to be cognisant of what organisations require in order to adapt and be agile. But, ultimately, our students need to be our focus, so that they have a fantastic student experience and then become lifelong clients.” David Kalisz, dean of expert programmes, Paris School of Business “We must think about students first, but I do think that companies and society also play an important role because we have to create programmes that are linked to the jobs market. In France, we have a lot of partnerships, a lot of programmes that the employer still pays for, so of course they have the chance to impact the programme.
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Dan Pearson, director of academic services, Warwick Business School
“I think that ‘customer’ and ‘consumer’ represent a bit of a false narrative. In my institution, we see it much more as a partnership.
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