BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
n January 2021, when AMBA & BGA released the first iteration of its Education Technology Research, in association with Barco, the overarching takeaway was that things would never be the same as they were pre-Covid-19, and that a new era had arrived almost overnight. The Business School leaders who took
institution has increased the proportion of digital or online learning opportunities; 59% said their Business Schools’ delivery strategy has been changed to be more ‘fit for purpose’; and 57% said their School has increased its teaching capacity with regards to new technology and innovation. Other motivations for tech innovation in Business Schools cited in the survey include the need to meet prospective students’ expectations (cited by 62% of Business School leaders), wanting to be ahead of the market (cited by 44%), and the need to prepare students for the digital workplace (cited by 44%). What changes have Business Schools made? Nine in 10 participants (90%) acknowledged that their School has moved faculty to teaching online, while a similar proportion (86%) believe that their Business School has been able to adopt new technology. Three quarters of participants (75%) confirmed that the pandemic has impacted students’ ability to come to campus. To understand the ramifications of these changes, the participants were asked to rate how impactful each of the changes has been. All are seen to be impactful by at least 70% of participants, with 92% describing faculty moving to teaching online as either ‘very impactful’ or ‘fairly impactful’. A similar proportion (89%), think that being able to adopt new technology has been either ‘very impactful’ or ‘fairly impactful’. Overall, respondents are very positive about the adoption of new technology at their Business School – 95% gave this a positive rating. Students’ inability to come to campus elicited the largest negative response from participants, with 41% rating this change as ‘negative’ or ‘extremely negative’. Programmes and delivery To provide context to the educational landscape, Business School leaders were asked about the programmes they provide, including the formats and the technology used by their Schools. Here, it is important to note that many Business Schools will still be operating outside their normal teaching practices at the time of writing, due to Covid-19 and the associated restrictions and guidelines that remain in place in many parts of the world. The results reveal that the largest proportion of courses are being taught online at participants’ Business Schools, with 44% being taught online using
part in that research show ed their Schools to be both pragmatic and agile in the face of the disruption caused during 2020. Initially responding to the need for the rapid adoption of new technology in the face of social distancing, they then ascertained challenges quickly and moved to address them. But, at that time, commentators in both the edtech and business education arenas questioned whether Business Schools would continue to adapt to the impact of Covid-19, or whether they would enter a new phase of innovation – moving from crisis mode to creative strategy and the development and fine-tuning of technology provision once the availability of vaccines began to reduce the virus’ impact. Nine months later, the AMBA & BGA Education Technology Report , in association with Barco, published its second instalment, based on a survey of 171 Business School leaders worldwide between May and July 2021. The headline? Edtech is gaining momentum and shows no signs of slowing down. A massive 84% of survey respondents indicated that they want their School to retain the new technology that has been introduced, and most Business School leaders believe that the pandemic has triggered major changes to their institution’s long-term strategy. You can access the full report at www.businessgraduatesassociation. com/about-us/research/, but we’ve included some of the key findings over the next few pages. The impact of Covid-19 Business School leaders were asked to share some insight into examples of how their Schools have innovated in terms of programme delivery during the past year – and considering the Covid-19 pandemic. More than nine out of 10 (91%) indicated that their
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