AMBA & BGA DEANS & DIRECTORS GLOBAL CONFERENCE
complement human activities. So, there’s huge potential to use AI for personalised career coaching and help students understand what’s going on in the market.” Resourcing programme innovation Nick Snowden, MBA director at the University of Bradford, joined members of the Perlego team on stage to discuss how MBA programmes can truly prepare graduates for the working world with a move away from a one-size-fits-all approach. They outlined three key focus points for employability: personal development skills, multi‑disciplinary awareness and independent learning. The first aims to address the skills gap that has been identified in the AMBA & BGA’s Employer Survey 2024 and involves such qualities as resilience, leadership, innovation and technical knowledge. Multi-disciplinary awareness, meanwhile, looks at the number of reading hours spent by students across different disciplines, with economics topping the list at 35 per cent. The final factor enables management students to get a handle on innovation, adaptability and problem-solving. The Perlego team, comprising VP of sales Ryan Borgesius, regional sales lead Luke Pennington, business development manager Isabel Miller and business development executive Marcela Acosta, recalled how Hult International Business School had implemented the Perlego platform in 2022. The challenge faced by the school was the way in which their interdisciplinary programme required students to study multiple subjects in a single module and therefore asking them to buy six or more books was unrealistic. Faculty was despondent, asking: “How can you get students to come to class prepared if they’re not doing the assigned reading?” The solution came in the ability to mix and match content, meaning that the student body could select from an unlimited number of books from multiple publishers for their recommended reading. In addition, they could research supplementary options to support their learning and personal development from anywhere in the world. Perlego also offered students the opportunity of working with AI Researcher, enabling them to enter a query and be presented with relevant experts from a range of books from within the Perlego catalogue. The tool makes research faster and more accurate, empowering users to take greater ownership over their learning.
Ann Olazábal explained her school’s decision to manage its online programmes in-house
Nick Snowden (left) talked with members of the Perlego team
Samer Jaffar gave insight into Explorance’s survey methods
BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Explorance Explorance vice-president John Atherton spoke about the advantages of using a single platform to collect feedback throughout the student lifecycle. “During the student journey,
there are lots of different stages at which you might capture feedback,” he noted, arguing that a single system offers “a common experience across survey touchpoints” and makes it easier to get an oversight of the student experience. The company’s general manager, Samer Jaffar, then discussed ways to
increase survey response rates and revealed a trend towards aligning them with a school’s brand identity. “We’ve also seen institutions put in a message from the dean or famous alumni to engage students and explain why this feedback is important,” he concluded.
Ambition | JULY/AUGUST 2024 | 23
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