CURRICULUM DESIGN
fundamental pillars: yourself, your teams and your organisation. By focusing on these core areas, we aim to cultivate self-awareness and help develop effective leadership skills. The programme includes a variety of experiential workshops designed to enhance self-knowledge, communication and negotiation skills, as well as to equip students with crucial abilities in giving and receiving feedback, teamwork, storytelling, persuasion and influence. With this holistic approach, our aim was to prepare leaders who excel not only in technical business skills, but also in the interpersonal and strategic aspects of leadership. Continuous innovation The month of May arrived in the blink of an eye. Eight months have gone by since we started the implementation of this new version of the programme and we are confident when we say that it was the right way to go. However, innovation is an ongoing process. Preparations for the 2024/25 edition are already underway and new initiatives are being introduced. One example is the PBS Board Fellows’ programme, which offers MBA students the opportunity to join the management boards of non-profit organisations, bridging the gap between academia and the social sector, promoting students’ civic engagement and contributing to community well-being. The redesign of Porto Business School’s MBA programmes reflects a commitment to adapting to the changing landscape of business education. By focusing on sustainability, innovation, customisation, immersive experiences and leadership development, the programme aims to prepare future leaders who are capable of navigating and shaping the complex, digital and socially responsible business environment of tomorrow.
A carefully curated selection of electives was created within each field of study. Courses such as AI for business, prompt engineering and cybersecurity were introduced. Whether a student’s passion lies in crunching numbers, devising innovative marketing strategies, leveraging data analytics or being at the forefront of AI, our programme ensures that they have the opportunity to tailor their learning experience to suit their individual interests and goals. Immersive & global experiences As part of identifying sources of innovation and enhancing the MBA experience, we recognised the transformative power of immersive and dynamic learning. By integrating practical, hands-on experiences, we were able to equip our students with the skills and insights necessary to tackle real-world business challenges. We have a long-standing tradition of collaborating with corporate partners to offer capstone projects, insightful talks, networking opportunities and company visits. Originating from a unique partnership between numerous leading corporations and the University of Porto, this connection is embedded in Porto Business School’s DNA. With the recent redesign, we have strengthened the bond and introduced additional joint projects. One of our hallmark initiatives was the Business Impact Challenge, an immersive learning experience where students work on real-world problems presented by partnering companies. This year’s challenge involved developing a sustainability strategy for a global beauty e-commerce platform. We have also reinforced the internship offering to provide a more immersive and hands-on experience. In addition to the extensive use of case studies and simulations in class, we have enhanced the development of group discussions and collaborative projects. These initiatives encourage students to think critically and solve problems in real time. By simulating real business scenarios, our students gain the confidence and agility needed to navigate the increasingly complex business landscape. Take as an example the problem-solving & decision-making course where students were asked to review and provide recommendations to improve the reuse-and-recycle strategy of a large national food retail chain. Students visited supermarkets, experienced the offerings, conducted customer inquiries and benchmarked industry trends. The outcomes were practical and implementable solutions. At the same time, the global reach of the programme was reinforced by adding new short and long-term exchanges and introducing additional options for international weeks in both the US and Europe. We ensured that each of these weeks not only complemented the home offering, but also provided valuable business and network connections. Preparing leaders of the future As part of the programme redesign, we asked ourselves this question: what is our main mission as regards MBA students? The answer was clear: to help develop responsible leaders who will have a positive impact on business and society. Recognising that technical knowledge was not enough, we introduced a new leadership track and structured it around three
BIOGRAPHY
Renata Blanc is the director of the international MBA and professor at the University of Porto Business School and the Faculty of Economics at the University of Porto (FEP) in the areas of problem-solving & decision-making, accounting, planning & management control and entrepreneurship. Blanc is the coach of the Porto Business School and FEP teams that participate in international business case competitions and the winner of several awards. She holds a degree in economics from FEP, a master’s in business management from Porto Business School, an MBA in business management and a PhD in business sciences
Ambition | JULY/AUGUST 2024 | 37
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