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BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
ovid-19 has presented innumerable challenges for providers of business education. However, amid the shattering human cost
Studies at Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, Scotland (UK). Increased uptake of online education beyond the short term seems certain, not least because faculty members will have become better equipped in this regard. ‘This will be an excellent opportunity to further the market for online education and increase the skills of faculty and staff,’ says Madhu Veeraraghavan, Director and Professor of Finance at T.A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) in Manipal, India. The Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, Metropolitan Campus (Inter Metro) provides a case in point. Associate Professor, Antonio Fernós Sagebién, says 100% of its faculty are now certified by edtech company, Blackboard, as a result of its shift to hybrid learning (where all learning is online but at least 25% is synchronous, in its definition). For Veeraraghavan, consolidating online pedagogies taken up during this time is logical. ‘There are certain cost and time efficiencies which cannot be ignored. Given that people have adapted and learnt to
deal with technology, it would be unwise to let the system at large to “unlearn”... under normal circumstances, adoption of new technology would not have been smooth.’ In the longer term, responses to Covid-19 can also impact in-person learning, says Riach. ‘I think there has been a renewed appreciation of what being physically present provides within an educational setting and that there is a qualitative aspect that is very difficult to replicate through other mediums. Moving forward, it provides us with an opportunity to think about how we use the valuable face-to- face time we have with learners to support a transformative learning experience.’ Among those surveyed, the overriding sense is of a spirit of colleagues coming together to work tirelessly and collaborate on ways to make the best out of a difficult and unprecedented situation. ‘We have learned a lot over the past couple of months. The turnaround has been quick and effective, and teachers overall are positive,’ surmises Ansgar Richter, Dean of the Netherlands’ Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), and Professor of Corporate Strategy, Organisation and Governance. 2 Changes to online education strategy Adapting to challenging circumstances and leveraging new opportunities require strategic change and the experience of Poland’s Collegium Humanum-Warsaw Management University shows how greatly the direction of an institution without pre-existing plans
and the ensuing restrictions felt by almost all, positive moves have been made which promise not only to facilitate management education’s recovery from the pandemic, but also to aid its progression in the face of evolving technologies and student demands in the third decade of the 21st century. Business Impact turned to the BGA network to canvas the thoughts of Business Schools based in India, the UK, Puerto Rico, Poland, and the Netherlands to find out how they expect the pandemic to affect their outlook, strategy and offerings, both now and in the future. 1 From short-term necessity to long-term opportunity? Covid-19 forced many Business Schools to move in-person programming online, yet this greatly restricted environment has, ironically, given freer rein to alternative methods and technologies, and an opportunity to prove their effectiveness. ‘There is a need to think about this not as an erroneous year, but rather to consider how we can build on some of the creative virtual teaching and learning practices that have sprung up all around our Business Schools,’ says Kathleen Riach, Professor of Organisation
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