If you could change anything — anything at all — about your business school, what would it be? In one form or another, that basic question is placed before every business school leader. Whereas “nothing — nothing at all” might once have sufficed for the sake of continuity and tradition, it’s no longer viewed as an acceptable response. Business school leaders, like the rest of us, live and lead in an economy described by terms and phrases such as disruptive, exponential growth, Fourth Industrial Revolution, automated, and VUCA. The time to think that business schools can continue teaching what they have, the same way, to the same people, in the same places, and with the same faculty is over. This article is about how business schools are stepping up to the challenge of change and what rankings can and can’t do to support them.
GBSN Board of Directors Names Dan LeClair as Chief Executive Officer
GBSN is pleased to announce the appointment of Dan LeClair as Chief Executive Officer effective February 12, 2019. Dan LeClair is a widely recognized expert on business education. For over 30 years, LeClair has dedicated his career to supporting higher education organizations to innovate and achieve growth in core programs and services. “Dan LeClair’s appointment will increase GBSN’s effectiveness and make the organization fit for the future,” said Soumitra Dutta, Chairman of the GBSN Board of Directors. “His extensive experience in business education will help accelerate innovation across the GBSN network.” Combining a deep knowledge of business schools, an extensive … Read More
The American University of Central Asia Announces a New President
The Board of Trustees of the American University of Central Asia announced today that Andrew Kuchins, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and formerly director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, will serve as the next President of the University. Professor Kuchins will assume full-time responsibilities as President in May of this year.
Chairman’s Corner: Reflections from Davos
It has been about a week since I returned from the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. It takes a few days to recover from the hectic pace of speed-dating type of meetings, chance encounters in the corridors with business titans, listening to global leaders opining on the state of the world and a large number of competing cocktails and dinners each evening. I still have a long list of to-do items from last week that need attention. The Davos meeting has been criticized for being an exclusive meeting of global elites who are disconnected … Read More
Makerspaces in North Africa: A solution for unemployment and the informal sector?
The global maker movement is on the rise across the globe, and it has subsequently mirrored in North Africa. The number of makerspaces in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco – though still sparse – has been remarkably growing in recent years, particularly following the so-called Arab spring in 2011. In their working paper, professor of economics at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and founding director of Access to Knowledge for Development (A2K4D) Nagla Rizk and senior researcher at A2K4D Nagham El Houssamy look at the makerspaces in Egypt, along with Morocco and Tunisia, and how they help ease access to … Read More
Chairman’s Corner: Furthering Innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa
After exactly a decade, GBSN returned to Nairobi for its 13th Annual Conference on November 7 – 9, 2018. The conference, co-hosted by Strathmore Business School and the Chandaria School of Business, USIU focused on how innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship can transform business. Over 100 management education, development and industry professionals from 34 countries convened to explore innovations in education and business. The GBSN conference provided me with a perfect setting for speaking about the innovation successes and challenges of Africa. For over a decade I have been editing the Global Innovation Index (GII) Report (www.globalinnovationindex.org). Extending beyond the traditional … Read More
MIT Sloan School of Management to Host Conference on Leveraging Analytics for a Proactive Health System
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 29, 2018 – The transition of health systems from fee-for-service to value-based payments requires major redesign. Future systems must transform to be proactive in managing the health of populations and still meet outcome and sustainable economic goals. Technology innovations could drive a redesigned health system that benefits all participants. A thought leader on this topic, the Initiative for Health Systems Innovation (HSI) at the MIT Sloan School of Management will host the Designing for Health: Leveraging Analytics for a Proactive Health System Conference on Thurs. Dec. 6, 2018 for practitioners, government and industry leaders, and members of the MIT community. … Read More
HEC Paris Launches its First office for West and Central Africa in Abidjan
HEC Paris celebrates the opening of its first office for West and Central Africa, in Abidjan. The HEC office, which benefits from the continued support of CGECI, aims to train hundreds of financial managers and business strategists each year and to promote and develop the school’s activities in this region. The opening ceremony, sponsored by Ivory Coast’s First Lady, Dominique Folloroux Ouattara, was attended by Nathalie Lugagne (Associate Dean of HEC Paris Executive Education), Armelle Dufour (Director of all Global Initiatives projects), Alexis John Ahyee (Director of HEC Paris’ office for West and Central Africa) as well as key Ivorian leaders, such as … Read More
S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research Earns AACSB Accreditation
GBSN member and leading business school in India, the S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) has earned AACSB accreditation. Synonymous with the highest standards of quality, AACSB accreditation inspires new ways of thinking within business education globally and, as a result, has been earned by only 5 % of the world’s schools offering business degrees at the bachelor level or higher. Today, 831 institutions across 54 countries and territories maintain AACSB accreditation. Furthermore, 187 institutions maintain a supplemental AACSB accreditation for their accounting programs. AACSB accreditation provides a framework of 15 international standards against which business schools around the world assess the quality of … Read More
Education is Critical in Innovation
On November 7 – 9, 2018, the Global Business School Network held its 13th Annual Conference on “Transforming Traditional Sectors: Educating Entrepreneurial Leaders to Drive Systemic Change” co-hosted by Strathmore Business School and the Chandaria School of Business, USIU. The conference, held in Nairobi, Kenya, focused on how innovative, interdisciplinary and collaborative ways of educating entrepreneurial leaders can transform traditional sectors, including Mining & Oil, Agriculture, Tourism and Healthcare. The conference was sponsored by MIT Sloan School of Management Global Programs, Monash Business School and Johnson & Johnson. Nicolas Nesbit, General Manager of IBM East Africa, opened the conference with his inspiring … Read More