A young man who had spent a good part of his formative educational years dissatisfied with the education system in his country soon found his niche in the world of Finance. Now, studying at the Hanken School of Economics, that very young man sees hope that with his experience he will be able to bring about the change his country so desperately needs.
How would you describe the work of business schools? Most people go straight to the teaching. Business schools teach business and management through a wide range of degree programs and executive education, helping learners to build and navigate careers as managers. Those more familiar with the industry add that business schools conduct objective and rigorous research to inform practicing managers and policy makers, as well as support teaching. In short, business schools develop skills, insights, and opportunities for organizations and the people who manage them.
Education reform should be high on the agendas for governments and societies in both developed and developing economies. Business schools and universities are stubbornly resistant to change, often due to resistance from multiple stakeholders including faculty. With a rapidly decreasing half-life of knowledge, education has to be retooled to become affordable, effective and flexible. This will help our alumni to smoothly transition from one job to another and make education a nimble, lifelong endeavor. The GBSN community, as an engaged group of business school leaders should strive to take a leading role in helping our alumni (especially women and minorities) transition effectively across jobs and create satisfying careers for themselves.
Brazil’s Fundaao Dom Cabral (FDC) is what I call “a business school with a heart”. Ranked 8 th worldwide by the Financial Times for customized executive education, it trains about 40,000 executives from mid-size and large companies every year. All FDC’s activities are informed by a Covenant drawn up in 2006, which expresses the institution’s… Read more >
Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIMU) officially opened in 2011 as part of the network of IIMs which have established a global reputation as premium management institutions over the course of more than 50 years. IIM Udaipur operates from a 300-acre campus in the Balicha area of Udaipur with state of the art classrooms and other facilities.
Founded in 1991, HKUST Business School is young, innovative and committed to advancing global business knowledge. It strives to contribute to the economic and social advancement of Asia and the world by developing future leaders who possess an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit as well as a strong sense of responsibility.
I much enjoyed reading a recent book by a former GBSN colleague and friend, Jim Dean, and his co-author Deborah Clarke: “The Insider’s Guide to Working with Universities. Its tag line: Practical Insights for Board Members, Business people, Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists, Alumni, Parents, and Administrators.” This core of the book Ð as far as I know… Read more >
GBSN promotes the expertise and interests of our members by providing a platform to communicate news and open opportunities to global audiences and share how they are innovating in management education to the benefit of their colleagues around the world. The New Member Spotlight series serves as a way for new member schools to introduce themselves to the network.
I was invited to participate in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Annual Meeting of the New Champions which was held in early July in Dalian, China. Also, I was pleased to be part of a high profile launch of the Global Innovation Index in New Delhi on 24th July. I will use this blog to share some of my reflections from these two professional engagements.
Returning to China after a gap of some months is always interesting as the country seems to continue to change at a fast pace. I had taken part in several prior editions of the WEF’s Annual Summits in China and it is interesting to see how the WEF China Summit has now become focused exclusively on technology and innovation. This is not surprising per se as China’s rise in the technology domain is now recognized by many.
Much attention has been given to how business schools in emerging economies can develop the quality and relevance of their teaching and research programmes, acknowledging the huge potential such development would unlock for those economies and the world. Some of this attention has, understandably, focused on researchers and the need for them to improve the scope and quality of their publications so that they ‘rank’ alongside those from developed economies.
