Digital transformation plays a central role in the sustainable development of Africa. Yet the continent does not yet have the tech talent to enable this transformation. How do we develop the skills to support the needed investment? How can business, academia, government, and civil society work together to create an environment that unlocks the full potential of Africa’s aspiring entrepreneurs? Can business schools and universities take the lead in connecting diverse talent needed to accelerate innovation? Join this session to consider these and other important questions in this fifth session of the Talent for Africa Forum.
Africa is rising as a global player and is a true beneficiary in the global arena and we are here to celebrate that, as well as help the rest of the world to benefit from it.
Africa’s most powerful resource is its people. In a world of shrinking working-age populations, favorable demographics point to substantial opportunity within Africa. But there is no guarantee that the demographics will translate into greater prosperity.
Join us in this session, as we tackle some of the more pressing questions related to Africa and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.Â
Does Africa have the capacity to educate the young while delivering on the growing needs for upskilling and reskilling the workforce?
How is technology changing the mix of knowledge and skills that African organizations need?Â
What are the specific sector needs, such as health care, government, and finance?
How are new technologies, and increasing experiences in using them, creating new opportunities that make education both more effective and more accessible?Â
Innovation and entrepreneurship not only increase productivity in existing industries and create jobs, they can transform economies and societies. This session focuses on developing talent for transformative leadership, the kind that can build a more inclusive and sustainable Africa.
Discussions explored the role of business and business schools as catalysts and enablers of innovation and entrepreneurship. It considers opportunities to strengthen collaboration across disciplines, borders, and sectors to enable Africa to leap ahead in efforts to achieve Agenda 2063.
The first session aims to explore the changing global landscape for talent and the special challenges that Africa faces when it comes to developing leadership, management, and entrepreneurship talent. In this kickoff session, panelists will touch on the broad range of pressing talent challenges that will be had throughout the series and provide a bird’s eye view of how these relate to Agenda 2063, and the Africa that Africans want.Â
Join us as we address issues such as Pan-African integration in a de-globalizing world, harnessing a youthful African workforce in an aging global society, AI and the impact of automation everywhere, developing relevant educational opportunities for African business, and so much more.Â
Africa in the Context of the world invites the rest of the global community to hear from African leaders, themselves, and how we can work cohesively to truly create the future of the continent.
Presented by XOLAS, GBSN, EFMD Global Network, and Other Partner Organizations
“The world will be different after COVID-19!” You certainly heard this statement repeatedly in recent weeks. And you and your colleagues were probably left wondering to what extent it will apply to the business school sector as a whole and your institution specifically. Around the globe, colleagues are currently celebrating the successes of switching into online instruction with ease. Business schools have demonstrated tremendous agility in the face of adversity. Equally noteworthy is the strong display of a culture of sharing best practice in our community that helped to ease the transition of many institutions into online delivery.
These remarkable positives can however not make us overlook the financial burden that COVID-19 is imposing on business schools. Many institutions have suffered heavy losses in tuition and executive education revenues that may end up being a structural level-change rather than a temporary blip. Negative economic growth in many countries will reinforce the persistence of revenue drops.
We must further assume that COVID-19 will act as an accelerator for stackability, micro-credentialing and other drivers of institutional unbundling. Technology will make more rapid inroads into business school operations, to the benefit of stakeholders, but also with tangible impact on the underlying economics of delivering management education.
The writing is on the wall: The “business of business schools” will not be “business as usual” anymore.
This webinar series will provide guidance on how to adjust most effectively to this new environment. Sector and topical experts will get at the core of key issues and suggest a way forward. As a participant, you can challenge your own thinking and contribute to the debate.
The series will initially consist of five webinars. The first two webinars will deal with the most challenging financial issues facing business schools right now, how to cushion the downturn of executive education (#1) and how to cope with the drop of tuition revenues from international enrollments (#2). #3 will explore how business schools can become more resilient (i.e. strengthen their ability to “bounce back”). #4 will take a critical look at risk management practices in business schools (and their parent institutions); it will examine how risk management can be moved beyond compliance thinking to serve as a strategic decision-making tool. Finally, #5 will address funding issues that may present themselves nowadays in an exacerbated form, especially for stand-alone business schools or institutions transitioning into a semi-public status with enhanced financial autonomy.
We kindly request that you register for the webinars individually. Participation is free of charge.
WEBINAR LINEUP
Moving Executive Education Online: How Much and for How Long?
1 JULY 2020, 14:00 CEST – 8AM EDT
Partners GBSN, EFMD Global Network, ESMT Berlin, XOLAS
Moderator: Ulrich Hommel, Founding Partner of XOLAS
Panelists: Martin Möhrle, Director Corporate Services, EFMD Global Network, Belgium Jörg Rocholl, President, ESMT Berlin, Germany Dominique Turpin, Former President & Dean of External Relations, IMD Business School, Switzerland
Executive education is treated by many companies as discretionary spending that gets cut back in bad times and the reactions to COVID-19 seem to confirm this conjecture. Business schools are currently challenged to fulfill existing commitments in times of social distancing. In addition, they are struggling to refill their pipeline with new contracts. A range of questions needs to be addressed in this context: How can business schools maintain their attractiveness as an education provider in recessionary times? How can executive education be delivered effectively in virtual learning space and how can clients be convinced of its value-added? And, most importantly, will COVID-19 ultimately change the role of executive training provided in an academic setting?
Participants will be able to explore these issues with a panel of executive education and talent management experts.
How to Reposition International Student Recruitment After COVID-19?
8 JULY 2020, 14:00 CEST – 8:00AM EDT
Partners: EFMD Global Network, GBSN, studyportals, XOLAS
Moderator: Ulrich Hommel, Founding Partner of XOLAS Panelists: Andrea Longaretti, Global Head of Recruitment & Admissions, IE University, Spain Jerker Moodysson, Dean, JIBS, Jönköping University Thijs van Vugt, Director Analytics/Consulting Team, studyportals, Netherlands
The University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, prophetically purchased a 3-year insurance against a drop in Chinese enrollment with a coverage of USD 60 million and a premium of USD 424K. Many other universities (and their business schools) were left “holding the bag” and the reported losses are staggering. Most of them identified the diversification of student intake as a priority item of their risk registers, but it was not followed up by tangible action. The future certainly has to be different.
This webinar will look at international student recruitment from a business perspective by putting the focus on recruitment cycles and international study motives. How much international diversification is desirable and needed? And how can international recruitment and diversification targets be effectively balanced?
Partners: EFMD Global Network, GBSN, studyportals, XOLAS
Moderator:
Ulrich Hommel, Founding Partner of XOLAS
Panelists:
Robina Xavier, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Vice President (Education), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), former Executive Dean, QUT Business School John Vargo, Resilient Organisations NZ Baback Yazdani, Dean of Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University
COVID-19 lets the future appear ever more uncertain. Will there be a second or third infection wave and, if so, will it trigger another lock-down? To what extent will the pandemic crisis shift learning behavior and, in the process, accelerate the switch to online provision? And finally, how will the impending economic recession impact demand for business schools and will displacement pressures by higher-ranked institutions seeking new revenue sources play an important role in this context?
Under the guidance of an expert panel, participants will explore the benefits of a proactive posture when dealing with these environmental uncertainties. Should it involve the deliberate build-up of resilience (ability to “bounce back”) or even anti-fragility (ability to profit from uncertainty)? What does this concretely imply in terms of pricing policies, degree delivery choices, etc?
