FUTURE TALENT November - January 2019/2020 | Page 34

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ON TOPIC
arguably slow to react to the forces
of change, some schools, at least,
have been rising to the challenge.
Specific examples include
France’s NEOMA Business School,
which has redesigned its Global
EMBA with “built-in flexibility in both
format and content”. As academic
director Charles Waldman explains,
“we have three intakes, three
lengths of programme and different
intensities”. (See box, below)
Elsewhere, with online learning
and globalisation representing two
key trends, schools are learning to
collaborate to meet students’
needs. The Future of Management
Education Alliance comprises like-
minded business schools (including
London’s Imperial Business School
and Singapore’s Lee Kong Chian
School of Business) which “share a
vision that online learning should
have the same transformational
impact as the very best face-to-
face courses” and offer a shared
learning experience platform.
The alliance’s website positions
it as “a productive and  vibrant
partnership  with global reach,
pooling resources, knowledge,
expertise, co-developing new
pedagogies and collaborating
on programmes”.
In sync with
the sharing
economy,
future
business
schools could
move from
ownership
to renting
S
uch pioneers are vital to
business schools’
survival, since there’s no
denying the strength of
the competition in professional
learning. For Western schools, a
direct threat comes from emerging
regions, such as Asia, whose schools
Remodelling the MBA for the modern world
1
NEOMA Business School in France has redesigned its Global EMBA to offer
three ‘entrance gates’. Students can select from a 15-month, 12-month or
‘full-and-flex’ programme (studying intensively full-time for two months during
the summer, and then flexibly). Content can be customised, with learning
structured around three competence-building ambitions: change your mindset,
be bold and innovate, and create value.
2
Lancaster University Management School is embracing philosophy, politics
and poetry alongside finance, marketing and strategy. The introductory
week of its MBA is anchored by a professor of romantic literature, with students
exposed to Ruskin and Wordsworth, exploring the nature of economic change
driven by science and its consequences for work, welfare and society.
3
At IMD Business School in Switzerland, experiential elements make up 47%
of its programme. To prepare EMBAs for an uncertain world, in 2015, IMD
began offering participants crisis training with the armed forces in an Alpine
military bunker. Last year, students ran a fictitious airport, facing a volcanic
ash cloud and a bomb scare.
34 // Future Talent
are rising up the global rankings.
Added to this is the spiralling field
of executive education, corporate
universities (universit y-st yle
campuses set up by companies to
provide tailored L&D activities for
its staff) and providers such as PwC,
McKinsey and Egon Zehnder,
offering specialist training. At
the most accessible end of the
spectrum are the free ‘massive
open online courses’ (MOOCs),
which provide an affordable and
flexible way to learn new skills.
This broadening offer drives up
standards, increases choice and
opens up access to post-graduate
learning. But it can make for a mind-
bogglingly complex selection
process. Elements to weigh up
include preferred format, budget,
funding stream, location, timescale
and, most importantly, learning
needs and end goals.
MBAs from respected business
schools still provide a depth and
rigour of learning, a challenging
application proces s and an
emphasis on examination (for the
most famous schools, add to that
a healthy dose of prestige and
invaluable networks).
Given these factors, an MBA
cannot be directly compared with
other forms of professional learning,
argues David Brown, director of
executive education at London’s
Imperial College Business School.