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Bringing a glocal approach to the Netherlands

To add value to the local region while promoting internationalisation, Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences takes a ‘glocal’ approach

‘We strive to bring expertise, knowledge and diversity to the local region in which we operate, thereby enhancing the economy, culture and social environment around the university,’ explains Peter Birdsall, President of the Board at Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.

In this interview, Birdsall goes on to outline the School’s plans for the future, while expressing his enthusiasm for two new MBA specialisations on offer at Wittenborg, in AI and clean technology. ‘The employability of these graduates in the Netherlands looks very promising,’ he says. Read on to learn more about the School’s outlook and strategic vision.

Please can you tell me a little about the programmes available at your School, as well as typical student intake sizes? 

Our School is based in the Dutch town of Apeldoorn and we currently offer bachelor’s and master’s programmes to around 1,000 students a year (as of 2019) from the Netherlands and around the world. Around 100 of those students are studying entrepreneurship and an MBA in international management at our Amsterdam campus.

We are a continuously developing institute that enjoys bringing a global outlook to a local region. We are growing by an average of 17% a year and aim to achieve around 1,500 students by 2023.

What do you think makes your portfolio of programmes stand out from others that are available in the country headquarters of your School and the surrounding region?

What makes Wittenborg special is its international character. Our students represent over 100 different nationalities and our 120 academics and 60 support staff represent over 40 different nationality backgrounds. It’s a wonderful and dynamic atmosphere to work and study in and the internationalisation and diversity that Wittenborg brings to the municipality of Apeldoorn is clearly appreciated. We embrace internationalisation as a key value and aim to let this be shown in every aspect of life at the School.

To achieve this, we engage in close dialogue with industry, government (local, regional and national) and NGOs, creating a so-called ‘triple helix’. We strive to bring expertise, knowledge and diversity to the local region in which we operate, thereby enhancing the economy, culture and social environment around the university. We call it a ‘glocal’ approach.

How is the School working to boost the employment prospects of its graduates?

All of our programmes contain an element of work experience. In the bachelor’s programmes, this ranges from three to six months depending on the pathway. While work experience is optional in the master’s programmes, modules such as ‘professional enquiry’ and ‘project weeks’ are all carried out in combination with an investigation into practice in the work field.

We encourage all students to centre their final project and graduation assignment on a company or organisation. We find that bachelor’s students often stay at their work placement company to continue with their research project, while master’s students often find work during their graduation phase and base their project on that employer.

Employability of graduates will become an ever-increasing important factor in all audits and measurements of our success in the future and we intend to extend the quality system to encompass assurance of learning by further involving graduates and employers in the development of learning outcomes.

Which single new programme course or initiative are you most excited about and why?

Our MBA is currently available across nine different pathways, and we are extremely excited about the development of two new MBAs with technology specialisations, focussed on AI and clean technology. The employability of these graduates in the Netherlands looks very promising and we have developed these specialisations together with regional employers, and other educators in the area.

Outline the importance of diversity and ethics to your Business School’s strategy and why you feel they are vital topics for business as a whole today

Wittenborg embraces diversity as a key value. It is extremely important to us to promote total equality of students and staff, of cultures, gender, and people with disabilities within the School and also within our environment. We promote a working environment that is fair, and emphasises respect between and within our student and staff body.

Wittenborg’s motto [‘better yourself, better our world’] expresses the commitment to offer higher education where students and staff understand that ethics plays a central role in their every decision. Guided by well-established ethical and moral standards, such as honesty and integrity, we strive for a better tomorrow.

What are your hopes for the School’s future?

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences’s goal is to develop into a broad business and management-orientated university of applied sciences in various professional fields, such as business and entrepreneurship, hospitality and tourism, arts and technology, health and social care, and education.

As we are a non-profit School, we are able to plough all extra revenues back into the organisation, to support education development and the development of staff. For instance, we currently have 39% of our academics holding a doctorate or PhD. Our aim is to reach 60% of academic teaching staff holding a PhD equivalent qualification, and 40% being scholarly active, by 2021.

The aim to increase our proportion of scholarly-active teaching staff is one of our seven strategic initiatives. These strategic initiatives also include the further development of staff as well as maintaining and managing the current growth strategy, which means ensuring that the quality of incoming students is more important than the quantity and that we continue to improve and enhance our international classroom.

Last year, we started offering split-site PhD programmes in business and management, hospitality and tourism, together with our UK partner, the University of Brighton. This will help us develop our ‘own’ research environment and prepare us well to offer our own doctorate degrees.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing providers of business education in the country headquarters of your School and the surrounding region, in your opinion?

We are a private university of applied sciences, and the only one that is fully English speaking and has such a diverse and international student and staff body. Many of the private Business Schools in the Netherlands are smaller than Wittenborg, and struggle to gain recognition, nationally and internationally.

Is there anything you’d like to see change among providers of business education, or that they could be doing better? (in the country headquarters of your School and/or throughout the rest of the world)

In the Netherlands, there are so many publicly funded business degree programmes taught in English (with Dutch speakers often teaching Dutch speakers in English) that it would be nice to see some regulation of these, as Dutch Minister of Education, Ingrid van Engelshoven, has indicated. Business Schools should focus on excellence within their own particular environment and try to establish a particular outstanding profile, rather than trying to ‘be like the rest’.

Peter Birdsall is President of the Board of Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences in Apeldoorn, Netherlands. He was previously reponsible for internationalising the curriculum at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences in Enschede, Netherlands. He holds a bachelor’s in teaching from Windesheim University of Applied Sciences and a master’s in education management from the UK’s Open University.

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The impact of geopolitics on business and Business Schools

Global political and cultural goalposts are moving, and Business Schools must move with them, writes MIP’s Giuliano Noci

The world is entering an era of change to the global order. Populations are growing, technology is allowing civilians to become increasingly connected and, despite much political unrest and division, governments are now being asked to unite to face threats such as climate change.

An understanding of geopolitics has always been important for business; perhaps because, at the most basic level, international law allows governments to stop foreign firms from operating in their countries. Areas of geopolitical interest for companies range from differences in international trade and legal requirements to the threat of war or terrorism, or specific events. The latter includes the growing momentum of the so-called 16+1 initiative: China’s mechanism for engaging with countries in Central and Eastern Europe. 

The most recent gathering of 16 states which endorse China’s ambitious ‘Belt and Road’ investment project took place in the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, and has unsettled European Union (EU) leaders, who are watching the growth of China’s political and economic influence in the region closely. 

Chinese-led infrastructure projects, including a high-speed railway from Budapest in Hungary to Belgrade in Serbia, promise European countries that are most in need of support a financial boost. However, China would also benefit significantly from the overall plan of linking up this railway line with its port in Piraeus, Greece, the entry point for Chinese goods to Central and Eastern Europe. State-owned Chinese banks will provide the finance for these projects and Chinese companies will supply the technology and construction.

Yet, although many European businesses have developed plans to deal with the moderate change factor of Brexit, barely any are focusing on (arguably) more dramatic geopolitical events and associations, such as this alliance. A preoccupation with creating plans for all Brexit outcomes – including the improbable – has dominated many businesses, fuelled by the European media. Despite the UK failing to leave the EU in March 2019, eyes are still firmly fixed on micro-changes in the debate, meaning that other important events and geopolitical shifts are largely passing unnoticed.

One such issue is that the population of Africa is expected to more than double, to 2.4 billion before 2050. Despite such a huge projected growth figure, companies are still not devoting enough – or, in some cases, any – attention to this demographic, which is likely to become highly relevant to them. China, however, has recently pledged $60bn USD of investment in major capital projects which aim to develop the local African economy. 

In many respects, global political and cultural goalposts are moving and managers are having to deal with totally new perspectives and situations when they work internationally. C-suites are increasingly investing in diversity management and the most advanced businesses are taking further measures to ensure they are aware of the geopolitical stance of countries in which they work, trade or are interested. But are they doing enough?

How businesses can cope

Geopolitical changes in areas of operation can be significant for companies, and I’ve observed many that react to change in precisely the wrong way. One problem is the duality of the relationship between a large number of organisations’ headquarters (HQ) and their individual branches. Although it is absolutely necessary to be close to customers in order to understand their needs, build authentic relationships and have a tangible point of contact, I would argue that these offshoots often operate with far less autonomy than they deserve. Deciding and controlling everything at HQ is not always the best option when dealing with cultural, organisational and strategic hurdles.

For these reasons, many businesses would find their operations much improved if they modified their basic organisational structure. Scrapping the one-way mechanism of knowledge sharing and implementing a bilateral dialogue for information exchange can greatly influence and improve strategic decisions. Jointly deciding what action a company should take in the face of a geopolitical incident is far more likely to provide a successful outcome. It’s important, in these cases, not only to use the experience and wisdom of the C-suite but also the regional branch’s specific understanding of the local market. 

The best method for ensuring this – and one that increasing numbers of international businesses are adopting – is implementing local research and development units.
This helps companies grow country-specific innovations and produce relevant services for a customer base they have invested in understanding.

Impact on Business Schools

By its very nature, geopolitics is a multifaceted issue which can impact a number of key areas for Business Schools.

For example, last year’s annual Application Trends Survey from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) revealed that although applications to Business School programmes in Asia Pacific, Europe and Canada increased between 2017 and 2018, programmes in the US reported a drop in volume. In total, the US experienced almost a 7% decline, including a 1.8% drop in domestic application volume and a 10.5% fall in international volume across all programme types.

According to Sangeet Chowfla, GMAC President and CEO, this lag in US Business School demand can be explained by several factors, including a low unemployment rate meaning that young professionals may have an increased opportunity cost of leaving their jobs in pursuit of an advanced degree. This is combined with a disruptive political environment in the US, headed by controversial President Donald Trump, and the emergence over the past decade of tremendous educational and professional opportunities abroad. A combination of social and political factors have had a clear bearing on some Schools which dropped from previously record-high application numbers. 

How do Business Schools combat these types of disadvantages strategically? I would argue that there are two key areas for Schools to focus on.

1. Increasing strategic partnerships 

It has long been acknowledged that diversity in business education cohorts is crucial to students’ exposure to different cultures, mindsets and ways of working. 

As the world becomes increasingly connected and multinationals seek to reach new markets, one of the key soft skills they require from new hires is emotional intelligence and the ability to create relationships with peers living thousands of miles away. Increasingly, Schools are hiring more international faculty to aid this – but it’s simply not enough.

Progressive Business Schools must look to create more partnerships with overseas universities and businesses in order to offer students a better understanding of markets and societies across the world, including Africa, Russia and China. 

One such partnership is embodied in a design innovation hub, launched between MIP Politecnico di Milano and Beijing-based Tsinghua University, in Milan, Italy. It is set to become the biggest Chinese innovation centre in the world. The hub is Tsinghua’s first – and only – educational and research base in Europe, and aims to become a platform for Chinese companies to receive innovation-related services such as training in AI and robotics technologies, rapid scaling up of SMEs, and instruction in areas including entrepreneurship.  

The platform will be open for participation from academic circles, governments and industries of both China and Italy, as well as promoting communication and collaboration between the two countries in education, scientific research and cultural industries. Its aim is to combine the Italian methods of innovation and development with the Chinese methodology of production at scale, combining the best of eastern and western expertise.

2. Co-designing international courses

Another way to provide students with insight into the geopolitics of markets that may be of interest to them in their future careers is to design specific international programmes.

For this reason, Politecnico di Milano’s Graduate School of Business recently partnered with the University of Wollongong  in Dubai (UOWD) to develop new post-graduate programmes in luxury brand management in the Middle East. This area represents a big opportunity for luxury firms and these courses will take a closer look at the management of premium brands as well as emerging luxury markets in Dubai and other shopping destinations such as Milan, Paris and Geneva. The aim is to give professionals in this arena experience and knowledge of working in a country with different sets of laws, politics and business etiquette.

This partnership brings two different areas of expertise to students interested in this growing – and unusual – market. On the one hand, the University of Wollongong was the first international university to establish a presence in Dubai and offers unparalleled expertise in tertiary education in the Gulf Region. Combined with MIP’s prowess in design and luxury management, the partnership’s programmes will recognise the commercial and cultural significance of the Middle East’s luxury market, and are likely to be significant for executives across all luxury categories including fashion, jewellery, automotive, travel, food and wine.

International immersion is crucial for students looking to understand the cultures and ways of working of their future target markets, while also making them attractive to businesses working in the region. Many organisations are moving away from past failures caused by their misunderstanding of foreign social and political tropes; for example, Starbucks’ failure in Israel, due to its lack of understanding of the country’s already-booming café culture.

As the world becomes evermore connected and managers are exposed to even more groups of politically and geographically diverse people, the need for an awareness of issues and the skills required to adapt to changing circumstances will only increase. For businesses, hiring international people, increasing the autonomy of individual branches and researching the geopolitics of new and existing areas will become increasingly prominent. 

For Business Schools, imparting an awareness of huge geopolitical issues, such as the trade and technology war between the US and China will help ensure that managers of the future can make critical business decisions that are sufficiently informed. This will be crucial to their success in the years to come.

Giuliano Noci is a Professor of Strategy and Marketing at Politecnico di Milano School of Management, Italy.

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Recognising the value of management education in the Czech Republic

Students of MBA and related programmes would greatly benefit from greater recognition from the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Education, as would providers of post-graduate management education, says Ivo Ducheček, Director of Prague’s Business Institut EDU. ‘A change in the legislation would be a welcome step,’ he says.

For Ducheček, the value provided by Business Institut’s BBA, MBA and DBA programmes, both in-person and online, is clear from the employability of its participants. ‘There is literally a “battle” for our graduates,’ Ducheček says.

As well as discussing the need to adapt to students’ learning preferences and the need for continual improvement, Business Institut’s Director also outlines the School’s plans to maximise the benefits of the latest teaching technology and to expand internationally in this interview with Business Impact Content Editor, Tim Dhoul.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing providers of business education in the Czech Republic and the surrounding region, in your opinion?

Maintain students’ interest. Many students decide [where to study] on the basis of positive references, so it is important to direct attention not only to new students, but also to current students.

It is equally important to keep the quality and professionalism of the education provided. The biggest challenge is to continually improve, move forward and always provide a little more than the competition.

Is there anything you’d like to see change among providers of management education in the Czech Republic?

A change in the legislation would be a welcome step. Post-graduate management education is, in my opinion, as important as university education. Yet, in the Czech Republic, it is not recognised by the highest body, the Ministry of Education, as it is in other countries. Such a change would certainly be positive, not only for quality schools, but for MBA students themselves.

How is Business Institut working to boost the employment prospects of its graduates?

We regularly cooperate with the best headhunters and high positions are filled by our students or graduates. Overall, our form of teaching is built to be highly practical, so there is literally a ‘battle’ for our graduates in the job market. We regularly carry out research in this area, and this suggests that 98% of Business Institut’s graduates advance their careers immediately after graduation, which also means a significant salary increase.

How are programme curricula developed and refined at Business Institut to ensure that they remain in touch with the changing needs of both students and employers?  

We ensure this development in two ways. Our employees, in co-operation with lecturers, regularly change, supplement and fine-tune the syllabus, study materials and structure of programmes, according to the latest knowledge, trends and methods and to ensure their continued attractiveness.

We also listen, and adapt, to the needs and demands of the students themselves and, based on their feedback, incorporate requirements. During group classes, it’s no problem to adapt the programme according to such requirements, or any practical interests, directly in class interactions.

Which single new programme course or initiative are you most excited about and why?

Currently, we are most pleased about the enormous interest in online MBA study, where we use the latest technology in our teaching.

Outline the importance of diversity to Business Institut’s strategy and why you feel it is a vital topic for business as a whole today.

In a saturated market, you must always be one step ahead of your competition, so we believe strongly in diversity, conceptuality and creativity. We want to give our students plenty of opportunities, to give them a choice, and to create conditions that are favourable to them. This is the basis of our studies. There are many programmes to choose from, different forms of teaching, and activities beyond teaching.

What are your hopes for the School in the next five years – what do you want to see happen?

In the next five years, we would like to provide most of our programmes in a purely online form, and to make them stand out through the kind of interactivity that new technologies can bring. For example, we would like to make more use of virtual reality in our teaching processes.

We are also looking to expand abroad to other European markets. Business Institut is one of the most prestigious providers in the Czech Republic, but we currently do not provide any international exchange or study programs. We are considering this for the future because we see potential in it.

Ivo Ducheček is the Director of Business Institut EDU a.s.

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Why flexibility is essential in executive education

Flexibility is the new normal, argues NEOMA Business School’s Jérôme Couturier. Institutions offering executive education need to sit up and take note

In today’s business environment, both employers and employees recognise the need for flexibility; however, many popular Business Schools are yet to come to the same realisation. Change is the only constant in the lives of today’s business leaders (switching roles and companies, travelling frequently and interacting globally) and the pace of change is faster than ever. This demands an appropriate response from Business Schools and all other stakeholders.

It is no longer sufficient for ambitious professionals to update their knowledge intermittently; sometimes they must reset it entirely, discarding outdated skills in favour of new ones as companies demand greater agility from their staff. Even governments are reacting to this impetus. France, for example, now subsidises training schemes to ensure business leaders’ capabilities remain aligned to market needs. 

And it’s not just seismic technical shifts such as digitisation that require executives to be flexible, but the increasing prominence of concepts such as corporate social responsibility (CSR). Running a business today is about much more than profit. Considerations around politics, multiculturalism and climate change must be taken into account. Coping with these varied demands requires no small degree of flexibility and the way people work is changing as a result. 

Blurred lines

For Business Schools, the most obvious consequence of this shift to flexibility is the changing segmentation of the MBA market. Lines are blurring in terms of the applicants attracted to different kinds of courses.

Traditionally, the full-time MBA was designed for young people with limited work experience, while the executive MBA (EMBA) was aimed at experienced managers; it was assumed that the latter would prefer a part-time course, allowing them to continue working alongside their studies. This can no longer be taken for granted. 

It is becoming progressively difficult for Business Schools to profile the candidates that come knocking at our doors. In a world, where no one can rely on a career for life, experienced executives often don’t want to pursue a drawn out part-time course. Instead, they sometimes prefer to complete a full-time EMBA, as quickly as possible, making the most of full immersion for parts of the programme. 

Old, dependable assumptions about candidates are crumbling. At NEOMA, we see applicants of different ages and levels of experience seeking part-time and full-time courses, according to their personal career goals.

In the past, these tired-but-reliable stereotypes enabled business education institutions to design programmes to suit predicted audiences, rolling these out for a decade before revisiting their format. Schools cannot afford to take that approach anymore; a more dynamic platform is needed. The architects of EMBA courses need to look beyond the need for reskilling, and design programmes in line with broader competencies. This provides flexibility, since Schools are able to alter the competencies on offer, as market needs evolve.

Prioritising flexibility

In redesigning NEOMA’s Global EMBA, the Course Directors kept flexibility front of mind. To this end, the programme offers three ‘entrance gates’, enabling candidates to choose from three different learning paces; they can study for 15 months, 10 months or for as little as seven months. The varying speeds allow candidates to choose between distributing the course content evenly over a long period of time and opting for a more intense, fast-track programme.

The latter option, also referred to as ‘full and flex’, allows students to cover a very significant amount of the curriculum in a concentrated two-month period over the summer, while fitting the rest into their professional schedule.

We believe Business Schools need to diversify their offerings to attract both local applicants and those from around the world. The three formats available on NEOMA’s Global EMBA were created in the context of our desire to put forward a truly global programme. 

The 15-month programme is designed to suit candidates who are geographically close to Paris: those who are willing to live in the city for the duration of the course, or who live within a commutable distance. Meanwhile, the 10-month programme is a better fit for those within five hours of the capital, as they do not need to be on campus throughout. The full-and-flex programme is the best option for international students, as they only have to spend two months in Paris and can complete the rest of the course online and through four one-week experiences abroad.

After announcing the full-and-flex course, the first feedback we received was from prospective students, delighted with the flexibility on offer. However, in the same breath, they requested more. Excited by the chance to complete most of the course over the summer, candidates wanted to know if they could complete the whole course over two years, in two concentrated summer blocks, enabling them to stay in their full-time jobs, taking minimal time off beyond annual leave. The immediate demand was overwhelming, but not unanticipated. If anything, it reaffirmed our belief that we had made the right decision in putting flexibility at the heart of our course. 

Building relationships

Business Schools might be tempted to achieve flexibility by offering an entirely online EMBA. This way, students can complete the whole course anywhere, anytime. However, it’s important to factor in the intrinsic value of face-to-face interaction, peer learning and networking on these programmes. 

In designing NEOMA’s Global EMBA, we have made all the specialisation aspects of the course available online, so that students can customise their individual experience to the maximum degree, with full support available online from their tutors. However, with the core modules, we ask that students are present on campus to make the most of face-to-face interactions with Professors, and networking with their peers. 

In practice, students on our full-and-flex course spend two months in Paris, and partake in four separate one-week learning experiences on four continents. The rest of the course can be completed anywhere in the world. By balancing customisable online tracks with the right amount of face-to-face time, Business Schools stand the best chance of providing flexibility without compromising relationship building.

Maintaining flexibility

One of the challenges when building a flexible executive course is maintaining consistency. Incorporating three different entrance gates and a range of individually customisable content into one course is no simple task. Incorrectly managed, such a programme could become confusing and disorganised. 

At NEOMA, we found that sustaining a sense of unity across all three customisable tracks was best achieved with a good structure. Our 15-month course starts in October each year. In March, students on the 10-month course take some modules alone as a cohort to catch up at first, before joining in with the 15-month cohort for the majority of the core modules. Students embarking on the full-and-flex version of the course have a significant amount of studying to do online, or as a single cohort, in order to catch up with the two other student groups. 

Most of this catching up is achieved during their two-month crash course over the summer, so by the time the course comes to a close, all the EMBA students come together and have the opportunity to network as one group. This unity is reinforced by four shared international learning experiences; all course participants visit Ghana, the UK, India and the US together, getting the chance to meet and collaborate each time.

Once a strong framework has been established, course architects must go further to ensure their executive education offerings provide continuity. There are a few simple ways to achieve this. Primarily, the same faculty must be available to all students on the course. Easily accessible and consistent support is essential to any student’s success, but for a student pursing a course based on the other side of the world, it can be make or break. 

It is essential that students know who to contact for help, and that faculty members become well-known figures to everyone in the cohort. Similarly, consistency can be maintained through the online aspects of a course. While modules are fully customisable, the same choices of online module are ultimately available to all students; it’s simply up to them which route they choose. The same faculty members that teach face-to-face on the programme should be contactable online as this will enable students to cope better with their complex workload. Beyond reliable faculty, business education institutions aiming for flexibility need to be sensible about how they distribute executive course content. Business leaders and budding entrepreneurs alike are well aware of the increasing prevalence of AI, and the resulting demand for (‘human’) soft skills. 

Emotional intelligence and complex problem solving are the key advantages that humans still have over machines and these must be nurtured to ensure we remain valuable members of the global workforce. There is no getting around the fact that soft skills are best taught in person and it makes sense for Schools to concentrate the bulk of their students’ quantitative study online, to free up the limited face-to-face learning time for soft-skills education. Preparation and group work can also be done online to maximise efficiency.

Technology is a brilliant tool, but catering to the demand for flexibility shouldn’t come at the expense of the personal. Shifting any amount of course content online means less in-person teaching, so this needs to be of the highest quality. Personal development is embedded in the DNA of NEOMA’s executive programme. We believe students always benefit from a personal approach, so small class sizes are preferable. This means that when students come to create business plans, a core part of their EMBA, they receive a great deal of personal support and are never at risk of being overlooked.  

Customised courses

As Business School practitioners know, designing a programme is a multi-faceted task. Threading flexibility through every feature of a programme makes the process even more complicated. In creating NEOMA’s Global EMBA, we needed a strategy that would ensure the course could be fully customised by each student. We responded to this necessity by breaking the course down; we thought of it as a game of building blocks. 

Every ‘brick’ of the Global EMBA can be combined with any other. If you set out with that design in mind then every time you expand, you can consider how your new addition will work with the programme’s other aspects, and with students’ careers. Candidates are also able to select course ‘bricks’ and complete just those. This allows prospective applicants to test elements of the course before committing to completing the whole thing. In a practical sense, each and every ‘brick’ should be standardised to make managing cost and schedule easier for Course Directors.

My colleagues and I set out to make NEOMA’s Global EMBA the world’s most flexible MBA programme. Students benefit from speed of completion, choice of content and a variety of face-to-face and online options. At the same time, consistency is maintained across the course thanks to its ‘building- block’ structure which allows Course Directors to return to its design continuously, switching out modules, re-prioritising competencies and ensuring that what we are offering never falls behind market demand and participants’ needs. The structure is flexible enough that if a company came to us tomorrow, praising the flexibility of the programme but seeking to customise 20-30% of the content for every executive it enrols, we would be able to work with them on achieving that. 

All Business Schools must accept that tried-and-tested recipes for executive education no longer cut it. Attending Business School should present a vital opportunity to realign oneself with the competencies that today’s business environment demands. Schools cannot claim to offer this service unless they design their executive education programmes to accommodate regular rethinking and reconstruction. Flexibility is an indisputably defining feature of the lives of business leaders and managers, and as such, it should equally define their education.

Jérôme Couturier is Associate Dean of Professional Graduate Programmes and Executive Education at NEOMA.

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Adopt a learning mindset to succeed in business

Former Olympic rower Greg Searle has translated lessons from sport to the world of business. In an interview with Kevin Lee-Simion, he outlines some practical advice, from ‘un-learning’ bad habits to building emotional connections within teams

It’s 1992, and the men’s coxed pairs rowing final at the Barcelona Olympics is reaching its climax. 

Team GB –  23 year-old Jonny Searle and his 20-year-old brother Greg Searle – are gaining ground on the leaders, Team Italy. The finish line is approaching. An incredible sprint finish sees the Searles overtake the Italians in the last few metres and win the gold medal.  

Greg Searle followed his success at the 1992 Olympics by winning a second gold medal at the 1993 Rowing World Championships. He went on to win medals in the subsequent seven World Championships in which he competed and has a total of three Olympic medals to his name. 

While training and competing in the late 1990s, Searle became increasingly aware that the lessons he had been learning in sport could be translated to business. After the 2000 Sydney Games, he decided to retire from rowing and, after an 18-month spell sailing in the America’s Cup in New Zealand, he moved back to the UK and began his business coaching career in earnest. 

Reflecting on his sporting past and how he made the move into consultancy, Searle explains: ‘I worked with organisations even as I was rowing. I felt I had an understanding of how to get the best out of myself and the best out of teams.’

Rowing ‘smarter’

The temptation of a home Games brought Searle out of retirement to train with the GB men’s eight for the 2012 London Olympic Games and he was rewarded with a bronze medal. He believes his experience as an executive coach enabled him to be a ‘smarter rower’: he put into practice ideas had he learned in the business world to help his team achieve success. 

For example, he had more honest conversations with team members, encouraged the giving and receiving of feedback, took responsibility for his actions and asked for help when he required it.

‘I loved the ethos behind London 2012 of inspiring a generation,’ he says. ‘I felt that I could be part of a great team and I could do something that was genuinely me at my best and encourage others to challenge themselves too.’ 

Now Searle is once again focused on executive coaching and his varied work includes advising business leaders on performance, engagement, change, emotional connections, resilience
and adaptability. 

He firmly believes that, in both sport and business, passion plays a huge part in working towards, and achieving, a goal. 

‘The most important thing is to find something you’re passionate about and really care about what you’re doing,’ he says. ‘There needs to be an intrinsic motivation. Then, I think work doesn’t feel like work.’

Searle believes individuals can find this ‘passion’ by considering four key aspects: ‘First, you have to find work that is meaningful to you,’ he attests. ‘Second, you need to be in control; third, you need a sense of belonging within your team; and fourth, you have to be good as possible at what you do, and get recognised and rewarded for it.’ 

Searle identified a passion for both rowing and business, but needed to complement this by adopting a learning mindset – a will to improve and develop on an ongoing basis – in order to stay at the top of his game.

He explains: ‘Once you attribute your success solely to your talent and ability, you stop learning new things. I thought I was really talented because I won a gold at the Olympics at the age of 20. I didn’t work as hard for the 1996 Olympics, and didn’t achieve a gold medal.’ 

Adopting a learning mindset

Putting this into the context of business, Searle adds: ‘Individuals, organisations – and MBAs particularly – need to keep learning and remain open to feedback. I was rowing at my best when I had a clear goal and I saw every day as an opportunity to improve. MBAs and business leaders need to do the same.’ 

Searle advises people to adopt and retain a learning mindset throughout their careers, asking themselves: ‘Do I have an attitude that says today is an opportunity to learn, so in the future I can take on bigger projects and face bigger challenges? 

‘I want to learn every day – and tomorrow I want to be slightly better than yesterday,’ he stresses. ‘That’s the learning mindset people need to take into work.’ 

If an entire workforce takes on this learning mentality, it follows that the potential of the whole organisation will be maximised. But Searle also emphasises the importance of what he calls ‘un-learning’, which he defines as the ability to forget a habitual way of doing something, so that you can learn a new, and better way. We all have past experiences but we have to decide whether the past comprises the tools that will help us in the future, or whether the past consists of “baggage” holding us back,’ he says.’ It depends on how you filter you past.’ 

By this he means that individuals must take a step back and really evaluate their past experiences, in a bid to identify and interpret the lessons within them as well as the ‘tools’ that can help them move forward. It is important to note that individuals must be careful not to misread the past, to ensure that the things that used to get in the way do not influence the future.  

Moving forward

‘Un-learning’ helped Searle to move forward in his rowing career.

‘I was coached by Jurgen Grobler, the Head Coach of GB rowing for the Sydney Olympics, but I didn’t like his methods at the time, so I tried to prove to him that my way was the best way,’ he explains. ‘As a result, I was competing with Jurgen, and didn’t want to see him be successful. I needed to un-learn my filters about Grobler and his coaching methods.’ 

Searle misinterpreted the past, and brought the wrong ‘tools’ into the present, and this led to incorrect preconceptions about Grobler. 

He adds: ‘It wasn’t until I missed out on a medal at the Sydney Olympics, that I realised I was the one misreading the past – and this was a factor in our unsuccessful campaign’. 

To prepare for the 2012 London Olympics, Searle analysed his past – in particular the events involving Grobler – and identified what he, himself, had done wrong. This meant that he was no longer competing with the coach. 

 ‘When the London Olympics came around, I recognised that my coach offered a lot of wisdom,’ he acknowledges. ‘With un-learning, I was able to white wash the painting and start again.’

Emotional connection

Un-learning was important for Searle and, as a result, he didn’t make the same mistakes in London as he did in Sydney. He realised the importance of the role of the coach and of forging a sense of togetherness rather than internal conflict; one of the elements of an effective team is an emotional connection.

Searle says: ‘One of the most powerful examples I can give about the importance of  of an emotional connection is a story about the French pair to whom I lost in Sydney. During the race, my team mate was just urging me to pull harder while the French bowman was shouting the names of his team member’s children. They pulled even harder and won the gold medal. There is something about having a psychological and emotional commitment to your teammates and these connections  can be developed in any team, sport or business.’ 

However, for this emotional connection to have any sort of effect, let alone push a team to gold, a lot of work has to be done to nurture this bond, as Searle explains. ‘In 2010, we decided, as a team, that the medals we won at the World Championships wouldn’t be defined by what we did on the day but what we did in the next 50 days leading up to, and during, the World Championships.’ 

Having a shared set of values means that the whole team is working towards the same goal, which further strengthens the emotional connection. 

‘We came up with four key words about how we were going to be, leading up to, and during the World Championships: long, relaxed, hard, and connected,’ says Searle. ‘We would row long; we could stay relaxed and enjoy what we were doing; we would be hard on ourselves; and we would be connected [to each other] emotionally, and to the water. 

‘To enhance this emotional connection, we would remove our sunglasses before the de-brief so we could look each other in the eye.’

An emotional connection builds an effective team, and with teams, it is what about what the group achieves together, not individual accolades. Searle relates this to how the role of the leader changes in business and sport. 

‘The coach gets very little recognition and very little reward,’ he says. ‘The coach might have a big ego but must recognise it is his or her job to facilitate the performance of others. In business, the boss gets the recognition when the team performs well.’ 

Athlete to coach and student to leader

Relating this to MBA students, he explains that they need the attributes of both coach and athlete. 

‘You might decide to study for an MBA because you’re a good performer, but after you graduate, you need to facilitate others and sometimes help them do things you couldn’t even dream of doing,’ he explains. ‘So essentially, an MBA student is the athlete, and the MBA graduate is the coach’.

MBAs can take lessons from sport, and these teachings can then be used in business, as Searle points out: ‘Sport is useful because it is so clear where the finish line is. You have a clear focus and can methodically work towards it and check your progress. We can translate this to business by using quarterly/annual goals to measure progress.’  

During the period between Sydney 2000 and London 2012, Searle’s experience in executive coaching allowed him to take the lessons he learned from business back into sport. This included a greater ability to have honest conversations, being prepared to give and receive feedback, taking responsibility for his actions and not being afraid to ask for help. Ultimately, when preparing for and competing in London 2012, he used his role in the team to get the best out of himself and the people around him. 

Analysing failures

In addition to his undeniable success, Searle has experienced ups and downs in his career, and recognises the importance of analysing mistakes. This may help to avoid repeating them in future, but it is also worth considering whether you could have changed outcomes had you behaved differently. 

‘It’s important to think about attribution,’ he advises. ‘When something doesn’t go well, I try to recognise my role in the problem. Then I see if I could have done something about it, or if the problem was out of my control. I say “control the controllables, and control your reaction to everything else”.’ 

‘I love the quote “if you win, have a party; if you lose, have a meeting,”’ he continues. ‘But if you do this, you miss opportunities in both cases: sometimes you win with luck and sometimes you lose even though you did everything right. I would say celebrate the things you’ve done well, regardless of winning or losing, and learn from the things you didn’t do well. It comes back to attribution, and taking a real look at your performance.’ 

Challenging and stretching people

In terms of Searle’s coaching style, how does he use his experiences to coach people in all aspects of the business world? 

He explains that he simply brings in various aspects of the things he has learned himself throughout his career, such as un-learning. 

‘I use my experience to challenge and stretch people,” he says. ‘I try to help them recognise the influence the past has on their performance, and show them how they can get the most out of their life and the people they work with.’

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The advantages of virtual learning environments for Business Schools

Online MBAs offer flexibility and diversity that benefit both Schools and students, writes Vlerick Business School’s Steve Muylle

Distance learning is not a new concept. In fact, in 1892, the University of Chicago became, arguably, the first provider of distance learning when it offered correspondence courses at centres outside its actual campus. Since then, as technology has rapidly evolved, so has the way in which distance learning has been provided. We have seen education delivered via radio, television and now, in the present day, it can be delivered via online platforms.

It was not until 1994, when access to the internet became widely available to the public, that the first online MBA programme was launched at a Business School. 

Since then, more Business Schools have decided to offer their own online MBA programmes, having noted the benefits they can bring, not only to students, but also the Schools themselves. 

However, there are still many well-known Business Schools that do not offer online programmes. In the 2018 online MBA ranking from the Financial Times (where, to rank, Schools must have provided a programme for a minimum of three years) only 20 Business Schools featured. 

But as time goes on, these technologies continue to evolve and broaden capacity, ever improving the standard of online learning. The best online MBA programmes offered today are arguably just as good as an on-campus MBA, and can prove a better fit for a number of students. Online education can offer great benefits that an on-campus MBA is unable to provide, and in today’s fast-paced working world, this method of teaching can really appeal to potential students.

Flexibility and convenience

Students take online MBAs for a variety of reasons, though flexibility and convenience are most-cited. This benefit allows people to continue working alongside their course, within their role and industry, and makes programmes accessible to those who live too far away to visit a campus regularly, or who cannot commit to set days a month. Students are not restricted to specific timings or locations on online courses. They can fit their MBA studies around other commitments. The fact that online MBA students do not often need to visit the campus particularly appeals to professionals who travel a lot and are constantly crossing countries or continents. 

Freedom to study at a time that suits the individual has proved a popular feature of the online MBA at Vlerick Business School. Activity on our virtual learning platform is busiest between 22:00 and 00:00, showing that many students really do fit in their studies at unconventional times. 

Despite this, the course schedule keeps students on track to complete their degree in two years, and a fast track is available for students to obtain their degree in about a year. 

A more diverse student group

The flexibility and convenience of online courses attract a different type of candidate to traditional on-campus MBAs; for example, entrepreneurs, who are unable to leave their young ventures to pursue education. This means the rate of entrepreneurship during and after these programmes is likely to be high.

There is also cultural diversity; students who are experts in doing business in their specific countries bring a lot to their course and can provide advice to their peers. The online programme is also accessible to those based in remote destinations, who are unable to travel to study, creating an even more diverse cohort. Students get to understand a greater number of cultures, encounter a wider range of perspectives and gain more in-depth knowledge of other markets. 

More immersive content

The evolution of technology has improved online content. Business Schools can offer compelling material that is easier to deliver at scale online than in a classroom. For instance, Vlerick’s online MBA offers an online primer known as the finance and accounting simulation tool (FAST), a computer simulation game designed to immerse students in a virtual business world, learning about balance sheets, cash flow and profit-and-loss statements. While this was available offline prior to the creation of the online MBA, as a virtual game, it has become much more engaging and interactive. 

The digital design of materials creates a more immersive experience that is not available in a classroom. Virtual delivery brings tools to life, giving students more realistic scenarios and equipping them for projects in the real world.

Not only does delivering content online make it more realistic, but Schools can also be more creative in its design. Returning to the FAST example, this was originally a board game transformed into a single-player online game where students ‘work’ for a yacht company, gaining investment and growing the business. Delivering this online allowed us to produce interactive videos of Professors at an actual yachting harbour, to simulate the business environment online. This would not be as realistic or creative if delivered in a classroom. 

When such tools are delivered online, they can also be made more consistent and responsive too. Due to algorithms built into these simulations, Professors are able to give students immediate feedback on their performance, which, of course, would be impossible for a single Professor teaching a large class of students face to face. This feedback is also always consistent, and to the best standard possible, due to it being built in at the game’s creation. 

Addressing the downsides

One of the criticisms of fully online courses is that they do not facilitate proper and regular student interaction (with one another or faculty) meaning that candidates do not get to benefit from the expertise of their peers or teachers in the same way that on-campus students do. However, there are various ways to combat this.

When creating an online MBA, Business Schools must emphasise the importance of social learning and networking, to ensure that students really get to know one another, without necessarily having to meet in person. This can be done by developing teamwork modules that require students to interact and work with each other on a personal level.

It is also important, however, to encourage students to interact outside of actual work modules. One way in which we have done this at Vlerick is through our online learning environment, which is also available via a mobile app. This not only includes information about the programme, assignments and modules, but also has a messaging service and a profile page which students have to fill out in the induction phase. This is a great way for students to get to know each other in a new professional manner.  

Outside of the scheduled synchronous sessions, which are run in the morning or afternoon to accommodate students in different time zones, the online learning environment also serves as a service for students and faculty to communicate at any point. There are no set working hours for faculty, and they are encouraged to be as flexible as possible. Making the online learning environment available through the mobile app allows them to interact with students at any time and from any location.  

Benefits for Business Schools

Many of the benefits of the online MBA for students are equally advantageous to Schools. 

The flexibility and convenience of online programmes are huge positive for Professors, minimising, or even eradicating, their classroom teaching. They can be based anywhere in the world, yet are still able to interact with students and deliver modules at a time that suits them, in keeping with the course schedule of the synchronous sessions. 

Business Schools are able to attract a greater number of students to online courses, and cohorts are more international and diverse, often representing a wider range of industries, cultures and roles. This diversification can be very helpful to Business Schools.

Finally, offering an online MBA boosts the brand of the School significantly. Schools that currently deliver these courses immediately stand out as market leaders in this field, reaching out to a larger audience of students around the world. This is great way of promoting your Business School brand in diverse and untapped markets that were previously unreachable. 

Steve Muylle is the Academic Director of the Online MBA and a Full Professor and Partner at Vlerick Business School.

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The evolution of the MBA

Change must permeate every element of a Business School, from overall focus to teaching methods and content, writes Ivo Matser

The MBA is an interesting phenomenon. On the one hand, the ‘MBA’ title is a brand, and one that is sometimes stronger than the institution or Business School delivering it. The word has an identity, even without the brand of the School. This identity has the flavour of success, high income, profitability and business careers. On the other hand, there are issues with MBAs. There is criticism regarding the learning provided and target audience, and MBAs can be perceived as not being sustainable or too short-term focused.

I don’t think that the MBA is suffering from an identity crisis, but the brand has less cachet than it did in the past. The influence of accreditations and rankings in the development of MBAs is substantial. Some say that these measures force MBA programmes into the ‘middle’ and make it difficult for individual programmes to be distinctive. I am not sure this is true and it seems too easy to make this claim. 

There have been positive developments in the MBA market, despite the critics. For example, they have become more interdisciplinary and greater attention is given to leadership development. 

This means that programmes are moving from business education to management education, and that decision-making processes are becoming more important. In addition, Business Schools have developed more subjects related to sustainability, stakeholder management and ethics. 

The main accreditation bodies, such as AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB, have also developed sustainability criteria. And, recently, there were discussions about rankings and how to integrate sustainability into the assessment of MBA programmes. The Financial Times ranking, for instance, has announced changes to its criteria and a desire to move away from a strong focus on alumni salaries and salary increases. 

Due to internal and external pressures, I think that MBA programmes and the systems around them are moving in the right direction. This will help to create a more positive attitude towards the MBA degree once more.

The need for change

Management education and the world of management is in flux. Technological developments will create new industries, new business models and totally different logics and cross-industry value chains. Technological innovations are the key to sustainable development and a ‘better’ world. 

There are also trends that take the human factor more into consideration. For example, inclusive capitalism is an important movement for engaging leaders across business, civil sectors and governments, and encouraging investment in ways which see more people benefit from the economic system. 

A third dimension is that MBA students are expecting an experience that goes beyond their career development. Added to this is the importance attached to international mobility, having a variety of experiences, and greater responsibility and transparency in business. 

Looking at the MBA industry itself, there is evidence of a slightly growing market, but this is not a stable situation; competition is intensifying, the world’s top Business Schools are recognising decreases in their market shares and there are new international entrants from countries such as China. 

There is a need for substantial innovation in both business and society, and it is urgent – not only from the perspective of climate change, but also due to the growing dissatisfaction of a large number of people, which can lead to radical political ideas that are mainly anti-establishment.

Are we ready to educate current and future leaders to face these problems and manage these complex factors? I fear not. Although we see a number of positive developments, those are changes within the system. To face today’s problems and manage organisations into a future of prosperity and to create a better world, we need systemic change. Instead of thinking about changes within the system, we have to think about addressing the system itself, and effecting a much more fundamental change. 

Innovation, change, diversity and inclusion 

Innovation is a key driver because it is the only way to find better solutions. This is the case for technical, social and system innovations. Innovation means change, which implies that managing change should be a core competence for managers. 

There is too much resistance to change and attitudes need to shift. Change has to be seen as ‘business as usual’ and managing change as a context of stability. Stability and feeling secure should be related to change and development. Instability and feeling unsafe should be related to a standstill. This is the opposite of what we experience now. To make innovation successful, we need to adopt this new attitude towards change. 

Diversity is another key driver and is required for innovation. To create critical thinking in programmes, and to support and make use of creativity, we need diversity: diversity of people, situations and contexts. We cannot solve problems for the future with solutions from the past. We have to mobilise and appreciate our differences. 

The last key driver is inclusion. For real impact to come from innovation, inclusion is needed. It is impossible to make big steps in the ecosystem and the economic system in a fragmented world and to separate different worlds of decision makers. 

What to change

MBA programmes need to factor in these changes and requirements. If Business Schools adopt their responsibilities and exploit the opportunity to differentiate their offer, they can have a positive impact. 

The bravest and most entrepreneurial Schools will move from the ‘red ocean’ to the new ‘blue ocean’ (from traditional competition-based strategies to those that shift the focus to value innovation as a means of unlocking new demand and growth opportunities). But, what changes are needed in the context of the MBA, its stakeholders and peer groups, leadership development, and around the concept of didactic learning?

The MBA and the context: Much MBA content remains linked to traditional  technocratic management styles, and takes an almost mechanical approach to fixing and controlling things. Control may be possible in a world without significant change but this is no longer the case, and business forecasting is becoming increasingly challenging. 

Nevertheless, this mentality still influences many subjects in MBA programmes. It means change, unpredictability, complexity and uncertainty are treated as undesirable and assumptions are made to try to exclude these issues. The opposite approach is needed. 

We need to embrace uncertainty and change, because this is the only way to enable real and relevant innovation. Innovations will never arise from spreadsheets, SWOT analyses, control systems or hierarchy. There is a myriad of modules about change management and innovation, but these are not enough; uncertainty and change should be tackled within all subjects, because it is a part of all business functions. 

The MBA and society: Businesses operate within society and the innovations they need will therefore impact on society. Again, from the technological, social and system perspectives, this means that corporations should not innovate from an isolated position. The same should be the case in MBA programmes. 

For example, technology, history and culture should be included, and I cannot imagine educating managers without factoring in the context of digitisation, smart cities, the circular economy, AI and inclusive capitalism. If these major issues are included in management education, it means that we include society in MBA programmes, and standalone sessions on sustainability will become unnecessary. Perhaps that is the key question: how can we design management education to make ethics and sustainability unnecessary? 

The MBA and leadership: MBA programmes place an increasing focus on leadership development, with skills in communication, negotiation and how to motivate people acquired through training. For me, it makes little sense to teach leadership; it is behaviour supported by insights about leadership.  

More innovative Schools also use neuroscience when it comes to leadership development, and this is a trend to support. Rational dilemmas from ‘business modules’ should also be included around the behavioural part of leadership development. 

Ethical issues, or long- and short-term decision making, should be included in the behavioural side of leadership development. The idea that the path to a sustainable future is made up of ethically correct decisions and a focus only on long-term decisions is purely theory. The road towards a sustainable future will involve many ethical decisions relating to both the long and short term. It will be a road of personal growth as a reflective practitioner. This is another reason to include more ethics and sustainability in the capillaries of programmes. This requires a major redesign.

MBA diversity and inclusion: As well as covering societal and technological considerations and technology within MBA  curricula, people must also be included. Diversity in student groups or peer groups will accelerate the process of bringing society into the classroom, or virtual classroom. This diversity will also aid leadership development and help students to address management dilemmas. Appreciating and embracing difference is also a case of ‘practising what you preach’. 

The MBA and learning: most Schools will have their own views on leadership and how to ‘teach’ it. Globally, there is a move away from ‘ego leadership’ to more supportive and coaching styles. This is also consistent with the need for sustainable development and a human approach to business and society.  

Didactic methods of imparting knowledge have the same dimensions. When we go from exploitation (control and certainty) to exploration (entrepreneurship and uncertainty) we have to go from teaching to learning. There is a need to shift the focus onto how people learn and away from ‘how to teach’, and this means the role of lecturers will gradually change. 

Lecturers will become professional experts acting as mentors. They will mentor students and integrate business practice and science. Lecturers will no longer have to teach the commodities, and the digitisation of Business Schools and the MBA will be helpful here. 

We will also have to be prudent with case studies; usually these bring in the past and, while this can be useful, students contributing their own challenges may add more value to the learning process. 

Opportunities

The path of change in the business of MBAs will encounter resistance. Many people might think that this evolution is impossible, for a variety of reasons. Some of these may be true, but most will be based on yesterday’s logic. 

Digitisation will be important and the business education sector has to move forward on this. There are many positives: digitisation will bring greater flexibility for students, increase efficiency and make commodities less costly. It will also have a positive influence on quality; there will be more tailored programmes, more space for lecturers’ expertise, and more room for them to act as professional mentors. Administration will also be more efficient. MBAs will be delivered in blended formats. Even residence-based MBAs will be about 50% online. This gives MBA programmes the opportunity to be better and more affordable, and to encourage more people to access this learning resource. 

Changes to the MBA are needed and  should be fundamental; that is the good news. We are moving into an era in which we will see new ways for Business Schools to differentiate themselves and offer attractive learning programmes. I do not think there is much to decide: the choice is to either move towards smart cities, the circular economy and inclusive capitalism, or simply disappear. 

Ivo Matser is President at GISMA Business School. He is an economist, leadership specialist and certified Expert Marketing Professional.