AMBA’s Deans & Directors Conference 2014 – The core of the MBA remains face-to-face
From 28 to 30 April MsM Dean Director Professor Wim Naudé attended the Association of MBA’s International Conference for Deans and Directors. The conference, which took place in Paris, had the highest ever attendance, attracting over 250 delegates from 127 business schools in 47 countries. Under the banner ‘MBA Education – Views from the Top’, the conference discussed the challenges and opportunities business school Deans and MBA Directors face in MBA Education in 2014/2015 and onwards.
The Association of MBA’s (AMBA) is the international impartial authority on postgraduate business education and the only global MBA-specific Accrediting body. Established in 1967, it sets the global standard for accrediting MBA, DBA and MBM programs. The Association currently accredits programs in 215 schools in 70 countries worldwide.
MsM is one of these less than 2% business schools in the world with an AMBA accreditation. MsM degree programs accredited by AMBA are the full-time MBA program conducted in Maastricht, the Executive MBA program, all MBA programs conducted abroad, the DBA program in Maastricht and abroad, and the Master of Management in Education.
During the conference speakers from the leading business schools around the world, as well as senior representatives from companies such as Google, Apple and Infosys and researchers from GMAC and ETS discussed the current and future trends in MBA education and business.
The MBA business education trends for 2015 and onwards will revolve around:
1. Global partnerships between schools
2. Further differentiation in the design of the MBA programs
3. The rise of MBA programs in emerging and developing countries (“Learn business where business is being done”)
4. The rise of online learning
5. Further integration of entrepreneurship and sustainability elements into the MBA curriculum
6. Experiential learning
7. Design thinking.
The rise of online and ‘lifestyle’ learning is rapidly becoming a must-have option for business schools and the next generation of MBAs, who will be internationally mobile, will want to experience business on a global scale, with access to the best lecturers and opportunities. The business school of the future will be highly impacted by online attitudes of a new generation of learners and innovation.
“Despite the rise of online learning, the face-to-face element still remains the strongest part of the MBA learning experience”, said the Association of MBA’s Chief Executive, Andrew Main Wilson, reiterating the words of Nick Leeder, Managing Director of Google France, who revealed that even Google prefers face-to-face interaction, using video-conferencing and other technology as a communication tool only when physical contact is not possible. Nevertheless, Leeder reminded the business school audience of the importance of the world’s largest network and the benefits of utilising breakthrough technology: “If the Internet were a country, it would be 5th in the world’s GDP rankings, ahead of Germany and France.”
Source: Association of MBA’s, read the full press release here.
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Master of Management in Education program accredited by AMBA
