In early 2020, the pandemic crippled almost the entire world. This “unexpected force majeure” has sparked a new orbit for the digital revolution. Overnight, schools and other educational institutes were forced to switch to a completely virtual mode of learning and empowerment. Until then, such modes of instructional design constituted a very small percentage of the pedagogy deployed mainly in classrooms.

The higher education (HE) ecosystem around the world has gone through a tumultuous churn, resulting in a significant transformation of learning and teaching spaces. This phenomenon has accelerated due to three factors: increased availability of digital platforms heavily engaged in virtual space; experimentation (no-choice situation) in a virtual learning space by various leading institutions in India and around the world; both of the above factors resulted in increased speed due to “age / generation related” demographic changes.

Arising from the above turn of events, the disruption also affected the plans of many young professionals, who intended to pursue an MBA from a B school in India / overseas. Many MBA aspirants have faced ambiguity and uncertainty. The relentless push towards digital disruption in the learning and teaching space has further heightened the need for an urgent review of the structure, pedagogy, assessment and results of various higher education programs. , including the MBA.

The above momentum has brought to light the urgent need to visualize the architecture and prioritization of skills / competencies for MBA graduates that will enable them to meet the challenge of today and the day after tomorrow.

B schools therefore waste no time restructuring, realigning themselves and better adapting to the pace and scale of change. Curriculum revisions occur more often to reflect the current and emerging world.

In a broader and deeper sense, B schools ask deeper questions: what is the purpose of business education, what should an MBA graduate be able to do, and what are the ecosystem boundaries within which MBA education should be anchored.

In this way, B schools and associated stakeholders (industry, regulators, alumni) attempt to change the fundamental perspectives of MBA training, where would the products of such training be valued, how an MBA graduate should- it behave, perform, adapt, and contribute, in the new normal. Four trends are captured below:

Growing demand for MBAs integrated with STEM

We are seeing an increase in demand for students or lateral hires, who are tech-savvy, supportive of innovation, and agile in thought, behavior and action. It is expected that there will be more enrollments in the technology integrated MBA specializations, such as management science, business analysis, statistics and product management, and product analysis. people. As a result, an increasing number of B schools are developing more curricula and including admission numbers to meet the needs of these students.

Focus on blended learning

Virtual education platforms have increasingly made or are making their inroads into the higher education system. These platforms are not limited to supplementing and supplementing classroom teaching, they become independent platforms, able to meet synchronous and asynchronous learning needs.

Policymakers and many HEIs in India have seen the wisdom and merit of allowing their students to take the basic theory courses in an online mode, which has a salutary effect in reducing the overall cost of transmitting information. such an education.

Increasingly, meaningful technological, innovative and hybrid learning solutions are being integrated and implemented in institutes in India. Regulators and other stakeholders seem to have understood that a well-designed hybrid solution has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of learning, which in turn could close and narrow the yawning gap between supply and the demand for good teachers.

Updated course program

B schools in India and around the world are restructuring their curricula to take into account the changes in their learning systems, triggered by the growing ubiquity of digital technologies and the challenges of the pandemic.

In recent research reports, it is estimated that, on average, students retain 25-60% more learning, compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. This could be because the student is able to learn faster online. Online learning methods are estimated to result in a 40-60% reduction in student time consumption relative to the classroom. This is attributed to the “flexibility” of the “learning speed rate” which can be chosen by different students.

Focus on data / research:

Big data, business research and analytics have become vital skills or competencies for MBA students to develop, regardless of their specialization.

Most of the grandes écoles B have included it as an essential part of the study program. Companies in all industries are increasingly collecting big data about their customers, consumers, competition and supply chains. This data needs to be cleaned, stratified and tested with the rigor of assumptions so that huge data emerges as valuable information for decision making. Data is no longer at the center of our concerns. It is what the MBA student does with the data that is most important and this is reflected in the curriculum of many business schools.

After the pandemic, it became crucial for B schools to instill in their students a deeper understanding of global socio-economic developments, to integrate with relevant technologies and to rely on innovation tools. B schools should also stress, through curriculum design, the importance of entrepreneurial skills with relevant practical assignments.

Finally, one thing is certain, in the new evolutionary scenario, MBA students are more in demand than ever. Are B schools listening?

(Uday Salunkhe is Group Director, Welingkar’s Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool) of SP Mandali, and Vijayan Pankajakshan is Dean – HR, Director of Human Resources and Head of Career Management Unit, WeSchool.)