Due to the rapid changes happening in business education, a legitimate question arises: what is it that they are even learning nowadays?
What has changed in business education
HBR reports that the business education industry now involves far more players than before. The US alone has almost five hundred schools offering MBA programs. It’s not surprising, either: an MBA degree opens many useful doors for students, such as a much higher salary, vast networking opportunities and contact with potential employers.
On the other hand, MBA programs themselves are undergoing drastic changes. For instance, they are getting shorter – even at the best business schools. The students now don’t spend as much time in the classroom as they used to: they have a lot of events, projects, visits, excursions and so on. Of course, a hand-on experience is much needed for future professionals, but there are concerns that without time spent studying these MBAs won’t be able to solve a business case or understand financial documents.
Not only curriculums, but also the methods of teaching business administration haven’t stayed the same. Business schools nowadays are much more about research than about experience – many classes are taught by PhD degree holders who don’t have any real experience of dealing with business cases or managing a company.
Hence, it may be said that MBA programs have lost some of their quality. This opinion is backed by professors who claim that students of today wouldn’t pass the same exams given to their predecessors twenty years ago. Students don’t strive for knowledge, but only for higher grades. For teachers, better evaluations are becoming more important than their actual job.
How can the loss in quality be amended?
Taking all the statements mentioned above into consideration, it’s possible to offer a solution to the problem of the slipping quality of MBA programs: business school graduates have to pass special competency tests.
It’s nothing new, actually: many graduates, such as future doctors and lawyers have to pass additional examinations after school to prove they are ready to practice. Tests and examinations have a double purpose: to protect students by making sure that the school didn’t cheat them out of education, and to protect the future employers and clients of the graduates from lack of professionalism.
So, why not make the business school graduates pass a similar test? It could include the basics of finance, accounting, data analysis and statistics, marketing, entrepreneurship and such like.
Similarly, it would be better if teachers also passed experience tests. Professors who just got their PhD are usually not experienced enough to actually teach their students something. The best teaching results are delivered by people who had a real working experience in governmental and non-profit organizations and companies.
Thus, business schools should actually vote for experience exams and competency tests, as it’s in their best interest.
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