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cate Oxford and Cambridge across the country. We'll have to have different kinds of institutions that will run courses that are relevant and appealing to a range of people who until now have not considered going into higher education. Consequently, our idea of the nature of work and educat- isn't really of great value and in the end will be seen by the out- side world as not being of great value. So the safeguards and guarantees that go with the course are very important. ing for work ought to change, too. These individuals who typically have not been interested in higher education will not only demand a wider spectrum of course offerings, but they may also choose to utilize their skills in ways that have not usually been considered "real" work. We have traditionally viewed paid employment as the only form of work, but that is simply not a true characterization. There is an enormous amount of work that goes on in society for which no one gets paid. A lot of voluntary activities that we don't think of as work are just as valuable to society, and we need to take that into account when we talk about vocational study. When workers are paid, you have a certain degree of control over their performance. The possibility of losing, or increasing, their pay motivates them to action. But if the people you're working with are volunteers, then you have to use a complete- ly different management approach. Colleges and universities must consider how to educate people for that type of work. What do you predict for online education? There's no question at all that it will develop and grow, and it will be important. It already is. At Aston, we have a distance learning MBA. I think the lesson we've learned is that it is not easy to succeed as an isolated individual sitting at the other end of a computer terminal. I really don't believe that learn- ing is a solitary occupation. The great majority of us need the support of other people who are in the same learning situa- tion. Students in online courses don't necessarily have to go to the institution that is issuing the course, but they must be encouraged to meet among themselves. At Aston, for exam- ple, if we have a number of people in an area taking a distance learning course, we encourage them to meet as a group in their own way so that they can discuss the issues. They can then return to the computer and feed questions back to those teaching them. Equally important is this chance to communi- cate with the people who are initiating the course, so that the students are not just out there on their own. I think, too, that one has to be cautious about reputation. When an institution offers a distance learning course, its repu- tation is attached to that course. So you have got to be very thorough about how you select students, about how you pro- vide them with the course material, and about the standards that result. This is the kind of world in which, I'm afraid, there will be smart operators who will be offering something that What characteristics of your own education have proven most valuable to you over the years? I studied economics at Cambridge, and I remember my early essays were full of ideas and theories. Over the course of study, I really learned how to analyze issues carefully. I learned to think more rigorously about the way economic structures work and not to exclude the human side. Instead of jumping to conclusions, I learned to think through the cause and effect of situations and to consider carefully how each came about. Have you discovered any significant changes in man- agement students over the years? One of the things I've noticed is that today's students are far more concerned about the impact of business on society and the environment than was true in my day. There have been concerns in the U.S. over child labor when people outsource their production. Outsourcing is a perfectly sensible thing to do; but what sort of responsibility do organizations have over wage levels, health and safety levels, and working age mini- mums in these businesses to which they outsource? When I speak to MBA students, many of the questions I get are about such issues. Students are much more aware of social and environmental concerns and the work that's going on to address them, like the model corporate code of envi- ronmental conduct known as the CERES Principles. These issues are real and do engage the attention of students, and that is something that should be encouraged. There is also a second angle, however. This growing con- cern about the social responsibility of business means that people increasingly want to work for organizations with good reputations. One of the arguments for companies to take social responsibility seriously is that if they don't, then they won't get the best people to come work for them. In addition, there is quite a move toward ethical investment funds or socially responsible investing. Many individuals invest for their retirement, and they are concerned about the type of world they're going to be retiring into. Also, the large institu- tional investors like TIAA-CREF must reflect the views of their subscribers. As a result, more companies are going to have to report not just on their financial results, but also on their envi- ronmental and social impact. Those of us who are educating managers must appreciate this point as well. ■ z Christy Chapman, based in Winter Garden, Florida, is a free-lance writer. BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2002 25