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GABRIEL HAWAWINI INSEAD Fontainebleau, France Business Administration & Graduate School of Management at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, makes two recommendations. One, he says, is to "get our own faculty to engage in a lifelong learning process. Too many feel that because they have a Ph.D., there is nothing to learn; and if there is, they can't learn it from anyone who does not have a Ph.D." Stevens' second suggestion is to make business schools George E. Stevens, dean of the College of respect the power of the "for-profit educational institutions that cater to the needs of working adult learners, while we offer higher education on our own terms in the same old traditional way. These for-profits are more sophisticated than many of our traditional colleges and universities realize." In fact, the whole university structure may require rethink- INSEAD'S UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO maintaining its status as one of the best interna- tional business schools in the world has resulted in alliances with schools across the globe, development of integrated campuses in France and Singapore, and invest- ment in state-of-the-art technology. "In addition," says Gabriel Hawawini, "our multicultural diversity ensures that no one nationality, style, or dogma dominates, either in faculty or students, resulting in a unique global manage- ment learning environment." The far-flung campuses of INSEAD are tied together ing, suggests Ara G. Volkan, chair of the Department of Accounting/Finance at Richards College of Business, State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, Georgia. He asks, "Are we, as teachers, ready to use the production processes—teach- ing content, teaching style, and student skill development— that result in the product, our graduates, desired by our cus- tomers, their employers?" Schools must take students out of traditional educational models and place them into experiential educational settings, says dean V.V. Baba of McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Business in Hamilton, Ontario. In addi- tion, they must make "management relevant." He says, with high-powered telecommunications links and high- speed data connections that enable real-time video confer- encing, IT, and Web links. "One professor can deliver a course to audiences on both campuses with live interaction from both sides," says Hawawini. "In this way, technology has extended our standard teaching practices and provid- ed wider access to knowledge. However, we believe in a balance. These technological tools will never, in our view, replace the need for face-to-face interaction in problem- solving and learning." It's not just distance learning and global perspectives that have changed business schools in the past 20 years, "OUR MULTICULTURAL DIVERSITY ENSURES THAT NO ONE NATIONALITY, STYLE, OR DOGMA DOMINATES, EITHER IN FACULTY OR STUDENTS, RESULTING IN A UNIQUE GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LEARNING ENVIRONMENT." "While we all understand the importance of management, we have difficulty defining it and developing a program of edu- cation and training that adds tangible and demonstrable value." subjects like finance, accounting, and operations are taught "without any thought to how they relate to management," the dean says. "Medical schools pay more attention to integrating the various subjects than management schools do." Notwithstanding all these caveats, most deans are upbeat Course integration is also essential, Baba continues. Core about the future of business schools and their ability to attract top students. As Stanford's Joss observes, "We really have all the great advantages—vs. other professional schools—because businesses are the most intellectually exciting and merit-based institutions in society today." s z Hawawini notes. "In the early '70s, business education was very much about techniques, classical theory, things. It was—and had to be—very, very academic, because it was a time when business schools were looking for legitima- cy as academic institutions. Today, the legitimacy of business school is established and recognized, and the remit of what constitutes good business practice is much broader. "I think the standard definition of business school as a place that you go to take courses is dying. In my view, it's about creating a global knowledge and learning network that combines people, places, and technology for a life- time. We'd be the first at INSEAD to say that this is easier said than done. But I believe we're on the right track!" BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 23