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your turn by Norean R. Sharpe Staying Focused on Student Learning MANY BUSINESS school leaders carefully plot strate- gies for moving their schools up in the rankings of publi- cations such as Bloomberg Businessweek, U.S. News & World Report, and the Financial Times. While I realize that it's not feasible for business schools to ignore the rankings, I strongly believe that no school should review or revise its program with the sole aim of earning a better spot on the media lists. Schools that increase applicants, shrink programs, or emulate other institutions—instead of focusing on their own visions—are unlikely to make sustainable progress. At the McDonough School of Business at George- town University, we have recently implemented strategic initiatives aimed at improving the overall educational experience. We added new features to our curriculum, such as a first-year seminar titled "Inter- national Business, Public Policy, and Society" and an experiential Entrepreneurship Fellows Program. We developed new electives and designed interdisciplinary tracks in international business. We collaborated with our career center to strengthen student recruitment. We expanded global opportunities and built new partnerships with both non- and for-profit companies. We also expanded our alumni mentor and peer advising programs. Each one of these components required difficult negotiations, com- promises, and decisions that weighed benefits against resources and risks. The result of these changes was increased positive feedback from students, faculty, and alumni, and a realization that all programs need to practice continuous improvement. Any positive outcomes we have realized—such as an increase in visibility, reputation, and rankings—were byproducts of collaborations between faculty and staff on the cur- ricular issues that faced our undergraduate program. It can take a considerable readjustment for a school to set its sights on meaningful curricular change instead of focusing on the surface improvements that might improve its standings in the rankings. But for schools that are considering real improvements, here are some strategies that we found to be effective: Benchmarking peer institutions. We realized that if our program was facing challenges, other institutions would be wrestling with similar decisions. We identi- fied peer institutions, then studied their strengths. This helped us avoid making the same mistakes, discover best practices, and stay current in our curricular and co-curricular programs. I spent days making site visits to other business schools, and found my colleagues to be generous with their time as we dis- cussed broad issues. Which advising structure did they find most effective? What non-traditional global programs were the most successful? Did they include social entrepreneurship and sustainability in their curriculum? What were the greatest challenges in raising resources? Even with the preva- lence of social media today, I find per- sonal communication is important for making connections and understanding the consequences of change. I'm convinced that schools will only improve in a meaningful way if they put students, not rankings, at the heart of every program design. 72 September/October 2011 BizEd Prioritizing and being strategic. Most deans and program directors have wish lists of goals or targets for their programs. Clearly not everything can be accomplished, so balancing the short-term and long-term objectives becomes essential. It's also important to get input from students, faculty, alumni, boards of advisors, and the Parents Advisory Council (PAC) to rank priorities.