The Application Process

Businessbecause.com recently published their annual predictions in business school education from some of the top business school deans around the world. Their predictions touched on topics from technology to globalization. For example in regards to the proliferation of technology in and out of the classroom, Dean Alison Davis-Blake of the University Of Michigan Ross School of Business noted that "we will continue to see every single player using technology expensively and intensively in some way." However, she isn't as bullish on the idea that technology will completely replace the traditional classroom based instruction in most business schools noting, "I think we'll see more changes [made] by bringing technology into the classrooms that we have, rather than new online degrees." Now obviously Dean Blake might be a little biased in this assessment because a move towards online degrees could hurt the traditional business schools, but given the current state of online education, investments in the classroom would pay off more for students than investments in online degrees.
A different view was offered up by Ivan Bofarull who is the director of the Global Intelligence Office at ESADE Business School in Spain. He believes business school education is going towards more of a hybrid model of learning. "All-you-can-learn' digital offerings will coexist with highly-customized, sophisticated, residential course deliveries. MIT's MicroMasters or Arizona State University's Global Freshman Academy, which allow some credit transfer between MOOCs and residential degrees, are only the beginning," said Mr. Bofarull. While it is an interesting idea to allow classes taken in a MOOC to count towards a degree, and will certainly keep costs lower for students, there are some risks that should be considered. First, compared to undergraduate school, there is a greater focus on employability in business school. Will the Citibanks, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgans of the world accept the idea that their incoming employees took finance classes online versus traditional learning methods? Also, if a school is to open the door to MOOC credit transferability, it will be hard to justify limiting it. For example, if a school says a finance class can be transferred over, then why not an accounting class, a marketing class and an economics class. Pretty soon students will expect to be able to transfer over their entire core curriculum from a MOOC, which could drastically impact revenue at business schools.
One last prediction worth nothing comes from Andrea Masini, dean of the HEC Business School in Paris talking about the differences in personalized education versus more standardized education. "What we observe is a clear distinction between business schools that target a large number of customers and an elite school like ours that provides a premium service. Customization and proximity [between faculty and] the participants are fundamental," Mr. Masini said. Given this view, we could assume that Mr. Masini would not be a fan of online education and wants to market his school as a "premium" offering that can create customized programs in the classroom. So while there is no consensus on the future of online learning, we can be sure it is front of mind for business school leaders.