MBA Trends for 2018

"We had a ranking a few years ago where we were in the top 10 European business schools for the most female population. It's certain that you have more women looking at taking MBA programs," says Craen.

EU Business School has seen its numbers go from three women in a class of 30 a decade ago to having an equal gender split today.

Craen reports that classes are more ethnically diverse too; a much needed change.

In fact, a 2015 McKinsey study found that companies' financial performance seemed to improve with more women leading alongside men - 15% better than the industry median. The most ethnically diverse companies did even better, outperforming the industry median by around 35%. Craen asserts that, preserving and improving diversity in the MBA classroom is therefore crucial for 2018 and beyond. 

"The entire vision of delivering an MBA program has totally changed," says Craen. Educational technology has been a big part of the transformation. Much, if not all of an MBA course can be uploaded online now. This includes the course materials, but also seminars, projects and tasks. Lectures can be watched and replayed - there's no longer a need to copy a classmate's notes. Gamification is also playing a more prominent part in education. Students can engage with business simulations, where each student plays a role in running a company for example, making learning increasingly interactive, but also more effective.

All this means that textbooks in the classroom are becoming a thing of the past. In class, professors and coaches dedicate quality time to their students, allowing students to become actors rather than passive learners.

"The entire theory of 'flip the classroom'...if you look at the pyramid. The two foundations are acquiring knowledge and acquiring theory. The foundation of the pyramid will be done outside of the classroom, through webinars, through side courses, through readings, and the MBA student needs to be prepared to come into the classroom. Then you have the top of the pyramid where the faculty member facilitates the discussion. This is the way education will be done in the future," explains Craen.

"People are behind their tablets more, behind their technologies, talking on WhatsApp rather than talking face to face," says Craen. Training in soft skills, such as negotiation, leadership, teamwork and problem solving therefore remains a top priority for business schools.

Back in 2015 researchers even tried to assign a monetary value to soft skills. They concluded that they were worth £88 billion (c. US$134 billion) to the UK economy each year.

"Students are really tech savvy, and this is important, but they still definitely need those soft skills, because any business until now has involved a human being. There is always a human, or a board, that takes the decision."   

"When students wanted to do an MBA in the past, their goal was to work in Wall Street, or in the City. This trend is slightly changed," explains Craen.

Motivated in part by wanting a better work-life balance, an increasing number of millennials are migrating from positions in the financial sector, including investment banking, fund management and insurance, to technology firms such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon.

“People today are more ‘intrapreneurial’ as well”, says Craen. "MBA hires want to think outside the box and launch their own in-company projects. Companies where everybody did exactly what the boss said are old hat."

This article is sponsored by EU Business School