Search

This case study was undertaken in a London-based business school and explores the cross-cultural challenges faced by students who have relocated from India to the UK for one-year postgraduate (PG) business master's courses. Primary data were collected in two stages: semi-structured interviews, followed by a survey. The paper draws on the literature related to socio-cultural theory. It then reviews the findings of the research as to the cultural challenges the students have faced in the UK, whether in their studies, or their wider social lives. Finally, it integrates these findings into the extant literature and proposes a set of recommendations for consideration by the business school. Some of these may also have relevance for other Higher Education (HE) institutions working with Indian students.

This paper offers an exploration of success mindsets and one example of how these may be used as an intervention to impact student success in both their personal and professional lives. Gottfredson's Success Mindsets concept is used as the intervention. These success mindsets combine four sets of mindsets associated with positive outcomes: fixed/growth, closed/open, prevention/promotion, and inward/outward mindsets, and are identified as key factors in unlocking greater success in life, work, and leadership. Previous research supports individuals' ability to change their mindset through conscious effort and specific interventions. This classroom intervention introduced success mindsets to first-year business students and consisted of one learning module that included pre-course activities and a class discussion. The implementation focused on creating a culture that supports growth mindsets, encourages self-reflection, promotes innovative thinking, and de-emphasizes grades as the sole measure of success. The class discussion covered students' reactions to the learning material and highlighted the positive impact on student engagement, interaction, and retention. With a small intervention on success mindsets, it may be possible to empower students to develop these success mindsets and foster enhanced growth and achievement.

This study draws on the perceptions of students who have completed authentic project-based and work-integrated assessments and explores their perception of authenticity of the assessments in terms of real work projects. In response to industry and government expectations for work-ready graduates three authentic assessments, were developed in collaboration with industry partners, covering different business program subjects. Drawing on the literature, a three-dimensional framework for authentic assessment in workplace learning was developed. These dimensions -- realism, producing an authentic product, and workplace-based judgment criteria -- formed the basis for thematic analysis of students' perceptions. A case study approach was used with three authentic assessment cases. Qualitative data was gathered via focus groups and surveys guided by the three-dimensional framework. Findings suggest that factors such as social environments created by engaging with industry, realistic tasks that replicated industry activities, and working in teams contributed to the perception of an authentic project-based and work-integrated assessment.

The research objectives were (1) to study the factors affecting the development of hope of college freshman students in Guangxi International Business Vocational College. (2) to develop curriculum based on the happiness theory. (3) to compare the hopes of college freshman students before and after learning by curriculum based on the happiness theory. With a carefully selected sample of 35 students from the first-year Thai class at Guangxi International Business Vocational College, researchers conducted a thorough analysis of various factors affecting students' hope. A range of research tools was utilized, including (1) a questionnaire about the factors affecting the development of hope level. (2) interview form about influencing factors of hope level. (3) lesson plans. (4) the Hope Scale. (5) observation form about student behavior. (6) interview form about opinions on teaching. This study was conducted in 3 steps: (1) study the factors affecting the development of hope. (2) develop curriculum based on the happiness theory. (3) experiment and improvement of curriculum model. The results of the study showed that: (1) factors that affect the development of college students' hopes include personal factors and environmental factors. Personal factors are related to goals thinking, pathways thinking and agency thinking, and environmental factors include family, school, and society. (2) The curriculum based on happiness theory includes 6 elements: principle, goal, contents, and time, learning process, learning resource, and Evaluation. The learning process in the curriculum includes 4 processes: positive emotion, engagement, relationship, meaning, accomplishment, and present. (3) students' hope is improved after the implementation of the curriculum based on happiness theory. This change was statistically significant, especially at the level of 0.1.

Attracting prospective students could be difficult and expensive. Candidates, when choosing a future school for their studies, consider a great number of factors. Information from official university websites does not suffice to persuade. Word of mouth plays a significant role, among others. The aim of this paper is to present findings about important factors influencing the overall satisfaction of current students with university life as well as their willingness to share positive references. The study took place in the Czech Republic with students attending business schools at universities. Primary data was collected via an online questionnaire with students with bachelor's, master's, and doctorate degrees (n = 274) and in-depth interviews (n = 10). Data was processed with regression analysis and Spearman's correlation coefficient. The main findings suggest that there is a close positive correlation between students' satisfaction and the willingness to recommend the university. The quality of student life and the reputation of the school were identified as the most important factors influencing this satisfaction and willingness to recommend.

It is asserted that task-based instruction improves the environment and makes it easier to teach English. Due to this, many EF language teachers and syllabus developers have recently turned their attention to task-based language education. With a focus on Business English instruction in Moroccan universities, this study examined ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teaching within the paradigm of task-based language teaching. For that purpose, information from a total of 234 students and 21 teachers was gathered using questionnaires. First, questionnaires were created to gather learners' opinions on the impact of the given assignments on their language development, learning processes, and skill acquisition. This study also tried to investigate how instructors felt about using a task-based approach in ESP classes. The findings indicate that both students and instructors have positive opinions and attitudes concerning (TBLT).They believed that the inclusion of this method, specifically ESP, in language instruction creates favorable teaching and learning conditions because it engages students in tasks that are pertinent to their academic and professional needs. As a result, it is advised to use a task-based approach over an extended length of time and in a manner that is most appropriate while taking into account the talents of different students in a specific classroom.

Playmobil pro is an innovative modelling kit for adults that encourages creative thinking in the university/workplace. International multilingual students often disclose that they have little opportunity to develop their intercultural awareness, and cross-cultural and multilingual communicative competencies while engaging in meaningful activities that foster sustainable content and language learning. In the present study, 35 students were involved in two Playmobil pro workshops. They worked individually to present themselves to their peers, referring to their cultural background. They then worked in groups to explore intercultural differences among people working for organizations operating in the UK and another country of their choice and offer recommendations to help organizations avoid cross-cultural conflicts. The aim was to actively engage students to work on their final assignment and develop their intercultural awareness and cross-cultural communicative skills. This case study used a qualitative design and explored students' attitudes by asking them to write a short anonymous report at the end of the implementation and provide anonymous feedback via Mentimeter after each workshop. The lecturer also kept notes in the form of a diary during this implementation. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data which revealed that Playmobil pro facilitated intercultural communication in the post-COVID-19 era as students seemed to be unwilling to work with their peers in face-to-face classes, possibly suffering from trauma. However, learners confessed that they needed more time, support, and artefacts to fully present their ideas and thoughts. Recommendations for the effective implementation of Playmobil pro with multilingual students will be offered.

District-level central office administrators (COA) and school principals influence the efficacy of reforms aimed at improving outcomes for marginalized students. This qualitative case study examines the experiences of COA and principals from one reform-oriented school district during their participation in a master's degree program in leadership offered by a business school. Thematic content analyses of course syllabi and semi-structured interviews of program participants revealed that the program content reflected the market-based contexts school leaders and mid-level COA faced by focusing on business leadership principles with little emphasis on instructional leadership. Integrating principals and mid-level COA into one cohort fostered a boundary-spanning community of practice that could facilitate district-wide reform efforts. This exploratory study questions the boundaries often present between the professional development of principals and COA and invites further research on the potential of cross-boundary professional development. [Note: The publication year (2023) shown in the citation on the PDF is incorrect. The correct publication year is 2024.]

The goal of this article is to examine and develop problem-posing case study teaching methods to promote business students' reflections on their premises around sustainability practices. Literature on transformative learning in sustainability informed our hypothesis that problem-posing instead of problem-solving case study teaching would yield greater incidences of students' premise reflections at the deepest level. For our quasi-experimental design, undergraduate students at a business school were presented with a teaching case of corporate sustainability then half were given problem-solving prompts for critical reflection while the other half were given problem-posing prompts. Resultant responses were classified to expose differences in the nature and levels of reflection between these two groups. This pedagogical research indicated that the problem-posing group reached deeper levels of reflections, though further research is needed to better understand this phenomenon. We advocate for the utility of a problem-posing approach in sustainability education. This study contributes a problem-posing protocol for business schools, curricula, and professors, as well as suggestions for further research for theoretical understanding of problem posing for transformative learning in sustainability.

This paper develops a spreadsheet simulation methodology for teaching simulation and performance analysis of priority queues with multiple servers, without resorting to macros, add-ins, or array formula. The approach is made possible by a "single overtaking" simplifying assumption under which any lower-priority customer may be passed in line by at most one higher-priority customer. By increasing the number of overtaking customers, one at a time, the simulation model is extended to the "multiovertaking" case. These simplifying assumptions make such spreadsheet simulations (of more complex queuing networks) accessible to students, and so the paper includes teaching and learning strategies for the classroom. Performance analysis of single-overtaking versus multiovertaking polices is included.

Innovative instructional methods can help improve student engagement and learning outcomes when teaching difficult subjects, such as statistics. This instructional innovation article illustrates how gamification can be applied in management education to improve students' learning experience, engagement, and acquisition of knowledge. Our purpose is to demonstrate how gamification is not only a powerful way to build on the use of games and game thinking in our field, but also a versatile application of education technology that could potentially enhance the way management knowledge is taught. Furthermore, it is a low-risk way for management educators to join and contribute to the larger virtual revolution. We document the process of combining the Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) competency framework and the Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) design framework to create both theoretically and practically motivated gamification designs in a graduate-level statistics class. With student data and feedback, we demonstrate that gamification helped create a positive learning experience, facilitated interactions in the course, and assisted the learning of statistical knowledge. We offer suggestions and concrete examples for interested educators to implement gamification in their courses.

The purpose of this paper is to provide information that can benefit Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), which operate in a highly competitive environment. Understanding students' perspectives regarding quality in higher education and areas of dissatisfaction can redirect an HEI's strategy to address these concerns. The present study seeks to clarify how students define quality. A business student survey was conducted to understand students' expectations, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction with their current educational environment. The analysis systematically explores students' dissatisfaction by categorizing qualitative data using a modified version of the seven dimensions of service quality introduced by Evans and Lindsay. The level of detail provided in this report will assist in developing effective processes to improve student satisfaction at the university. The results conclude that improvements in "completeness" of the educational experience, both classroom and administrative services along with improvements in "accessibility" and "convenience" for academics and services will have the most impact on student satisfaction. Completeness addresses the quality of learning materials and services and accessibility and convenience address the ease of access to these learning materials and services. This paper expands upon the definition of quality in higher education, focusing on student dissatisfaction. The classification of student feedback provides a unique perspective. The limitations of the study include the response rate, area of study, geographic area, and learning modality. Tests of validity were not applied to the seven dimensions of service quality due to the exploratory nature of this study.

Business education must evolve. Traditionally, it has been narrowly focused, siloed, and often reflective of the transactional nature of business through the lens of maximizing shareholder wealth. The triumph of market fundamentalism over the last five decades has coincided with increasing social inequality, the concentration of corporate power, and a weakening of many forms of social solidarity. There are calls for higher education institutions to reaffirm their commitment to their public purposes and the common good and to leverage their economic resources as anchor institutions. Schools of business have enormous potential to contribute to these efforts by integrating into the curriculum a broader and deeper focus on university-community collaboration, civic engagement, and solidarity with community partners to address social and economic inequities. This review of a partnership between an MBA program and a community center's microenterprise program highlights the key role that community engagement can play in graduate business education. The study includes a conceptual model incorporating four overlapping areas: critical reflection, relational paradigms, intersectionality, multilingual communication, and intercultural praxis. Structural barriers and challenges are discussed in the study, but also opportunities for building upon program strengths and a flexible framework for implementation at other institutions. [Note: The issue number (4) shown in the citation on the PDF is incorrect. The correct issue number is 3.]

Students today are often assumed to be digitally literate and prepared for college, but that is not always the case. Introductory technology courses at the college level provide students with the technology and digital skills necessary for them to succeed in college. This study, conducted at a small New England "business school" that also offers liberal arts degrees, sought to determine which digital skills most incoming first-year college students have. The study examines which digital skills and competencies students acquire before entering college, and if those skills are adequate to achieve academic success in college. Guiding the study are these research questions: (RQ1) What digital devices are students using and with what frequency? (RQ2) What digital literacy competencies (DLCs) do incoming first-year students possess? (RQ3) How do first-year students self-rank their DLCs, and how does that compare to individual task self-ranking? (RQ4) What DLCs do incoming first-year students perceive as the most important to know, and do they have those skills? Results showed that most K-12 students are learning on Macs or Chromebooks and use the Google Suite of applications. They may need to switch to Windows machines and/or Microsoft Office products upon entering college. Almost 16% reported taking no high school courses covering computer topics. Only 34% of incoming first-year college students consider themselves "tech savvy" and most rank themselves at the beginner or intermediate level on digital literacy competencies. They believe the three most important skills to know are spreadsheets, programming, and word processing.

This paper presents an empirical study with 150 graduate students at a business school to analyse the educational impact of experiential learning about process-oriented thinking in the classroom versus online learning setting. The results show that both learning settings are effective in increasing student performance but the increase in student performance in the face-to-face setting is twice as much as that in the e-learning setting. While learning time has no impact on student performance in this study, active engagement in the learning process has a positive impact in the online learning setting, but not in the face-to-face setting. Contrary to general findings, the results of this study indicate that a face-to-face setting is preferable for experiential learning about process-oriented thinking. Practical implications are that online learning can be used for general understanding while classroom learning is preferred for deeper understanding in the context of experiential learning about process-oriented thinking.

While industries compete to hire capable employees, it is essential that business education curriculum delivers graduates who can solve complex problems and implement multifaceted solutions. This approach to curriculum design focuses on developing project management skills to deliver an integrated, student-centered methodology across multiple disciplines. The development of undergraduate curriculum with a project management approach provides a framework centered on developing essential career skills in critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving.

Teaching and learning in higher education is informed by a multitude of conditioning factors, not least the values systems and outlook of academics. Understanding the epistemological positioning taken by academics in relation to teaching and learning is therefore important if we are to make judgments about how we educate now, and could do so in the future. Developments in educational theory and digital technology have opened-up new possibilities for the ways in which students learn, and to a degree this has been accelerated by the responses from universities to the COVID-19 pandemic. How then should we conceive the future? Heutagogy is one of a number of theoretical approaches that has attracted interest from those who wish to see greater student control over the learning journey- but how widespread is this view amongst academics? This paper reports on a qualitative study in which 12 academics in an English Business School were asked to describe their views on teaching and learning, which we can encapsulate through the concept of epistemic cognition. The findings infer that there is little epistemological underpinning for heutagogy and that if academics are going to innovate, then additional resource and professional development should be put in place to support epistemic reflexivity, and a shift in their epistemological positioning. The paper conceptualises academics' positioning through a typology of epistemic views.

Advances in digital technologies coupled with the explosion of data are transforming the marketing education landscape at a rapid pace. Given the scale and speed of digital disruption in today's industry, marketing academics face ongoing challenges of addressing the theory-practice gap, which will only accelerate. The purpose of the current study is to gain a better understanding of the current state of digital/social media marketing and analytics education through a review of past pedagogical research in the realm of digital/social media marketing and marketing analytics. The collected database (N = 54) was analyzed based on their category and scope, and sub-themes within each category. Our findings indicate that while business schools have been diligent in introducing important skill sets to their curriculum, the approach has been predominately tactical, rather than driven by an overarching strategic plan. Based on the findings, we discuss the implications for marketing educators and directions for future research that can help bridge the theory-practice gap as we proceed in the future data-driven digital environments.

Business schools seek to prepare students for the workplace with employer-valued skills such as communication, teamwork, and application of knowledge. As such, a common practice for business and management educators is to involve students in collaborative team-based assignments and community projects. For example, to facilitate the development of teamwork skills, faculty members may have students create a team charter, which involves student teams identifying goals, roles, and norms. However, empirical evidence of the value of team charters is limited. This study examined student perceptions of team charters to determine if they played a role in effective teamwork or if other variables accounted for team success. The study entailed an analysis of a mid-semester team evaluation survey and an end-of-semester team charter survey. Findings indicated that overall, including the development and application of student charters in student group projects leads to several significant benefits and learning outcomes. However, the perceived usefulness of charters varies among students by level of experience and year in school.

This practice example explores the inquiry-based relationship for students between case teaching and international competitions in Marketing. This work is based on the premise that undergraduate Marketing students in a College of Business should experience learning through and about inquiry and enhance their research literacy as a result. Although for many students research-oriented ways of engaging them with inquiry are fairly passive experiences, we believe student engagement in case study competitions offer a primarily active and exciting learning opportunity. In a broader sense, the framework offered by Healey & Jenkins (2009) which is explored in this example, is based on the argument that research-informed inquiry is a powerful way to reinvent or reinvigorate the undergraduate curriculum because the focus is on the student as a learner - in particular that the student can be viewed as a potential producer of knowledge - and by challenging what research and inquiry are in practice, provide interesting perspectives for the Marketing discipline to consider for future programme provision.

To prepare their students for the increasingly demanding workplace of the 21st century, business schools resort to using experiential learning techniques to make explicit connections between knowledge and experiences students already have, encouraging them to make their own interpretations. In this case study, 50 multilingual students participated in a LEGO Serious Play (LSP) intervention for one academic semester. Due to the continuous rise of the numbers of international students in management schools in the UK in the post-COVID-19 era, researchers and lecturers indicate that additional support is often deemed necessary to promote social justice for multilingual and multicultural students and support their well-being. These students used LSP to make better sense of the assessment criteria and the theories they had to use to respond to the instructions and prepare a group paper and a group oral presentation in terms of a module on intercultural management. Findings revealed that these English as a Second Language (ESL) students were inspired by the use of LSP as it allowed them to reflect on the theories and apply them in creative ways fostering collaboration and creative problem-solving. Students initially felt uneasy to engage in this new approach but then enhanced their performance in their group oral presentations by 35% as they were able to improve their second language competence and intercultural awareness. The article concludes by discussing implications for using LSP with multilingual ESL students to help them overcome linguistic and cultural barriers, offering suggestions for the effective use of game-based techniques in Higher Education.

Although it is sometimes falsely assumed that faculty remains static and unchanging in higher education, faculty plays a crucial role in advancing the positive outcomes for change within higher education (Jimenez et al, 2019). A concern which has been around for many decades is whether or not the listing of desired qualifications on faculty job postings results in the hiring of faculty with the knowledge, skills, and attributes that are being sought (Marcus, 1977). Job ads reflect the nature of today's labor market (Carnevale et. al, 2014). The purpose of this explorative study is to review the changing patterns within business faculty job postings over a three-year period. More specifically: To what extent have faculty job postings for business schools evolved during the last three years? How are these job postings evolving concerning experiential learning, learning modality (i.e., online/distance vs face-to-face learning), and diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Instructional methods have an impact on the learning process and the quality of educational services aimed at accomplishing learning objectives. The purpose of this paper is to examine the most preferred instructional methods during emergency online teaching used by instructors. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 36 full-time and part-time faculty members belonging to an accredited Hispanic business school. The results showed that faculty used many different instructional methods during synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Similarly, there is a relationship between the professors' academic areas and the instructional methods used. Based on these results, this study proposes a reference model of instructional methods for higher education based on professors' experiences during emergency online teaching that includes five categories: group methods, active methods to contribute to the development of competencies, methods to ascertain prior knowledge, methods that promote understanding through the organization of information and methods that use digital tools. The originality of the study lies in the fact that it analyzes the migration experience from in-person to online teaching at an accredited Hispanic business institution.

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed higher education institutions across the globe to switch from face-to-face teaching to remote teaching. This study explores how emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic affected university teachers' perception of online teaching and discusses the future of e-learning after the pandemic. The analysis is based on the interview responses collected from twelve business school teachers at one Sino-foreign university in China. The results show that the perception of e-learning improved after a semester of involuntary remote teaching. We also discuss the factors that may act as barriers to the adoption of e-learning, such as poor quality of the Internet, high workload, and lack of proper online pedagogy training, and show that teachers tend to implement elements of online teaching even despite these barriers as long as they find the usage of the online contents beneficial for their practice. Finally, our findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the digitalisation of higher education and created new opportunities for the provision of online education.

Mission statements have become increasingly important for the accreditation of business universities and colleges. Thus, understanding similarities and differences in the content of business school mission statements is especially timely. The mission statement is also the first component of the strategic management process. It provides the framework or context within which strategies are formulated. This descriptive/informative study aims to present a background that describes and explains institutional mission statements and removes the so-called uncertainty encompassing the foci while preserving exceptional quality--a necessary quality for a compelling mission statement. We question whether all California State University (CSU) and The State University of New York (SUNY) business colleges/schools have developed enduring and inspiring mission statements for their employees and students? While no specific rule regarding length exists, we examined the word count length of these two school system mission statements. Institutions must not make their mission statements too long or too short, or they will risk losing focus and missing essential elements to guide their organization. The mission statement must be long enough to achieve its purpose. Based on our findings, we recommend that all CSU and SUNY campuses embrace a more straightforward, easy-to-understand, hard-hitting, lasting, and inspirational mission statement for their business colleges/schools, one directly relevant to faculty, staff, students, and their families.

Businesses and other organizations across the globe are becoming more and more data-driven, using a combination of descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive analytics to gain a strategic advantage through understanding the past, what we hope to happen in the future, and the ability to accurately predict future outcomes. These forms of analytics span from basic statistical summaries and data visualization to artificial intelligence models. Many organizations are now requiring new job applicants, new hires, and existing employees to be data literate. As such, it is becoming incumbent on teachers, students, and practitioners to possess some basic knowledge or experience in business analytics, at least within their educational and functional domains. Current best-practice in business school curriculum embeds some form of analytics across the curriculum. Unfortunately, many business colleges do not have the experience or resources to do so, hence teachers are unprepared to teach, and students are not prepared to enter the business world being data literate. While higher levels of analytics can be statistically intimidating, there are numerous applications of analytics that do not require statistics or higher-level models. This paper introduces one such technique practiced within marketing education and industry since 1995 and is called RFM. RFM has long been known in marketing curriculum and practice but has seen virtually no exposure in business schools outside of marketing major courses. This reflects an unintended consequence of teaching and learning within "functional" silos. It is hoped that teachers and students across the business curriculum, as well as workforce participants, can use this case to gain an appreciation of data literacy and analytics toward application within any functional area of business. The purpose of this paper is to avail those outside of marketing education and practice with an effective, easy to understand, easy to apply model, with no statistics involved. The goal is to facilitate increased data literacy and interest in understanding and/or applying analytics to other functional arear of business. RFM is not unique to this paper but is aimed at broadening teacher, student and workforce participant experience and knowledge of business analytics.

Universities, specifically their colleges of business, stress within courses, through events, and across their public persona the significance of gender diversity practices as a means to treat women fairly, provide them with equal opportunities, and to create an even playing field. The emphasis of this topic stresses that gender diversity is of great importance to universities' leaderships. However, this study seeks to explore if the practices within universities match their outward appearances. Within this study the public universities from 11 southern U.S. states during the academic year (AY) 2022-2023 administrative positions from their colleges of business to their upper administrative officers are analyzed regarding their gender compositions of those holding these positions and how their employment practices reflect their true gender diversity, equal opportunity, and fair employment practices. Of particular interest is the sticky floor effect, in which administrative opportunities given to women are explored.

Schools of business aim to help students develop employer-valued skills, which include communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and application of learning. This can be achieved through team assignments and community-based learning. Such approaches help students apply the concepts they are learning, collaborate with others, develop managerial skills, and solve real-life workplace issues. Teamwork is commonly thought to be enhanced when students establish a team charter outlining their goals, norms, and processes. Research on the value of team charters in business education, however, is limited. This study examined the role of team charters on student perceptions of working well together. Data was collected and analyzed from a mid-term team evaluation and a final team charter assessment. Findings indicated that perceived value of team charters differs across the year in school and tends to be higher for less experienced students. The provision of a structured project roadmap clarified team member roles, responsibilities, personal accountability, and team vision.

This study investigated if the gender composition of teams impacts performance by examining the relationship between student-level variables of cultural intelligence and global knowledge and team-level variables of team performance. Data were collected from 1,922 students across 40 countries participating in 446 teams. Results of independent samples t-tests, as well as multiple regression analyses at the student and team levels, showed that gender and international status were related to global knowledge and cultural intelligence, whereas gender, global knowledge, and cultural intelligence were all significantly related to team performance. The coefficient of variation was found to be low, suggesting that other variables might be related to team performance, cultural intelligence, and global knowledge. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Employers want recent college graduates prepared with skills that cut across majors, such as written and oral communication, teamwork, ethical decision-making, critical thinking, and applying knowledge in real-life situations. What is largely unknown is if some fields of study lend themselves to producing these desired skills over others. This is particularly relevant to schools of business, which strive to help students develop professional career skills and often emphasize a range of practical, hands-on, engaged learning activities. This study focused on obtaining the insights of hiring managers about desired skills and areas of study that prepare students with these skills. Survey results were analyzed using ANOVA and Holm post hoc tests. Findings indicated that hiring managers' preferences focused on three main sets of skills: People and Culture, Analysis and Application, and Staying Current. Business dominated the People and Cultures cluster, while STEM dominated the Analysis and Application and Staying Current clusters.

Current educational research demonstrates the importance of equipping students to be active participants in their own learning. However, more work is needed to provide students with the metacognitive skills necessary to engage in Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). Feedback is a crucial component of the learning process and can be used by students to develop these skills but remains a source of dissatisfaction for students and educators. We contend that this is a result of a gap in students' understanding of the feedback process and the lack of dialogue between students and educators. This paper presents a methodology to conduct a feedback workshop as a means to improve the feedback experience while equipping students with the metacognitive skills needed to facilitate SRL. The methodology was evaluated in four workshops conducted with students from engineering and business at a university in the United Kingdom. In each workshop (excluding the pilot) students were requested to complete pre and post-workshop questionnaires and there was also opportunity for group discussion and reflection. Results demonstrate the potential benefits of such workshops in deepening the student understanding of the process and use of feedback.

The current article studies the competencies of plurilingual students and how these competencies are exploited in the learning of French as a Foreign Language. Adopting a translanguaging theoretical approach, we argue that learners of foreign languages who already speak at least one other language have some linguistic competencies which manifest during their learning of the French language. Through observation of learners of French at the University of Ghana Business School and analysis of their written production, we confirm that some of these plurilingual competencies in students are demonstrated in the nature of the errors identified. The paper therefore recommends that learners' existing competencies be taken into account and built upon when developing lessons for the foreign language classroom and during classroom delivery.

For centuries, universities have proliferated and flourished around the world, playing an important role in societal knowledge production and diffusion. However, in the past four decades, this old organizational form has been subjected to neoliberal, managerialist policy doctrines such as New Public Management. Following this, universities have tended to become more 'business-like' in their internal management and governance, with generally perceived adverse effects on the quality of academic education, research, and working conditions. These developments pose fundamental threats to academic freedom and free knowledge production and diffusion. Acknowledging various forms of academic resistance to, and coping with, these threats, the purpose of our paper is twofold. First, we adopt the concept of 'performativity' -- hitherto researched mainly in primary and secondary schools in Anglo-Saxon contexts -- to account for, and critique, neoliberal university policies, and practices in a variety of Global North settings. Second, through collaborative autoethnography, we add our own personal narratives to 'talk back' to managerialism.

Purpose: In 2018, a group of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Switzerland started discussing the future of education. With the COVID-19 pandemic, many of their initial ideas and solutions were tested in the unpredictable, emergency online setting. This study aims to use student and faculty member perceptions to outline the future of higher education. Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on eight surveys from students and faculty members at one Swiss HEI in business studies. While many previous studies focus on one group or one moment in time, this study examines the future of business education from both perspectives and traces the responses throughout the pandemic. Findings: Teaching and learning strategies and perceptions evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, despite the potential, many HEIs simply reverted to normal instead of adapting to the "new normal". Conversely, some HEIs have continued using the same exercises and tools that were used in the emergency remote pandemic-mode, without adapting or reflecting on the current learning environment. Based on the findings, both students and faculty members have increased their interest and proficiency in using digital tools although the students remained more open toward the opportunities of digital teaching and learning. Originality/value: Based on the results, this study offers a model for the future of education that HEIs could implement when moving forward, whether on campus or online.

Purpose: The pandemic brought by COVID-19 in March 2020 shook the entire world, compelling everyone to remain indoors. Most B-Schools were unprepared for such a situation and did not have the resources to carry out the teaching and learning activities. B-schools then adopted online and hybrid modes of learning to impart education to their students. The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting the quality of education along with lessons learnt and lessons to be left behind, using qualitative method. Design/methodology/approach: The factors affecting the quality of education were drawn from the literature, and 18 faculty members were interviewed. The study uses a descriptive method, where interviews were conducted, and each interview was recorded, with an explicit permission of respective faculty member and coded and categorized to identify themes. Findings: The significant contribution of this study is that it highlights? Through the learnings and experiences of the pandemic? What will work in the future for business schools. The use of online teaching-learning sessions and softwares, namely, Turnitin and Grammarly will not fade away. Faculty will use various engagement tools such as quizzes and simulations to improve the learning and quality of education in the post-pandemic era. Various interactive and online tools emerged during the pandemic which allowed faculty to use diagrams and infographics in their teaching, and this helped the faculty to cater to students with different learning styles. Originality/value: This study will provide B-Schools, faculties and leaders an input for improving the quality of online education. The present study provides an empirical contribution to the factors affecting online education and its quality, by highlighting the perspective of faculty members with the help of qualitative study. These factors make a clear and strong indication that education in the future will be partly online, wherein a lot of e-learning resources will be used by faculty to impart quality education.

Purpose: This paper aims to present a case study on how the strong relationships with multiple stakeholder groups can benefit educational programs through the curriculum redesign process by using the experience of Marshall University and Intuit. Design/methodology/approach: This paper highlights how Marshall's faculty used Intuit's Design Thinking process to engage with stakeholders to innovate a curriculum that is sustainable and socially responsible and transfers workforce skills and concepts. This case describes how to: involve stakeholders to discover their pain points and desired outcomes, develop prototype curriculums from stakeholders' feedback and test and iterate prototype curriculums on stakeholders until their expectations (e.g. quality, innovation and value) of the curriculum are exceeded. Findings: Faculty applied Design Thinking to engage with stakeholders to infuse contemporary knowledge and skills that positively impact their workforce development and societal goals into the curriculum. This process promoted critical thinking and a "stakeholder-centered" orientation with various groups including AACSB and employers. These curriculum changes ultimately provide greater experiences to students while providing relevant skills of interest to employers and society. Originality/value: Stakeholders are often consulted on educational programs; however, it is unusual for an industry stakeholder to provide their best innovative practices to assist colleges with the transformation of academic curriculums. Moreover, it is unusual for higher education institutions to fully embrace these industry processes and integrate these experiences within their collective culture. Finally, the detailing of this case allows for other colleges to apply these concepts to their curriculums.

The concept of the ideal student is one that has generated much research across many disciplines across the globe and continues to stimulate debate about teaching and learning within higher education. This paper explores the concept of the ideal student in relation to the experiences of mature female students enrolled onto a Foundation Programme in Business and Management. Although some Foundation Programmes are intended to recruit international students, most are conceived for school-leavers who are deemed to be the ideal cohort for this programme by the university. As such, there exists the potential for a disconnect between the concept of an ideal student which is generally associated with an implied curriculum model and the experiences of mature students. This paper explored the experiences of mature female students on a Foundation Programme at an English Business School that prepares students for undergraduate study. The research involved interviews with five mature female students, three of whom are mothers. The findings were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and challenges the concept of the ideal student as useful theoretical model upon which to construct the curriculum. This paper also conceptualises the mature student learning journey through the PIPE support model.

Purpose: Given the implementation of a new Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensure exam and the CPA Evolution Model Curriculum, accounting educators must integrate more advanced skills in their coursework. We illustrate how a commonly-used project in accounting classes, which teaches technical accounting content, can address skills and competencies identified by the Pathways Commission and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and, as a result, enhance skills all business school graduates need in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach: We incorporate a financial statement analysis research project under a group work format in three levels of financial accounting classes. Using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, we evaluate changes in student perceptions of skills and competencies important for business graduates. Findings: We find students perceive improvement in critical thinking, problem-solving, the ability to work with other people, their understanding of the course material, and data analysis abilities after completion of the project. We also find statistically significant increases pre-to post-project in student perceptions of their knowledge, confidence, competence, and enthusiasm with respect to accounting material. Originality/value: We provide an example of how educators can align a commonly-used project with the CPA Evolution Model Curriculum, yet still meet the needs of non-accounting majors and prepare all students for future business careers. Group work has been studied and similar financial statement analysis projects have been implemented in the classroom for years. We contribute by not only extending and updating this research, but also by re-evaluating a project to determine whether it meets the shifting needs of a rapidly changing profession. By doing so, we answer recent researchers' call for research in higher education that addresses employability and workplace skills.