We are now facing a global pandemic, and the world is getting to gear up for changes that will become the new normal. Education, on the other hand, got stuck for a few months as no schools and colleges were functioning, and now, they have taken up a new way of teaching. 

Expert’s Opinion:

Schools and UG programme colleges have started Online classes for their students within days of the pandemic, and now PG and Masters studies are following this method. But these virtual classes are a bit expensive, and low-tier business colleges are struggling in this initial stage.

When in-person classes resume in schools, there is a big doubt if the international students will travel far and study somewhere else.

With these things are playing a key role in moulding the future classroom scenario, the Traditional MBA programmes might have a new look after the coronavirus phase. 

Wendy Moe, assistant Dean of Master’s programs, and Dean of Marketing at Robert H. Smith School of Business Universities, said that our traditional way of teaching is being challenged.

These ‘change-by’ models in the classroom have progressively been incorporating MBA-learning over the past several years, but this pandemic has accelerated this shift online as they were giving out the recording of courses previously. 

Virtual Classrooms and investment in Technology:

Paul Bodine, president, and founder of Admitify which is an admission consultancy in San Diego said that the business schools would adapt to online teaching as there is no other go and will continue if by chance there is another outbreak.

The schools will strive to provide the same quality of education and opportunities to the students as the tuitions are not cheap. 

Business schools have historically offered much more than just formal education. You sign up for an expansion to the network. Students appeal to their teachers and mentors to support them build ideal work, find advisors, and finance their plans for start-ups. Educators promote cooperation and leadership initiatives. 

Bodine said New technology that makes the connections between educators and students or future employers and job-seekers are becoming more normal and unbroken. He cites 3D and holographic projection, for instance.

These technologies were already there, but this Technology will become more common and the new innovations will ease the usage and will give a more realistic touch in the experience. 

Costly Virtual Learning and outcomes:

Big budgets are required for investing in these programs. US business schools were in some difficulty in the years before the pandemic. Applications were small, and others doubted the value of two-year MBA programmes that totally separated people from jobs amid a thriving economy and periods of tremendous technological change.

Previous to the recession, high-level programmes, were doing good and were well as financially sustainable. But smaller schools had struggled to survive already.

Steve Blank, an entrepreneur from Silicon Valley who is famous for his start-up and is a teacher at major universities including Stanford said, the low-grade schools and colleges will be out of this teaching business, and he also said this would not end in a pretty way. 

US immigration policies have cut some competition in US colleges prior to the recession, but a surge of foreign students from places like China still remained.

This will also become worse as citizens fail to migrate either because of the conflict between the two countries or are not permitted to pass across borders. This will change the look of MBA classes.

Blank imagines classrooms would feel much as they did 20 years earlier because, at least for now, there were fewer foreign students attending. Making a turn backwards in terms of cultural diversity would be a tremendous shame at a moment where different viewpoints and thoughts become becoming more important, he added further.

Many experts proposed that schools with international programmes might seek to introduce contact with students in different programs without actually meeting them. 

Bodine proposed that Virtual learning and global marketing will require more money, and thus the rich and higher tier schools and colleges might make a big profit from this. 

After COVID-19, lower resource schools may determine that it is not worth creating a large virtual classroom and can rely less on positioning themselves as a “world” business school.

This can benefit the local managements as they can depend less on abroad students, focus less on logistical issues, and can economically compare less with other global schools. 

The new face of In-person Classes:

Gérard Cachon who is the vice dean of teaching and strategic plans at one of Pennsylvania’s universities “Wharton School” said, Online learning can be good, and students can get a good value of education but getting in touch with peer networks and getting a real job might become difficult.

So as students from the school are partly observed, you can start talking about human interactions in smaller classes and different locations.

The main emphasis today is on discovering the financing and showing educators how digital technologies can be maximized by balancing online and personal interactions. However, there should still be a program in the future following COVID-19.

Despite current initiatives, some business schools responded rapidly, supplying students with lessons on leadership amid crisis periods.

Wharton, for instance, began delivering a six-week training course on “Epidemics, Natural Disasters, and Geopolitics: Understanding International Business and Financial Uncertainty,” on the coronavirus epidemic and its effects in March. Bodine anticipates that such training should take place around the organization.

Throughout the five-day Stanford course “Hacking for Recovery,” which is focused on supporting company owners enter fresh dawn, Blank discusses the challenges companies will encounter.

While moving online has meant that overhead for others, their demographics, and in some instances the intent of their company, are also shifting. Entrepreneurs should also explore possibilities, such as extending hospital access on tv, online schooling, and teleconferencing technologies, Blank proposed.

When management schools give students the expertise they require in challenging and unpredictable times to effectively handle financial companies and economies, they have to take advice by themselves.

The giant companies must begin to learn about the practical skills of supply chain management, communications, service, or HR, and the sectors in which innovative leadership can handle change efficiently, Moe proposed.

These are some, no major predictions by experts on MBA programs and Business schools after the end of COVID-19, and future studies will have a new face no matter what subject it may, and there is no denial in it.

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Source – Business Insider.