This content has been funded by an advertiser and written by the Nine commercial editorial team.
Amid growing awareness of the role business can play in tackling the grand challenges of our time, research suggests students are wanting more from their business school education.
A recent global survey of prospective MBA students conducted by educational consultancy CarringtonCrisp found that improving earnings remained the key motivation for studying, selected by 29 per cent of respondents. But the report noted that the headline figure was not the full story.
Students are looking for greater purpose in their MBA studies. Griffith University
“The pandemic has pushed more students to consider an MBA after some years of falling numbers, but these students are often seeking new content and new ways to study,” the report says. “Around seven out of 10 prospective MBAs want content in their degree that covers global challenges (72 per cent), responsible management (71 per cent), diversity, equality and inclusion (70 per cent) and ethical leadership (69 per cent).”
To help students choose a program that aligns with their values, research investment firm Corporate Knights runs an annual Better World MBA ranking of programs’ sustainability performance. For the past three years, the number one ranked program worldwide has been taught by Queensland’s Griffith Business School.
“Unlike many traditional MBAs, we’re really rethinking what the purpose of business is, and what the creation of value for business means,” says Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer, the school’s MBA director. “Traditionally, it was a degree that was all about how to become more successful, increase your salary, maximise shareholder value… but we have really re-thought that and, in many ways, positively reimagined how to teach business and the role of business in society.”
Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer, Griffith Business School’s MBA director. Griffith University
At the heart of the Griffith MBA lie three core values: sustainable business practices, responsible leadership, and a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. These three values are all tied back to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Schleimer notes they underline every aspect of the curriculum design.
“We cover over 1000 SDG-related topics with our students throughout the program, and we ensure these values are deeply embedded across everything we practice, teach and assess. Every single course has at least one, and often all three, of the values embedded in a strategic way.”
The underlying ethos of the Griffith MBA is to teach students sustainable, responsible business strategy that will change how they shape the world, both personally and professionally.
“If we’re really thinking about business purpose and value creation, we must think beyond traditional ways of viewing business.”
— Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer, Griffith Business School MBA director
Leadership is another focus. Griffith is the first university in Australia to partner with the Institute of Managers and Leaders, and one of the program’s core courses teaches students how to develop values-based leadership skills.
The core course “Accounting for Accountability” offers a window into this unique approach to business education. A standard accounting course in an MBA might teach students how to create balance sheets, analyse profit and loss statements and other technical skills. But Griffith takes a holistic, cross-disciplinary approach, with the business school co-designing the subject with the university’s International Water Institute. The result is a course that covers not just accountability in relation to financial and management accounting topics, but also the social, environmental and governance impacts of business activities.
“If we’re really thinking about business purpose and value creation, we must think beyond traditional ways of viewing business,” Schleimer explains. “So, we look at accounting for what you do, but also accounting for natural resources. How do you account for the resources you use as an organisation? How do you work that into your vision, your strategy and sustainability reports? It’s a very different way of attacking these traditional business topics.
“We still teach our students innovative business practices, but it’s important for us to go beyond a traditional business degree and rethink what we do, how and why we do it and how we can measure it.”
The degree is taught at the university’s South Bank campus, located on the banks of the Brisbane River, as well as at its Gold Coast campus, and online. The program attracts an incredibly diverse student cohort representing more than 70 different industries.
“It’s wonderful to have so many different industry experts coming together and creating that special cohort,” says Schleimer. “The peer-to-peer learning effect is huge, thanks to the diversity of sectors. Many of our students are learning this new value of business themselves so it’s often a transformational journey for students.”
The business school’s faculty have a mix of industry and academic experience and Schleimer notes the shift to a values-based approach began in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis.
“We really felt that business can play a core role in not just causing but solving the biggest problems in the world. It’s been a real drive from our academic staff, but then our students really drove demand for more of it. It’s been a beautiful marriage of our teachers, students and now alumni, who are having these impactful careers.”
With the Griffith Business School one of only two Australian universities in the Global Knights Top 50 rankings, Schleimer hopes that other local universities will also transform their approaches to teaching the prestigious degree. “My dream for the future is that all MBAs are like ours so we can have an exponential, positive impact on the world.”
This content has been funded by an advertiser and written by the Nine commercial editorial team.
Follow the topics, people and companies that matter to you.
Fetching latest articles
The Daily Habit of Successful People