In 2013, EMBAC began working jointly with AASCB and UNICON to better understand the leadership development needs of the business community and the perceptions of management education providers. As a first step, Jim Pulcrano from IMD conducted a literature review. This first phase helped assess the current landscape by aggregating information in the public domain.

In 2015, AACSB, UNICON, and EMBAC launched the second phase of this initiative by commissioning EMBAC corporate member Executive Core to lead a series of interviews with chief learning officers of organizations and related business leaders.

In 2017, the three organizations launched the third phase of the collaborative effort, which looked at the expectations and perceptions of digital generations when it comes to management education.

Digital generation members view graduate business degrees such as the Executive MBA as a viable option for their professional development, according to the research. In a survey of 1,665 respondents between the ages of 21 and 40 from 10 countries, almost 60 percent indicated that they were very likely or extremely likely to pursue an MBA or MA or MS in business management.

Learn more from the full report: Understanding the Implications of the Digital Generation on Business Education

This report is also available in Spanish and Chinese.

Chinese version of Understanding the Implications of the Digital Generation on Business Education

Spanish version of Understanding the Implications of the Digital Generation on Business Education

In 2019, the organizations again collaborated on another research initiative – this time exploring the impact of AI on business schools and executive education.

What threats and opportunities does the rise of artificial intelligence pose for business schools and EMBA Programs? If corporations and others potentially use AI for skill development, is the very fabric of the MBA at risk? Or will AI open new options for schools and programs?

The qualitative study looks at challenges that AI presents to business schools and the ways business schools are responding, as well as AI’s potential impact on different aspects of business education, including marketing and admissions, curriculum, the student experience, business research, and lifelong learning and education.

Learn more from the full report: Implications of Artificial Intelligence on Business Schools and Lifelong Learning.

In collaboration with business education advisory boards and steering groups that focus on meeting the needs of business education students who also are full-time working professionals, EMBAC funded a research project to shed insights into the future of work and the impact of changes on working professionals, organizations, and business education.

The findings help shape a picture of the evolving nature of work, the evolving nature of lifelong learning, and ways business schools can adapt to stay in the picture.

Learn more by downloading a copy of A New Way of Working and Learning Final Report.