Artificial intelligence, national isolationism, climate emergency… As in every society, higher education is experiencing unprecedented transformations. Business Schools stand at the crossroads of global evolutions and must reinvent themselves to meet these complex challenges. The experience of Delphine Manceau, a member of the global Board of Directors of the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) since 2023, enables her to identify the major tensions facing management Schools in France and across the world.

#1 International ambition vs deglobalisation

From the 1980s right up to today, Business Schools have supported the globalisation of businesses and economies, by heavily internationalising the student intake and the teaching staff, and by developing partnerships and exchanges with academic institutions all over the world. The evolutions of recent months present a radical change of context. The war in Ukraine put a stop to academic cooperation with Russia. China is experiencing a growth slowdown that encourages its students to choose Chinese universities for their higher education. Several countries are issuing fewer student visas or making access more difficult for international students (Canada, Netherlands, Australia, etc.). The American administration is increasing customs duties. For all these reasons, many observers are beginning to talk about ‘deglobalisation’.

This context represents a sharp change in the conditions Business Schools are used to: whereas the international aspect is at the heart of their DNA, how can they pursue their international activities to keep preparing their students to work for globalised companies and to build up research available to all? Management schools have always been rooted in the idea of supporting globalisation, but they must now adapt to a new dynamic.

#2 Protection vs resilience

A survey by the World Economic Forum in March 2022 showed that 70% of university Vice-Chancellors all over the world considered the mental health of students to be one of their major concerns. Today’s young people feel that the world is very unpredictable, far more than the older generation did, and this causes anxiety and mental fragility. They appreciate the protective environment of academic campuses, which are concerned for their safety and well-being.

However, these secure and reassuring places are wondering whether they are well-placed to prepare students to face a complex and unpredictable world? How can we best prepare them while at the same time protecting them? This duality between protection and preparation lies at the centre of the concerns of today’s University and Business School leaders.

#3 Interdisciplinarity vs compartmentalization of knowledge

Business is facing increasingly complex challenges, at the crossroads of geopolitical, technological, environmental and regulatory issues.

In the face of these challenges, interdisciplinarity is indispensable. Yet our academic systems remain largely compartmentalized into disciplines, especially in research publications but also in systems to recognise qualifications, which are generally attached to a discipline.

This poses a formidable challenge: how can we reach over the traditional disciplines to build more cross-cutting programmes and undertake research at the intersection of knowledge? This transition is being held back by firmly established academic silos.

#4 Artificial intelligence vs human intelligence

Artificial intelligence automates numerous skills and reduces the importance of technical expertise. In doing this it puts deeply human ‘soft skills’ back in the foreground; critical analysis, strategic sense, emotional intelligence and leadership are more essential than ever to go alongside the increasingly dominant place of artificial intelligence in our society and in our economies.

This transition means that teaching needs more than ever to be at the centre of educational issues: although the student can now acquire basic knowledge for him or herself, ‘soft skills’ require teaching and learning to be thought out afresh. Our programmes need adapting to meet these new expectations.

#5 Climate emergency: scientific fact vs opinion

Social and environmental issues are central to the concerns of European Business Schools, which integrate them into their courses and research. However, in other parts of the world such as the United States, these matters are seen through a political prism and academic research into these issues now no longer receives any federal funding. What role can the academic world play if the facts of these issues and a scientific approach to them are under threat? These days this question is being asked with great urgency.