Saïd Dean On The Big Challenge Facing The World’s Elite Business Schools

Soumitra Dutta, dean of the University of Oxford Saïd Business School

If the world’s elite business schools want to play a role in educating hundreds of thousands of people in emerging nations, they will have to adapt radical strategies to make a difference.

That is the message delivered last night (April 15) by University of Oxford Saïd Business School Dean Soumitra Dutta in a keynote address at a celebration of Indian education leaders in Atlanta.

“We talk about inclusion but our schools are designed to be exclusive,” said Dutta who asked a series of rhetorical questions that challenged educators gathered at the Minds Without Borders event by the Jagdish Sheth School of Management. He noted that schools largely take pride in attracting far more applicants than they can serve, only to reject the vast majority of candidates.

‘IS IT POSSIBLE TO EDUCATE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN EMERGING NATIONS?’

“How far behind are we today despite all the good work of meeting the educational needs of people, especially in emerging markets?” he asked.

“What is our role in helping to reach this goal?”

“Is it possible to educate hundreds of thousands or millions of people in these nations?”

‘OUR PRODUCTS IN THE WESTERN MARKETS DO NOT FIT EMERGING MARKETS’

Dutta suggested it would take major changes in how education is delivered and financed to fulfill the needs of young people who have been left out of the market.

“The (educational) products we have in the Western markets just does not fit the emerging markets,” said Dutta, noting that scholarships that have attracted students to Saïd and other elite business schools “only touch a small number of people.”

“To reach them,” he added, “we have to radically rethink the model. How prepared are we for a radically different future?”

‘TURNING SPREADSHEETS INTO SYMPHONIES’

Dan LeClair, CEO of the Global Business School Network, introduced Dutta at the event, who said he relied on ChatGPT for introductory notes. The artificial intelligence platform called Soumitra an educational “maestro” that “turns spreadsheets into symphonies.”

“If business schools had rock stars, Soumitra would headline all tours,” read LeClair from ChatGPT’s description of the Oxford leader who had been dean of Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and also spent two decades at INSEAD.

Dutta, who laughed off the description as a “hallucination,”  said the most often question he is asked since joining Saïd Business School as its dean two years ago is,  “How is life at Oxford different?”

OXFORD MODEL MIXES INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVES

“How has Oxford survived at the top of education for nearly 100 years?,” asked Dutta. “One facet and a great strength is the interfaces across different disciplines. At dinner, we have to sit in the most available seat at a long table. You meet a nuclear physicist, a classicist, or a medical professional at the university. It stimulates interdisciplinary discussions. Business schools need multiple perspectives and thoughts.”

“Another facet,” he added, “is the focus on purpose and doing good. The best example is that Oxford is one of the few universities that created a COVID-19 vaccine with AstraZeneca. Oxford insisted that the vaccine be disseminated at a cost in low- and middle-income countries.”

Oxford said the dean, “gave up tens of millions of pounds in royalties” to accomplish the goal. “At Oxford, that (mindset) is embedded everywhere.”

DON’T MISS: A MIND WITHOUT BORDER: A DEAN’S PASSAGE FROM THE OLD WORLD INTO THE NEW or FROM INDIA TO AMERICA: A RISING WAVE OF BUSINESS SCHOOL DEANS