More Than 600 Enroll In Harvard's 5th Year Of 'Short Intensive Programs'

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The frigid temperatures on the Harvard Business School campus in mid-January were a minor inconvenience for the 641 students enrolled in Short Intensive Programs, the no-fee, no-credit elective courses now in their fifth year. The 14 classes — the most to date — were in-person this year, with some guests and students joining virtually.

In one class, “The American Dream and the U.S. System of Higher Education,” professor Stig Leschly led students through conversations, Q+A sessions, and presentations aimed at inspiring change and innovation in the sector.

The lauded American dream, Leschly posed, rests heavily on the promise of higher education—a supposedly universally accessible and affordable opportunity that has ended up being neither for many students. His opening class asked three framing questions for the week ahead: What problems beset U.S. colleges? What root cause led to those problems? What intervention in practice and policy will improve the sector?

Over four days, students talked with guests across multiple areas of the higher-education landscape, from innovators such as Donnell Butler, founder of Opportunity College, and Father Steve Katsouros, founder of Arrupe College at Loyola University Chicago, and Mallory Dwinal-Palisch (MBA 2015), chancellor of Reach University; to former college presidents Debora Spar (formerly of Barnard College and currently senior associate dean for business and global society at HBS) and Larry Summers (Harvard); to leaders in the ed-tech and venture fields such as Ryan Craig of Achieve Partners and Garrett Lord of Handshake.

INSEAD commits to 2/3 reduction in emissions at all 4 campuses by 2035

INSEAD, one of the leading business schools in the world, has announced its commitment to a 67% cut of its Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2035, from 2019 levels, with the goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. The school has prepared a detailed plan, with several interim targets, to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions across each of its four locations – in Fontainebleau, France; Singapore; Abu-Dhabi; and San Francisco.

The INSEAD reduction pledge is in line with the UNFCCC’s 1.5-degree target. The INSEAD reduction objectives focus on two scopes of greenhouse gas emissions. First, direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, also known as Scope 1. Second, indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy, what is called Scope 2.

The school has prepared a detailed plan on how to reach its scope 1 and scope 2 reduction targets. The plan includes the introduction of energy management systems, behavioral and operational changes, green contracts and investment in renewable energy sources such as geothermal on its Europe Campus or photovoltaics on the Europe and Asia campuses.

EY offers to pay for staff to take an MA in sustainability — all 300,000-plus of them

EY, the global consultancy, is offering all of its 312,000 global staff the chance to earn an MA degree in sustainability.

Although companies have long offered in-house degree programs, firms have placed increased emphasis on learning and education as a corporate perk since the onset of the pandemic, as a way of retaining employees, and mitigating skills shortages.

“We have learned over time that purpose is really important to attract people to the organization,” Trent Henry, EY’s global vice chair of talent, told MSN Insider.

New Master of Digital Product Management is first of its kind in Canada

A new graduate program aims to close a critical global leadership gap and help businesses better capitalize on digital transformation opportunities. Launched this month, the Master of Digital Product Management* at Queen’s University Smith School of Business will train managers to lead digital product management and ensure organizational investments in technology reach their potential.

Organizations spend hundreds of billions of dollars on digital initiatives every year, yet 78 per cent of these investments fail to achieve expected results. The MDPM, a partnership between Smith School of Business and the School of Computing in the Faculty of Arts & Science at Queen’s University, brings business and technology together to help create skilled leaders who can lead digital transformation and drive change across the organization.

“Today every business is a digital business. Organizations in all industries need leaders with the business and technological skills to manage digital products and services from ideation to implementation to optimization,” says Kathryn Brohman, associate professor and Distinguished Faculty Fellow of Digital Technology, and program director, MDPM. “Many companies struggle with their digital transformation strategies and execution. Effective digital product management is no longer an asset. It is a competitive imperative.”

DON’T MISS ‘HISTORIC’: $15M GIFT FUNDS DEANSHIP AT CORNELL’S JOHNSON COLLEGE OF BUSINESS