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How Business Schools Are Responding to Gen Z’s Demands

A new survey of Gen Z students finds that an overwhelming majority want B-school content that reflects societal change—from diversity to sustainability.

CarringtonCrisp, which published the study in April, surveyed 1,600 prospective Masters students in 26 countries.

“Around 70 per cent say they want course content that really reflects the changes going on in society, from diversity and inclusion to sustainability and poverty,” consultancy founder Andrew Crisp tells Financial Times.

WHAT DOES GEN Z DEMAND?

Gen Z is typically defined as anyone born from 1997 onward. And the new generation aligns closely to Millennials when it comes to key social and political issues.

“Generation Z – diverse and on track to be the most well-educated generation yet – is moving toward adulthood with a liberal set of attitudes and an openness to emerging social trends,” according to the Pew Research Center.

The “typical Gen Zer is a self-driver who deeply cares about others, strives for a diverse community, is highly collaborative and social, values flexibility, relevance, authenticity and non-hierarchical leadership, and, while dismayed about inherited issues like climate change, has a pragmatic attitude about the work that has to be done to address those issues,” according to a study of US and UK students at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

HOW ARE B-SCHOOLS RESPONDING?

As the generations evolve, so do B-school curricula. Across the world, business schools have adapted their programs to align with the content that the new generation demands.

At ESSEC Business School in France, Master’s in Management students are now required to take a 20-hour course on environmental issues, as well as a 20-hour course on corporate social responsibility, FT reports. In Shanghai, Fudan University recently updated its MBA program to include a mandatory course on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG). And in the U.S., schools like Georgetown University’s McDonough School are investing heavily in sustainability offerings.

Sustainability isn’t a new idea anymore. And, with the push of Gen Z, the role that sustainability plays in business will only become more normalized as newer generations come along.

“I think about where business education is, I think it’s not a feel-good moment anymore,” Surabhi Agrawal, senior manager of coffee sustainability at Starbucks, tells P&Q. “This is a reality of doing business in our society. Consumers are demanding it, governments are mandating it. Business before saw sustainability very much through the lens of compliance. Now it has shifted more and more to seeing sustainability through the lens of, ‘This is how we need to be relevant in society.’”

Sources: Financial Times, Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, PR Newswire, P&Q

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