‘Now Is Not The Time To Run Away!’: Europe’s Deans Respond To The Call To Abolish B-Schools

When Cambridge Judge Business School professor Chris Marquis argued in The New York Times that business schools should be shut down, much of the early response came from the United States. Now European deans are weighing in, and their message is nearly unanimous: the critique has merit, but the cure is wrong.

In I Teach at a Business School. It’s Time to Shut Them Down, published Oct. 18, Marquis contends that the MBA steers idealistic students toward consulting and finance, that the case method narrows their thinking to the perspective of a single executive, and that the “win-win” promise of stakeholder capitalism rests on weak evidence. Ethics electives and sustainability centers, he writes, only legitimize a system that needs replacing.

The essay quickly became one of the most talked-about pieces on business education in years. In an interview with Poets&Quants, Marquis said the call for abolition shouldn’t be read literally and that what he wants is reinvention: a new curriculum and faculty incentives that reward real-world impact. Critics and supporters, from Copenhagen Business School strategy professor Nicolai Foss to University of Wyoming Dean Scott Beaulier, have since filled LinkedIn, Substack and Reddit with responses. (See also

Now five deans from the UK, Ireland and France have answered, in statements emailed to P&Q, and several describe their schools as already doing much of what Marquis says can’t be done.

METTE MORSING, OXFORD SAÏD: ‘IT IS TIME TO STEP UP’

Mette Morsing, interim dean of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, speaks directly to her Cambridge colleague. “Chris, now is precisely NOT the time to walk away from our responsibilities,” she writes. “It is time to step up.”

“What your argument overlooks is our greatest responsibility: to educate not just technically competent managers, but thoughtful, humane leaders – people with the judgment, empathy, ethical courage and understanding of society needed to lead in an increasingly complex world.”

That has always mattered, Morsing writes, “and in the age of AI, business education matters more than ever. We educate business leaders from across the world who will shape how AI is developed, deployed and governed in organizations and societies globally. As technology transforms what we do and how we make decisions, the distinctly human dimensions of leadership, wisdom, ethical judgment, empathy and responsibility for others, become even more essential. We do not need leaders who ask nothing more than what business makes possible, but leaders who ask what is right, and whom it serves.”

She sees Oxford as an advantage. “As part of the University of Oxford, we are privileged with an extraordinary opportunity to connect business education with philosophy, science, technology, the humanities, environmental responsibility and beyond,” she writes. “Our measure of success was not, is not, and will never be solely what our graduates earn, but what they contribute to the world.”

WENDY LORETTO, GLASGOW: ‘NO GRIM CONCLUSION HERE!’

“Professor Marquis’ Op Ed piece has certainly achieved its objective to provoke,” writes Wendy Loretto, dean of the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow. “Challenge and provocation are exactly what make Business School professionals thrive – many of our Schools willingly undergo regular challenge via global accreditations, signifying our willingness and ability to change or ‘continuously improve.’”

“My experience is that we do not focus on ‘dealmaking, simplification and optimization’; instead we embrace complexity and challenging the status quo,” she writes. “It may indeed be that the pedagogy underpinning static case studies is outmoded; at our School, and many others, we prefer to work on live case challenges, ensuring we capture a full range of stakeholder perspectives and voices, acknowledging the ‘messiness’ of real life. We still make recommendations – but our ongoing relationships with case clients mean we are accountable for these, and are prepared to revisit and readjust if necessary.”

Loretto also disputes the essay’s picture of the MBA. “MBAs have diversified hugely – while I’m not denying that the type of MBA he describes does exist, across the world we have seen a broadening of MBA curricula and designs,” she writes. Many programs now give students “the understanding and skills to completely change direction, often moving away from the corporate world into start-ups, public sector or third sector roles. They are driven by a passion to disrupt, not reinforce, current paradigms. No grim conclusion here!”

VINCENZO VINZI, ESSEC: DON’T THROW OUT THE BABY WITH THE BATHWATER

Vincenzo Vinzi, dean and president of ESSEC Business School, concedes that the old business school paradigm may be outdated, according to the school’s statement, “but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.” He sees the shortcomings of the traditional model as a call to action rather than a reason to despair.

“At ESSEC, students don’t just learn technical skills and knowledge; the curriculum emphasizes value creation with values,” the statement says, with “a long-term perspective” that takes “geopolitical, technological, social, human, and financial challenges into consideration.” Breaking down silos is critical, it adds, to make the school “a hub of collective and connected intelligence capable of co-creating disruptive models and working toward a more prosperous and resilient world.”

Sustainability, geopolitics, AI and entrepreneurship are integrated across core courses, and ESSEC offers dual degrees with partners such as the French engineering school CentraleSupélec. “By encouraging future leaders to extend their knowledge beyond a unique discipline and learn from each other, we can better equip them with skills and competences to face an increasingly complex global landscape,” the school says. “Business schools must be motors of change and provide a future-fit education, to transform students who will drive progress.”

LAURENT MUZELLEC, TRINITY: BUSINESS SCHOOLS ARE THE ‘CASH COWS’

“Chris Marquis’ article raises some salient points about the societal value of business school,” writes Laurent Muzellec, dean of Trinity Business School at Trinity College Dublin. “But abolishing business schools is a simplistic answer to a systemic problem. Removing them changes neither economic incentives nor the demand for business education.”

“Business schools operate within an ecosystem of employers, governments and universities, all dependent on nature,” he writes. “Changing that system requires every actor to evolve, with some influencing others. Meanwhile, immediate challenges, including AI’s transformation of work, demand that we prepare students for the world as it is, while equipping them to improve it.”

Muzellec takes particular issue with the essay’s claim about university finances. “The claim that business schools drain university resources turns financial reality on its head: in many countries, government underfunding has turned business schools into their universities’ ‘cash cows,’ generating surpluses that support the very disciplines Marquis wants to protect.”

Trinity, he writes, “illustrates both the possibilities and tensions of systemic change. Our MSc in Responsible Business and Sustainability provides rigorous, interdisciplinary education essential to the transition. Yet its graduate employment rate trails our MSc in Finance, demonstrating that educational innovation needs employers willing to reward these capabilities.” So the school also embeds sustainability across all its programs, and its Business + Nature Hub connects business researchers and natural scientists with policymakers and industry. “Through graduates, research and partnerships, business schools can influence the wider system.”

ISABELLE HUAULT, EMLYON: ‘PITTING DIFFERENT MODELS AGAINST ONE ANOTHER IS FUTILE’

“Christopher Marquis raises important questions about the role of business schools in society,” writes Isabelle Huault, dean of EMLYON Business School. “Higher education institutions have a responsibility to regularly reassess the values they instill, the models they champion, and the contribution they make to addressing the major challenges of our time.”

“But the answer is not to do away with business schools. It is to rethink and transform them, embedding a deeper understanding of the major transitions reshaping our world like climate change, technological disruption, geopolitical shifts, social change, and economic transformation.”

“We believe these challenges cannot be tackled through a single discipline,” she writes. “That is why we are building a Global Management & Tech University, notably through the development of emlyon tech school and emlyon london interdisciplinary school. Our ambition is to bring together management, technology, humanities, social sciences, design and entrepreneurship to educate a new generation of decision-makers: people equipped to navigate the complexity of the world.”

“The future of management education does not lie in its demise, but in its ability to embrace greater interdisciplinarity, a stronger sense of responsibility, and a deeper awareness of the challenges we face collectively,” Huault writes. “Business schools have a vital role to play in driving this transformation, alongside universities and other higher education institutions. Given the complexity of the challenges we face, pitting different models against one another is futile.”

DON’T MISS EXCLUSIVE: THE PROFESSOR WHO CALLED TO ABOLISH BUSINESS SCHOOLS TELLS P&Q WHAT HE’D BUILD INSTEAD and THE BUSINESS SCHOOL WORLD RESPONDS TO CHRIS MARQUIS – AND NOT ALL OF IT IS PUSHBACK

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