Spring 11 MASTER.indd - Thunderbird Magazine

from the president
Halls of innovation
Time to embrace technology in higher education
Higher education
has not changed
much in the
past thousand
years. Professors gather with
small groups of students
and dispense knowledge in
classrooms built around old
technology such as whiteboards
and textbooks.
The model works well in
many ways but has limits
that keep many prospective
students on the outside looking
in. Ugly incentives built
into the system discourage
inclusion and innovation.
University rankings, for example,
favor institutions that
turn away as many willing
customers as possible. The
more applicants rejected, the
better. The system also favors
inefficient use of resources.
The more money and energy
required to educate one individual,
the better. Prestige
comes with big endowments
and high tuition, not the
reverse.
The limitations of the traditional
classroom model are
most apparent in developing
countries, where huge numbers
of young workers lack
access to higher education.
The world population sits
today at around 7 billion
people. The United Nations
estimates we will add 2.2 billion
people in the next four
decades, which amounts
to about 56 million more
people every year.
The vast majority of this
growth will happen in the
developing world. Yet, as
overwhelming as these numbers
are, the education challenge
we face is not just one
of volume, but one of quality.
Competitiveness is no
longer defined by the availability
of cheap, low-skilled
labor, but by the availability
of well-educated human capital.
Global companies need
talented managers, engineers
and researchers prepared for
knowledge-based jobs.
They need scalable education
solutions that deliver
knowledge in more places
with more flexibility —
without sacrificing quality.
This will not happen merely
by replicating the traditional
classroom model.
Thunderbird already has
found success with innovative
business models
and technology-assisted
programs serving highly
qualified learners all over the
world.
Thousands of Russian
managers have earned
Thunderbird certificates at
the Center for Business Skills
Development, a for-profit
Thunderbird entity with
more than 12 years of success
in Moscow.
Thunderbird soon will
replicate this model in more
developing economies
through an initiative called
Thunderbird Worldwide.
Thunderbird’s Global MBA
for Latin American managers
offers another innovative
option, with live satellite
feeds to remote classrooms
in Mexico and seven other
countries.
Thunderbird and its partners
also have reached more
than 18,000 women entrepreneurs
in Afghanistan,
Peru and Jordan through
pioneering nondegree programs.
Drawing on Thunderbird’s
innate entrepreneurialism,
we must expand
these efforts and capitalize
on dramatic improvements
in technology reshaping the
business school market.
Thunderbird’s Vision 2020
recognizes the urgency to innovate
for scale and impact.
Working together, we must
turn the halls of learning
into the halls of innovation.
Ángel Cabrera, Ph.D.
President
Thunderbird School of
Global Management
More online
Visit Thunderbird President
Ángel Cabrera’s blog at
knowledgenetwork
.thunderbird.edu/cabrera
TIM CLARKE
thunderbird magazine 3