While ‘Own the Moment’ was the theme for the 99th Annual UPCEA National Conference in Miami this week, change was the message that came through over and over in keynote presentations as well as the break-out sessions.
Perhaps most invigorating was the presentation on Thursday morning byDr. Dileep Rao, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship at Florida International University, who shared some of his thoughts about the future of higher education and the interesting times that we face.
When speaking of threats to business schools specifically, Dr. Rao provoked the audience by sharing ideas like why ‘old-school’ B-Schools will become New-Age Dinosaurs and perhaps even more damning his belief that 50% of MBA programs will fail in the next 10-15 years.
As Dr. Rao illustrated with examples from a wide range of industries, the reality is that those who are not willing to innovate in fairly big ways may very well fall away as more of the market share is snapped up by those institutions willing to make change.
While the presentation was light and laughter rippled through the crowd, Dr. Rao warned those in the audience that it was time to panic and also time to take action. He posed to those in the audience that he was unsure of which should cause more worry—working at an institution where senior leadership was putting pressure on regarding change, or working at an institution where senior leadership was not putting pressure on.
In this moment of great change, what type of institution do you work for?
