20th June 2023 – 2 pm CEST

The pandemic has accelerated the trend towards corporatization and distance learning in higher education institutions (HEIs). Education in business and management – which accounts for 15/20% of Higher Education students across the globe – has been impacted by both trends; in particular, business schools have been exposed to corporatization. Hence, HEIs that are traditionally governed by a bottom-up approach have been pushed to a top-down organizational model based mostly on financial indicators.

At the same time, the pandemic made distance learning reach record shares of the market in different parts of the world. As far as regulation is concerned, governments in different parts of the world have taken decisions either for or against public education and funding, and have either tightened or loosened educational criteria. Hence the turbulence we identify has different configurations across the globe. In this panel, we intend to examine the different ‘turbulences’ taking place in different countries and regions, not just to compare them, but to imagine ways forward that may protect education quality.