7 Trends That Will Shape Business Education In 2018, According To Top Deans

What will 2018 herald? Leading academic thinkers share their predictions, including for gender equality and technology

BusinessBecause’s foretellers had a stellar 2017. All six conjectures came true, or continued to become true.

Some stand out. Judy Olian, dean of UCLA Anderson School of Management, was oracular in calling the closure of full-time MBAs (Tippie and King’s rejected the degree; Wisconsin nearly did). Ross School of Business dean Scott DeRue, was prescient in predicting the explosion of experiential learning. And Idalene Kesner of Indiana’s Kelley School of Business was right about the growth of specialized masters programs, which outstripped the growth of MBAs.

However, they missed the huge and in some cases obvious trends: Donald Trump’s immigrant rhetoric unsettling international students; the Brexit brain drain, with faculty fleeing the UK; the rise of shorter programs, powering application growth in Europe, Canada, and Asia.

What will 2018 herald? Each forecast below is what leading thinkers believe are the key issues facing business education and how syllabi, teaching models, and careers will change in the year ahead. You heard it here first. For a shot at glory, post your own prognostication in the comments box.