Management education reform: staying relevant in a changing world

In mid-2020, when Google announced that its in-house career certificates in fields such as data analytics, project management and UX design would be treated by its recruiters as equivalent to a four-year college degree, the signal was unmistakable: the traditional position of business schools at the heart of management and professional education was being challenged.

Fast forward to 2025, and management education is undergoing a global reform as business schools and universities adapt to technological disruption, changing employer demands and the growing pressure for social responsibility. The shift is not just cosmetic, but required, with 76% of respondents to the 2025 State of Business Education Report by business school association AACSB, citing new financial models and strategies as having a high or critical impact on business school future operations, strategy and outcomes.

Looking particularly at post-graduate business education, the nature of MBA courses is changing to meet these new demands, while institutions are also beginning to offer a mosaic of more flexible, modular and increasingly digital pathways designed to prepare leaders for a world in flux.

“There are so many challenges on the horizon, including AI, that mean business schools need to change their approach—and fast,” says Bing Xiang, Founding Dean of CKGSB. “In fact, in my view, the traditional business school approach can already be considered outdated.”

Management education enrolment

Enrolment in post-graduate master’s business courses has been rising over the past five years, with analysis of AACSB’s data showing that it has risen approximately 13% between 2018 and 2024. But MBA enrolment accounted for only around 30% of all business school entrants. Over the same period there has been an increase in alternative offerings, with 62% of business schools now offering some form of non-degree credentials—including micro-credentials, certificates and executive education courses—according to the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC).

“That’s part of the reason contributing to the downsizing of a lot of the MBA programs—because there are these cheaper, or even free, online courses or online certificate programs available out there,” says Rui Zhu, Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for ESG and Social Innovation at CKGSB. “Sometimes they do compete for the same pool of applicants but given the current situation, I think the school has no choice but to have these executive programs, because we need to adapt to the changing environment.”

Changes to graduate management education

For decades, the appeal of the MBA—often seen as the gold standard of management education—has provided a structured, comprehensive foundation in finance, strategy, operations and leadership, particularly for professionals promoted from technical or shop-floor roles into management. But with the corporate world moving faster than ever, employer demands are changing, and companies are now placing greater value on agility, creativity and emotional intelligence as much as formal qualifications.

As a result, there has been the emergence of several alternative styles of qualification that are gaining in popularity globally, both for their ease of access and their price. Micro-credentials have emerged as one of the most visible innovations. Platforms such as Coursera, edX and LinkedIn Learning have popularized modular certifications often underwritten by traditional business schools, across a range of subject matter, that allow learners to curate their own educational journeys.

“Accessibility requires flexible formats, stackable credentials and stronger partnerships with employers to reduce costs while expanding reach,” says Lily Bi, President and CEO of AACSB International. “AACSB data shows growing enrollment in online and hybrid programs that meet learners where they are, and affordability must not compromise rigor; programs must still demonstrate clear outcomes and assurance of learning.”

At the same time, one of the most dynamic and fast-growing areas within business schools is executive education, programs designed for experienced leaders who wish to sharpen their strategic vision, refresh their perspectives or adapt to new challenges without stepping away from their careers. By focusing on relevance, peer learning and direct application, such courses can preserve the prestige of a top-tier school while offering a more immediate and efficient return on time and investment.

“For the non-degree executive courses, like the CEO program or topic-focused programs, they are great complements to the degree programs,” says Zhu. “They are flexible and adapt to the demand from the market and from the students. The ultimate judge for these programs is always the market response. If we put out a program and the students like it, give it high ratings, and help it spread through word-of-mouth—then we’ve done something right.”

Drivers of change

The changes in management education have been driven by three key phenomena. The first has been a shift in employer requirements, which have encouraged business schools to emphasize experiential learning, interdisciplinary collaboration and direct engagement with industry. Theoretical models remain important, but the classroom has expanded to include live consulting projects, startup incubators and global immersion programs. Students are now expected to work with real organizations, solving genuine strategic problems in real time.

Business schools are also increasingly co-designing programs with companies to ensure greater alignment between what is taught and what is needed in practice. Apprenticeships, corporate academies and tailored executive courses blur the traditional boundary between education and employment. This co-creation with industry is also important given the second key change, the wave of technological disruption of particularly the past five years.

The rise of AI, automation and online learning platforms has transformed both how organizations operate and how individuals learn.

“A lot of the real advances happening today in management are led by industry, especially the research labs of the large technology companies,” says Yoram (Jerry) Wind, Lauder Professor Emeritus and Professor of Marketing at Wharton. “There are huge advances in AI, especially with the move from generative AI to agentic AI to physical AI. University research is often lagging behind.”

Courses should increasingly focus on how leaders can leverage artificial intelligence, data analytics and automation for smarter decision-making and customer engagement, but with up-to-date industry input at their core. A recent CKGSB course offered in conjunction with ByteDance-backed cloud service platform Volcano Engine, alongside Feishu and Jinqiu Fund and the Nvidia Startup Acceleration Program, exemplifies this. The course offers attendees access to leading academics and entrepreneurs from across industries to learn about and tackle the current material issues in the AI space.

At the same time, technology in pedagogy has become a key focus for modernizing management education institutions. So far, according to GMAC, around 78% of global programs are adopting some sort of AI across their courses.

“The easiest thing to do for any school would just be to add AI-related courses, but the ideal scenario would be integrating AI as a transversal theme across all our courses,” says Nicole Tee, Director, Graduate Studies at NUS Business School in Singapore. “It is similar to the development of globalization, it used to be a standalone course and now it’s part of every course we teach. Additionally, in terms of worries about students doing work with AI, if it is an assignment easily completed with AI, then it was probably the wrong assignment. We need to assess students in a way that uses AI and then critiques that use, something to engage their critical thinking skills and not develop a reliance for the basics.”

Third, as the challenges facing global businesses become increasingly interconnected—from climate risks and resource scarcity to geopolitical tension and technological ethics—management education needs to evolve to prepare more responsible and globally minded leaders. The first issue here is the inclusion of ESG-related teaching as a foundation of all courses, rather than niche electives.

“Unfortunately, it is still typically taught as an elective dropped into the curriculum that remains unchanged,” says Andrew Hoffman, Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the Ross Business School, University of Michigan. “While you can say ‘protect the environment’ in a class, or propose how it is to be ethical, there are still issues when the rest of the curriculum says the purpose of the firm is to make money for the shareholders. I think we need to just approach it as ‘this is how you do business in today’s world.’ This is the coherent moral culture we want to create.”

But ESG isn’t alone in its importance to an augmented, modern business education, and there are also difficulties for many schools in properly including cross-disciplinary teaching.

“Business schools are realizing that many business disciplines rely heavily on other disciplines, whether it is economics or psychology and the like,” says Wind. “And yet, because of monetary reasons every business school is developing all these functions internally. Students often get a diluted understanding and miss the opportunity to interact with students who focus on other disciplines.”

Regional perspectives on management education

While the transformation of management education is global, its pace and character vary widely across regions. Each market reflects its own mix of economic priorities, cultural values and institutional strengths.

China and Southeast Asia are emerging as centers of innovation in management education. The extraordinary pace of economic development has created intense demand for skilled leaders who can bridge global business principles with local realities. Southeast Asian economies such as Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam are positioning themselves as regional education hubs, while China’s institutions are scaling up executive education and research programs that reflect the country’s growing influence in global markets.

“At CKGSB, we focus more on executive education and cater to senior business executives. However, their demand and expectation has significantly increased,” says Zhu. “In the past, when the economic situation was bright and business was booming, students didn’t have as much pressure, but now they want to make sure that what they are learning can actually be useful, and the money they paid is worth the dollar.”

In the United States, business schools continue to lead in innovation and entrepreneurship, drawing on close ties to technology hubs such as Silicon Valley. Programs emphasize agility, venture creation and disruption as core themes, reflecting the country’s deep-rooted belief in market-driven problem-solving.

However, the US sector also faces significant challenges: declining enrollment in full-time MBA programs, mounting funding pressures and visa restrictions that complicate the recruitment of international students. In response, many schools are experimenting with flexible delivery models, online MBAs and specialized master’s programs to appeal to a broader and more diverse audience.

“At least here in the United States, there’s growing public discontent with business schools and higher education, because it costs too much money, and people don’t understand the value we provide,” says Hoffman. “As a result, business schools in the US are rushing to offer a diverse set of offerings to appeal to a diverse market. We are a business, and we sell a product called the MBA, but we’re also selling one-year master’s degrees and specialized programs in areas like sustainable innovation or supply chain management. The portfolio is broadening to draw in more students, but also to tailor the education to what students are looking for.”

Across Europe, sustainability and social impact have become defining priorities in management education. Business schools have embedded ethics, green finance and responsible leadership into their core curricula—driven both by EU regulation and deep-rooted cultural commitments to social welfare and environmental stewardship. The Bologna Process—which seeks to bring more coherence to higher education systems across Europe—has strengthened cross-border mobility and academic consistency, though institutions continue to balance quality, affordability and broad access.

Challenges on the path to reform

As the sector diversifies and innovates, issues of access, credibility and quality need to be addressed. While micro-credentials and online programs have helped democratize access to high-quality learning, the world’s top MBA programs continue to carry price tags that place them out of reach for many prospective students. According to the 2024 GMAC survey, while more programs are offering financial aid, the cost of management education remains the top barrier to enrollment worldwide.

This financial barrier risks perpetuating inequality within leadership pipelines, limiting opportunities for talented individuals from underrepresented or lower-income backgrounds. Addressing this challenge will require business schools to rethink funding models, expand scholarships and leverage technology to reach a broader audience.

“Business schools are expensive and people just have less disposable income, so for them to come to school, to get the education can be tough,” says Zhu. “We need to think about what we do to maintain the sustainability of the business school, to keep up with student demand and their changing economic situations.”

Another growing concern is fragmentation and credential inflation. As the marketplace becomes saturated with certificates, badges and short courses, the signaling power of each qualification can become diluted. Employers increasingly face the challenge of interpreting what different credentials actually mean in terms of capability and depth.

Without clear standards or frameworks for comparison, there is a risk that the credibility of alternative education pathways could erode. For reform to be sustainable, institutions and accrediting bodies must work together to establish transparency and coherence across this expanding landscape.

“When managed well, certifications feed into degree pipelines and help schools respond to fast-changing demand,” says Bi. “But the risks are many: credential inflation, quality dilution, learner confusion, and inconsistent outcomes across providers. AACSB emphasizes that business schools must hold nondegree programs to clear learning outcomes, assurance of learning, and alignment with mission to guard credibility.”

Finally, maintaining academic rigor is an ongoing priority. The appeal of short, flexible programs lies in their efficiency and relevance—but they must also uphold the depth, critical thinking and analytical training that distinguish serious management education. Business schools are thus challenged to innovate without compromising on substance: ensuring that the convenience of new formats does not come at the expense of intellectual rigor or transformative learning experiences.

The future of management education

The global reform of management education is reshaping how leaders are trained. The rigid, degree-centered model is giving way to a more fluid ecosystem of micro-credentials, certifications and executive programs, each addressing different career stages and needs. Traditional MBAs will not disappear—they remain valuable for networking, prestige and comprehensive learning—but they will increasingly coexist with faster, more affordable and more targeted alternatives.

The challenge for business schools is to balance academic rigor with practical relevance, while ensuring global accessibility. More broadly, management education must prepare leaders not just to meet employer needs, but to navigate a world of climate urgency, technological disruption and geopolitical complexity.

“I’ve always often said business leaders, and people in general, need to begin to ‘view the earth from the moon,’ rather than from the narrow borders of one’s own country,” says Xiang. “In the age of AI, this will become ever more important, as the emphasis shifts away from what we know, to how we think. The novel ideas we create, and the ethical directions we choose to take, will be of utmost importance in the decades to come.”

CKGSB and the Future of Lifelong Learning

• Short, focused online programs: CKGSB offers modular courses covering areas such as China’s digital economy, innovation strategy and responsible leadership—providing professionals with targeted, immediately applicable knowledge.
• Executive education: Flagship offerings like the China CEO Program and specialized tracks in digital transformation and ESG leadership are tailored to the needs of senior executives navigating fast-changing global markets.
• Technology-enabled learning: CKGSB integrates online and hybrid delivery models, combining live discussions, interactive case studies and digital tools to enhance engagement and learning outcomes.
• Industry collaboration: The school partners with leading Chinese and multinational companies to design customized programs that link academic insights with real-world challenges and opportunities.