A lot of questions pose themselves as the world observes the race between the COVID-19 virus and the availability of vaccines and therapeutics. We can only anticipate when and how will economic activity and livelihoods be restored to their pre-COVID levels, and we start to understand what changes in our lives and the way we do business are there to stay – long after the disruptions of the pandemic fade out.
Indeed, when it comes to higher education and the transition to job markets, youth in these life stages in 2020 and 2021 are going through totally different experiences from those preceding them by just one year. They are getting educated differently, and are going to be competing in job markets that are even more challenging than they already were, with the global slowdown in economic activity.
Schools of business and management around the world play prominent roles in the business ecosystem as they shape the minds and values of students getting their degrees or professional training today, who are set to be tomorrow’s employees, entrepreneurs, CEOs, executives, thinkers and influencers.
For the second year in a row, AUC School of Business brings together distinguished scholars, practitioners from industry as well as policymakers from Egypt and the world to discuss issues of most relevance to business education leaders and players, who today have a lot to think about and respond to in terms of managing the disruption in education mechanisms as well the future of work.
For the very first time, this year’s virtual edition of the forum includes a session featuring the key stakeholders: students. From AUC and other universities in Egypt and other countries, ten students will be voicing their reflections on current and future challenges, lessons learnt, and their expectations out of business education. This is set to be the center of the first roundtable discussion titled “The Future Transformation of Business and Management Education: A Student Perspective”, which will be moderated by Randa El-Bedewy, associate professor of management at the AUC School of Business.
8 February 2021
11:30 AM – 1 PM
Register here
The second roundtable of the forum brings to table a pressing question about the future of work, in light of how artificial intelligence and digital transformation are gradually and steadily integrating in most sectors, even more accelerated by the pandemic-induced business continuity and innovation responses. This largely affects how we prepare for the future of work. It affects skilling, reskilling, upskilling choices on the individual level. Organizations will forecast skills needed in the future and those to retain with different considerations. On the government level, the question becomes what are the employment and social justice policies to prepare for the future of work.
These issues will be discussed with an inclusion and context-specific lens, in a roundtable discussion moderated by Ghada Howaidy, associate dean for executive education and external relations at the AUC School of Business; featuring Srinivas Reddy, chief of skills and employability branch of the International Labour Organization (ILO); Abla Abdel Latif, executive director and director of research of the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES); Pedro Brinca, assistant professor at the NOVA School of Business and Economics; Nagla Rizk, director of the Access to Knowledge for Development Center of the AUC School of Business and Ayman Ismail, associate professor and Abdul Latif Jameel endowed chair of entrepreneurship, and director of the AUC Venture Lab of the AUC School of Business.
8 February 2021
4 – 5:30 PM
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The third roundtable of the forum provides a platform for different leading academic institutions in business and management education from different regions to share their experiences and perspectives on how does the current disruption affect the role and impact of business schools. This entails a discussion of the implications of the changing variables on how organizational structure, quality assurance, programs offered, outreach activities, collaborative partnerships, thematic research, and the business ecosystem and society at large.
The roundtable is moderated by Ahmed Abdel Meguid, associate professor of accounting and associate dean for undergraduate studies and administration at the AUC School of Business, and hosts as speakers Sherif Kamel, dean of the AUC School of Business; Tim Mescon, executive vice president and chief officer for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at AACSB International; Jacob Chacko, dean of the College of Business, Clayton State University; Ahmed Abdel Wahab, managing director of Egyptian German Automotive Co., Egypt; Jonathan Liebenau, professor of technology management, London School of Economics; David Zoogah, associate professor of management at the Williams College of Business, Xavier University and president of the Africa Academy of Management; Nelly ElZayat, cofounder and director of Newton Education Services; Debra Leighton, senior advisor at the Business School Impact System (BSIS), European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD); Ian Fenwick, director of the Sasin School of Management and Amanda Line, partner at the PwC Academy Middle East.
9 February 2021
4:30 – 6 PM
Register here.
Stay tuned for Business Forward’s coverage of the three roundtables.
