5 Trends Shaping the Future of Business Education

• Southeast Asia is on track to be a dominant force in the global economy, a fact that is attracting more international students and academic partners to the region’s business schools. 
• In addition to recognizing the region's growing importance, business schools must adjust their strategies in response to the expectations of Generation Z, the demand for lifelong learning, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the global call for sustainable business practices.
• As business schools work to maintain their future relevance, it is imperative that they address the local needs of their regions while promoting global engagement and understanding.

 
“There was a time when if you had a financial crisis in Southeast Asia somewhere, it had no impact on our markets. Today it does.”

When then-U.S. President Barack Obama said these words at a news conference in 2016, he was making a point about the growing importance of Southeast Asia on the global stage. Now, in 2024, his words have been borne out. Consider the following:

• In 2022, the collective gross domestic product (GDP) of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was 2.8 trillion GBP (just more than 3.6 trillion USD), making the region the fifth largest economy in the world.
• ASEAN countries are home to almost 700 million people, the third-largest population in the world.
• Southeast Asia is important strategically, politically, and economically, with China, the United States, and other major powers having interests in the region.

Most economists, policymakers, and academics expect that ASEAN’s global importance will continue to grow over the next few years. As dean of Sasin School of Management in Bangkok, I believe these trends point to an exciting future for any business school with a global outlook, and especially for schools focused on the Southeast Asia region.

A question I am often asked is, what will Sasin—and, indeed, most business schools—look like in the future? I see five macro trends that will shape that future and are worth closer examination. These trends are relevant for business schools worldwide, but each one also presents challenges and opportunities that will be more prevalent in Southeast Asia than in other parts of the world.

1. The Expectations of Generation Z

Southeast Asia is a young place—more than half of the ASEAN population is under the age of 30.

Born between 1997 and 2012, the members of Generation Z heralded the arrival of the digital age. Their lives have been characterized by a demand for 24/7 connectivity and instant access to content.

Although we must be careful not to define whole generations homogeneously, we can see that, in general, Gen Z is more likely than previous generations to seek out just-in-time education with immediate practical benefits. This preference has big implications for business schools.

In business education, we talk a great deal about maintaining relevance and achieving impact. Both are noble objectives, which we can achieve by integrating action learning in our teaching. If the business schools of the future do not link theoretical concepts to tangible impact in their programs, they will struggle to attract young learners.

That’s why, at Sasin, we have moved away from traditional lecture-based approaches and embraced experiential learning methodologies. For example, we have based our Flexible MBA on what we call Transformative Action Learning. This pedagogical approach emphasizes the exploration of real-world problems that require our students to implement solutions and take time to reflect on results.

Southeast Asia faces a range of regional challenges, and through action-based learning, our students can help address these challenges while they develop their skills. Yes, theory will remain an important part of our programs, but we also must remain acutely aware of the learning preferences of younger generations.

2. The Demand for Lifelong Learning

According to the World Bank, the portion of Thailand’s population aged 65 and older doubled between 2000 and 2020, to represent 13 percent of its citizens. This number is projected to double again, to 26 percent, by 2040.

Like many areas of the world, we have a population that is working longer. Now that people are extending their working lives and managing rapid technological advancements, it is no longer valid to view education as a singular event—or a college degree as an end to learning.

If business schools cannot adapt to meet the demand for lifelong learning, there are plenty of other providers who will step in.

Most professionals will have more than one career, and 72 percent of employers now expect workers to change the direction of their careers at least once in their lifetimes, according to CarringtonCrisp’s report “Future of Lifelong and Executive Education.” As business schools, we should be moving away from time-bound education to instead emphasize lifelong learning, offering educational opportunities that cater to the changing needs of professionals at each stage of their careers.

To accommodate learners who often will be juggling multiple professional and personal demands, business schools must integrate two key aspects into their programs: flexibility and accessibility. Our offerings should allow individuals to pursue education at their own pace and convenience. Likewise, we should give learners credit for relevant prior experiences so that they can complete their programs as efficiently and affordably as possible.

This is at odds with how business programs have traditionally been designed and implemented to require students to follow the same schedules, deadlines, and curricula. Moving to more flexible learning formats will require a change in mindset for us as business educators.

The CarringtonCrisp study also found that, when seeking learning opportunities, both employers (57 percent) and individual learners (55 percent) are more likely to turn to programs offered by online providers than those offered by business schools. In other words, if business schools cannot adapt to meet this demand for lifelong learning, there are plenty of other providers who will step in. We have a lot of work to do to align our programs with the needs of professional learners, but this trend also opens up wide-ranging opportunities.

3. The Economic Rise of Asia

Historically, Southeast Asia has been a global crossroads, and this is still true today. In its report “Asia 2050: Realizing the Asian Century,” the Asian Development Bank estimates that if current trends continue, the continent will nearly double its share of global GDP to 52 percent by 2050. If this happens, Asia will regain the dominant economic position it held some 300 years ago, before the Industrial Revolution.

There is a famous 19th-century adage of colonialist Britain that states that “trade follows the flag.” Today, as the global economy grows more interconnected, one might also say, “education follows trade.” As Asia’s importance as a major hub of trade and innovation rises, so will the demand for education—and, more vitally, so will the awareness that our graduates’ future career success will likely be highly affected by Asia’s business environment.

What does all this mean for business schools? At Sasin, it means that we are seeing increasing interest in the Asian business environment from overseas business schools and students. Many international students are coming to schools in Southeast Asia in particular because they see the countries in this region as the continent’s most open, approachable, and livable.

For business schools worldwide, I see three consequences of Asia’s economic ascendancy. First, business schools must recognize that experiencing and understanding Asian culture and organizations will be essential for future leaders. Therefore, schools will need to include relevant examples, case studies, and insights involving Asian businesses in their teaching.

Second, the number of partnerships between business schools in Asia and those in other parts of the world is likely to increase. With the right partners, schools will be able to integrate the Asian experience into their cultures more easily through research collaborations, visiting faculty, joint programs, and student exchanges.

Finally, as business schools in the region expand and become more globally dominant, the outbound flow of students from schools in Asia is likely to slow. As more students remain in—and come to—Asia for their educations, business schools in the West will need to rethink many of their international recruitment and operating strategies.

4. Harnessing AI and Other Technologies

Recently, ASEAN introduced a guide on AI regulation and ethics for the region. But like people elsewhere in the world, we are only beginning to understand the true power, potential, and risks of artificial intelligence. That’s why business schools must ensure that faculty and staff at every level are educated about AI. Faculty must figure out how to stay ahead of students in AI technology—or, rather, be equal players—so that they can help students learn to apply the technology most effectively and responsibly.

By the time they graduate, our students should know how to validate all AI-generated content and avoid the thoughtless or indiscriminate use of the technology. Students should know how to use AI tools to enhance their performance, boost their productivity, and make the most of their learning experiences. Equally, they must understand the increasingly important role of AI in organizations.

If AI can convey to students the general knowledge that we have typically taught, we must ask ourselves a fundamental question: What value can we provide that AI cannot?

There is a strong entrepreneurial culture in Thailand, so at Sasin, faculty have conducted various projects in conjunction with students. For example, through Sasin’s Data Analytics Center, students have used AI to count crowds for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration with the help of closed-circuit television cameras. Students also have developed a system, powered by AI, that suggests relevant electives to students when they register for modules, and they are planning to build an individual AI literacy benchmark.

If AI can convey to students the general knowledge that we have typically taught, we must ask ourselves a fundamental question: What value can we provide that AI cannot? I believe our value resides in our ability to teach students soft skills, teamwork, empathy, mindfulness, and other psychological aspects of business. Now more than ever, faculty need to position themselves as facilitators in the classroom, rather than lecturers, as they guide students through this new technological era.  

5. Addressing Climate Change, Embracing Sustainability

Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change, facing rising sea levels, heat waves, floods, and droughts. At Sasin, we are acutely aware of the climate crisis. However, we also recognize that there has been a lack of progress in addressing environmental challenges, such as climate change, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, and pollution. These challenges are exacerbating social issues such as inequality, poverty, population displacement, and economic instability—which, in turn, are increasing global volatility and uncertainty.

Just as business organizations will be increasingly held accountable for their environmental and societal impact, so will business schools. Therefore, we do not have the luxury of remaining solely in our traditional domains of management education and thought leadership. We also need to develop and execute solid societal impact strategies, enable collaborative efforts, and drive the systemic changes that society will need to transition to more sustainable models.

Accomplishing these goals will require business schools to embrace more practical, action-oriented thought leadership and to collaborate more closely with corporate and public decision-makers. At Sasin, for example, we have a societal impact strategy development and execution process that we now are offering to other schools in the region.

Students and faculty have significant roles to play in promoting societal impact. In addition to teaching traditional and functional business topics, business schools must prepare their students to be societal change agents.

At Sasin, we often bring real-life examples of that change into our classrooms. For example, we have introduced students to Thai entrepreneurs who are lifting smallholder rice farmers out of poverty by empowering them to increase the quality and yield of their harvests, improve their access to markets, and lower their environmental impact.

Supporting the world’s sustainability transition is not only an imperative, but also one of the biggest commercial opportunities of our time. Companies, entrepreneurs, and academic institutions that place themselves at the forefront of this transition and aim to solve global sustainability challenges will be positioned to thrive. Given that reality, business schools should make sure to integrate societal impact into the DNA and daily behaviors of their entire communities.

Regionally Focused, Globally Engaged

Southeast Asia has its unique challenges and opportunities, as well as those it shares with the rest of the world. But as Obama noted, Asia’s future and the world’s future are inextricably connected.

The five themes outlined above offer a useful template for all business schools as we develop our programs. As we do so, we must stay rooted in the needs of our home regions while also promoting global engagement and understanding among our faculty, students, and staff.

This is the stance we take at Sasin, and one increasingly important to business schools worldwide. We must work together as a global community to shape a positive future for business education.