Huge congratulations on
the recent triple accreditation
of the school. Do you see it
as being your biggest success
to date, and what are the
benefits of triple accreditation
for alumni, current students,
and faculty?
What technological
trends do you believe are
having the biggest impact
on today’s business world?
How are you helping to shape
and realize Hult’s vision of
being the world’s most relevant
global business school?
As a member of Hult’s Leadership Team,
giving new and exciting meaning to what
it means to be relevant is a frequent topic
of conversation and something we all take
very seriously. Our curricula, the way we
teach and enable students to learn, our
academic quality and standards, and our
research and other academic activities all
need to align to realize this exciting vision
for Hult. As CAO, I am responsible for
making all of the pieces of the academic
puzzle align in a meaningful way. Providing
excellent teaching has been, and will
always remain, one of Hult’s staunchest
commitments. Our next Global Faculty
Summit is on Innovating Pedagogy.
Disruptive technologies are already
impacting everything we do and there
is no doubt that they will continue to do
so. However, I think we have a tendency to
overestimate short term impacts and
underestimate longer term consequences.
AI, for instance, regularly dominates news
headlines, but so far, it is not much more
than the curve-fitting of big data through
machine learning. There is no inherent
intelligence near it. Yet there is no denying
that nanotechnology, gene editing, AI,
and many other technologies are evolving
rapidly because of the massive computer
power now available and the fact that
fewer regulations govern these
developments in some countries.
While five to 10 year cycles have always
been discernible, I am a strong believer
in longer cycles. History would attest that
after a period of sustained growth, there
are usually decades of decline.
It is a BIG win for Hult, and one that would
not have been possible without the
commitment of a very engaged faculty and
professional staff across all campuses,
including Ashridge. What we achieved in
so little time still blows my mind and it is a
real honor to have led the team that
enabled a great school to secure this
hallmark of quality. We are no longer an
academic underdog and are now
considered a serious hitter in the business
school world and are much more
prominent in people’s thoughts.
Two intensive years of hard work crowned
a decade of even harder work to make
Hult what it is today—a great and
differentiated global business school.
The benefits of triple accreditation are
pretty universal. You get the bragging
rights that come with the achievement,
as well as the positive impact it has on
bolstering your attractiveness and building
your reputation. It will undoubtedly help
attract great faculty and professorial staff,
and improves our academic credibility.
It will help our marketing, recruitment of
great students, and build our brand.
We also have a solid research strategy,
an innovative incentive scheme, and
a wonderful body of professional staff who
help faculty initiate and deliver research
projects. But we need more faculty to
engage in this process and not fall out of
the habit of doing intellectually stimulating
and useful research. Driving this research
agenda also helps our accreditations,
which in turn supports our rankings.
11