The business education challenge in Uganda
Current provision of business skills development is not adequate. Although Uganda has a plethora of business schools, the schools have tended to emphasize business theory over practice, and prioritise academic expertise and memorization over practical business experience in the learning and teaching process.
Employers seeking business skills look at least for education qualifications from overseas. While this may have been helpful up to now, it is not sustainable. Uganda needs to grow its own skills, and is capable of doing so.
Furthermore, even top international business schools are failing to deliver the skills that employers really need – soft leadership skills such as: integrity, execution, critical thinking, working with risk & diversity and effective communication & influencing skills*. There has been much debate about the contribution of business schools to the kinds of behaviours which led to the banking crisis in 2008. Uganda has an opportunity to not only learn from the past, but to also offer a better form of business education, building on a growing faith-based culture, an explosion of entrepreneurial efforts, an increasing recognition that business experts need to be trained differently, and emerging opportunities for centers of excellence where this training can be fostered.
Recent market research conducted by Hult International Business School among employers indicated that leading business schools were failing to deliver on the “soft” management skills that they recognise are key to effective management. Hult has prioritised the teaching of these skills in both its MBA and BBA programs, and is fast rising up the rankings of international business schools. We are drawing on first-hand experience of the Hult programs in the development of this course. Our aim is for this business school to “leapfrog” the best practice of leading business schools.
SoBAT aims to become a leading Ugandan business school that offers development of global business skills, applicable to a local business context aimed at achieving a social development agenda which increases wealth and welfare in Uganda, building on current business school best practice, the latest technological capabilities and capitalising on Uganda’s growing faith-based culture.
We are delivering on this mission through the following distinctive aspects:
Partnering with Business in Real time
We partner with businesses & associations to ensure the skills we are developing are those which will help employees, managers and entrepreneurs to be more productive and effective in a global market. Our innovative approach means course participants will achieve this improvement, and be rewarded for it, during the learning process, not after it. We will prioritise skills development in the following areas: execution, critical thinking, working with risk & diversity and effective communication & influencing skills. In addition, we will also seek to be an accredited centre for ACCA, CIPS, and CIMS training to strengthen the competitive advantage of its graduates.
Developing character
In addition to soft skill development, at the heart of our approach, we believe character is the key to a prosperous life, and can be learned and developed. We aim to develop qualities such as: integrity, discipline, dependability, empathy, courage and creativity.
Experiential learning
We believe that we learn best by listening to ideas, applying learning and reflecting on the results; and by repeating this cycle continuously. Our approach is designed to facilitate this process of learning in an optimally efficient way.
As a result, our approach will tend towards an emphasis on:
- Interactive style of teaching
- Use of case study – where possible live cases(i.e. with clients on real current issues)
- Simulations & business games
- Coaching – 121 and group coaching
- Working in teams
- Incubator or apprenticeships – project work in real start-up or established businesses.
Working with business and global faculty
Research tells us that the quality of faculty is the single biggest factor influencing business student satisfaction; they also represent the lion’s share of the cost of delivering business education. So, a strategy for faculty is a critical element of the overall business school strategy.
Our learning facilitators have both business management and global experience, as we aim to bring best available experience and expertise into the learning process. We propose to draw on the following mix of faculty:
- A small core of faculty based in Uganda, with international business management and teaching experience
- The use of international faculty to teach as guest speakers for one week or two-week modules, supported by long-distance virtual teaching and marking for the remainder of the module. This approach is more likely to be applicable for the MBA program and Executive Education short courses, which work more in modular form.
- The use of experienced Ugandan business managers as either guest speakers or developed into Professors of Practice, certified by the business school.
- The use of Ugandan academic faculty, with business qualifications and business teaching experience, from IHSU or other Ugandan business schools, on either part-time or full-time basis.
Working with latest learning technology
E-learning is an essential element of the way we deliver learning, both in terms of the economics and in preparing students to work well with technology. Key aspects of the experience include:
- Access to online reference materials
- Delivery of courses via webinars (real time & interactive) and podcasts (recorded)
- Online learning platforms (cf Moodle) to organise learning, assessment and course feedback
- Virtual coaching
- Online simulations and games
Focus on export
Our mission to help Uganda prosper means we are keen to support businesses which generate foreign income, whether in health technology (our heartland), value-add agriculture, outsourced business or IT services, tourism, oil and alternative energy