Business education: the challenge of relevance and value creation

Today there is plenty of good news for the providers of business education. Business education now has a dominant position in many educational institutions globally. In the USA undergraduate business degrees grew from 14% of all degrees granted in 1971 to 20% in 2003. The numbers were 18% and 23% for MBAs and Masters programs for the same period (Friga, Bettis and Sullivan 2003). In Australia business and commerce degrees constitute the most popular field of education for award course students in 2005 constituting almost 30% of all higher education courses taught (ABS Year Book Australia, 2007). “Students and business people from around the world continue to flock to business schools” (Lorenzi 2004). The demand is predicted to continue (Friga et al 2003). [Introduction]