Business schools alter their approach

Bobby L. Hickman

October 17, 2008

With the drastic changes in the economy landscape over recent weeks, professors and staff at business schools are scrambling to prepare their students for an ever-changing future.

The far-ranging upheaval means fewer potential employers and fewer jobs, particularly in the financial services sector. Educators are also weighing how to help students understand the meltdown and prepare for the evolving needs of the marketplace. 
 
"Short-term, what you're seeing in the classroom is instructors bringing in current events and tying those to existing topics," said Jason Aldrich, director of the Career Management Center at Georgia State University's Robinson College of Business. "You're seeing faculty and staff like me bring speakers and experts to campus as we try to help students understand what's going on.'

Aldrich said he believes the financial crisis will eventually bring changes to the curriculum. Substantial changes to the core curriculum in higher education typically take 12 to 18 months, he said. Several years ago -- prior to the Enron scandal -- corporate ethics and responsibility was not necessarily a curriculum topic. "Since then, a number of schools have added it," he said, noting GSU now has a Center for Corporate Ethics and Responsibility.

"I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think we might have similar kinds of things impacting B-school curriculum," Aldrich continued. There could be "courses that take a hard look at this bailout process, or ones that zero in on the underlying regulations." He said new courses might tackle such questions as:
•    What occurred in the mortgage industry that caused this to happen?
•    How can we prevent it from happening in the future?
•    What sort of ethical questions came up around that situation?

Beyond the curriculum, Aldrich said, corporate recruiting of students "is going to be significantly impacted this year and might even be impacted next year." He said financial services companies have already cut back on recruiting in such areas as banking, commercial banking, mortgage banking and real estate.

However, student enrollment may not be affected. "Historically, when we've had a broad-based economic downturn," Aldrich said, "we've seen a 20% to 30% increase in student enrollment."

At the Robinson College of Business, "our sweet spot is the working professional," he said. There are 1,500 students enrolled in the graduate program, and most of those have full-time jobs. "You might see somebody slow down the pace of taking these courses part-time to time the job market," he said. "But our students tend to think longer term, so that's a bit of a plus for us. 

On the other hand, "You may see people think twice about a career in banking or investment banking," he said. "The advice we give in our career center is: 'Figure out what you're passionate about and find a way to make it happen.' You're probably going to have to cast a wider net: you can't just zero in on New York or Atlanta. Maybe you don't go after some of the names like Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch that were out there in the past."

He added, "To me, it's one of those times when you've really got to decide: Is this something I really want to do or am I just in it for the money?" Aldrich said some people may have previously sought business degrees "because they thought there was money there but they weren't really passionate about it. People who were looking simply because you can earn a good income might move in a different direction."

"There are pros and cons of a global economy, and this financial credit crisis is an example of how closely we're tied together," Aldrich said. "It's like a virus that just spread and spread. Everybody is holding paper that is really hard to value now. It's kind of scary when you think about big companies and mid-sized companies that can't borrow."

The October crisis "is not a 9/11-style downturn," he said. "We had a big drop in the market after 9/11: a lot of people pulled back for three to six months. But we were up and out of that thing before you knew it. I have a feeling this will last 12, 18 or even 24 months."

However, Aldrich also sees reason for long-term optimism. The Robinson College of Business is initiating a Wall Street trip this fall. In about two weeks, a group of 18 students will visit a number of companies on Wall Street. The trip is "part of a longer term effort to build relationships in New York," he said. With the recent financial developments, Aldrich said, "People have been asking if we still have anyone to visit. The good news is that nobody has canceled and the alumni (in New York) are looking forward to it.

"I think the message to take from that is: Wall Street's not going away and things are going to bounce back."

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