- Guy Pfeffermann
- Fri, 22 Oct 2010 03:35PM EDT
Some top business schools are opening up branches in Africa. What is their likely impact on business education on the Continent ?
CEIBS, the China Europe International Business School, the highest-rated in China, established a branch in Accra, Ghana (see: http://www.economist.com/whichmba/ceibs-in-ghana). Other international business schools have established beachheads on the Continent or are looking into Africa's market potential. This new trend was a major subject of discussion at a joint conference of the European Foundation for Management Development and the Association of African Business Schools (Building a Business School in the XXI st Century - the Africa Case - http://www.efmd.org/index.php/conferences-learning-groups/1424-efmd-joint-africa)
One set of issues has to do with quality assurance, as some of the foreign schools turn out to be "fly-by-night". The more interesting discussion revolved around the following questions: do foreign schools contribute to strengthening local management education capacity ? What is the likely impact of these schools, which tend to target the "top of the market", on the local business schools, many of which are still in their early years of development ? How might branches of foreign schools contribute most effectively to the development of local management education talent ?
