Student Mobility Is Important With The Coming Industrial Revolution: William Boulding

Duke University’s Fuqua Business School introduced a new degree programme in the business analytics space -- Master of Quantitative Management – that aims to train people for the coming industrial revolution by understanding the intersection of business domain knowledge and the technology capability.

The one-year degree programme also has a STEM designation that allows a three-year work opportunity in the U.S industry. 

William Bill Boulding, Dean of Duke’s Fuqua Business School said, “We've introduced a new degree programme which is in the business analytics space and it is aimed at the people who will essentially be the data analytics people within a company, who will understand the data science requirements, understand artificial intelligence and how you put machine learning to work behind artificial intelligence”.

He added, “This one-year program which we call our pre-experience masters, also has STEM designation. The program will provide talent in the space, that companies are most desperate to fill, (related to) the intersection of business domain knowledge and the technology capability”.

The STEM designation graduate in the United States gets an opportunity to work for three years with a U.S firm after the government approval. “We received the approval last November for this (STEM) designation. And that's a real benefit for students considering coming to the U.S to receive their MBA” said Boulding.

Boulding also expressed that the current global education scenario is ‘quite troubling’ which retreats from the idea of global education. Students feel less welcomed due to immigration policy or rhetoric. He asserted, “There's so much value from a geographically diverse student body, being able to educate one another.”

He added, “We are globally connected whether people like it or not. And because we are globally connected we should do all we can to understand the upside of the global interdependence that is very much a part of our lives. I believe we benefit from that global connectedness and we should not fear one another, we should appreciate and value one another and take advantage of whatever good it has to offer”.

Furthermore, Boulding talks about the ‘student mobility’ in terms of boosting economic activity, economic productivity, economic growth and economic opportunity of a country. He states that 'student mobility is very important' for the economic growth of a country.

“Everybody benefits when you have the student mobility and if you don't have access to that talent, it's a scary thing. Because right now the global economy is shifting to a knowledge-based economy. If you're a country that does not welcome talent then you are on the risk of being left behind as we enter into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And I don't think any country wants to be left behind. Therefore, all of us should be encouraging super ability to create the kind of talent that can help all of us”, stated Boulding.

Fuqua is also increasing access and opportunities for ‘lifelong learning’ with their community of graduates by introducing a free re-skilling programme to develop as a leader. All the graduates of Duke’s programs will have access to ongoing tuition-free non-degree executive education courses so that they can continue with the process of developing.

Boulding said, “One of the hallmarks of a great leader is that they're always thinking about their ongoing development. In a world where we produced quite a few business school graduates who now find themselves in a world where everyone's talking about the big data and artificial intelligence. We'll make sure that we give our graduates an opportunity to re-skill in this space to engage in lifelong learning and make sure that they have the opportunity to connect with us over a lifetime, as they continue their lifelong journey to develop as leaders”.