What students expect from universities

In a world where changes occur all the time and nothing stays the way it is, students are not seeking for education that only provides them with knowledge of how to steer a company that has many employees. The global network is very complex, students want to understand this network and find their place in it, which can certainly be a challenge. Business schools should now help students facing this challenge. Many come to university and do not know what exactly they want to do after their studies yet, so giving them a perspective and showing them different problems from alternating angles becomes very important. As some are more interested in analytics where others prefer the social approach, opportunities to specialize should already be given at an early stage, although one must not forget that the basics form the core of a good leader in our society so the balance plays a significant role.

For most students, business is not about business anymore. A lot of us are very concerned with global issues such as climate change or inequality but also with changes that the society in our country faces, like politics or a population that is getting older and older. We want to make a positive impact on our society and the environment and try to find a solution for problems that may have been caused by non-responsible managers or leaders in the past. Therefore, business schools should broaden our horizon, maybe through collaboration with other educational institutions or companies. Students are interested in all kinds of innovation and want to combine their knowledge of how to do business with ideas of how to better things as a whole.

A modern university is a place where students want to spend their time not only because of studying. It should be a place where one finds like-minded people with whom every challenge seems possible but maybe also colleagues that have totally different perspectives. Interaction with others not only helps us to gain a better understanding of today’s accelerated world but also to create new ideas and even change our thinking. Support from university through community projects or other events that help students to interlink with people from around the world to share their ideas is therefore an essential part in business education, since the combination of theory and praxis is one of the most interesting things for students nowadays.

The objective of business students is not to leave university and do ‘business as usual’, it is rather to become part of an innovative process that tries to change things for the better. As a result, we are interested in all kind of topics that globalization and digitalization bring along and as these change from one moment to the other, learning does not stop after a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Learning is seen as a lifelong activity, so institutions of higher education should not only focus on full-time students but provide some additional education for alumni and others involved in the business world as well, so that going to university will always generate a feeling of being at home. Of course, it has to be said that not all students that are starting their bachelor’s degree at a business school are thinking this way, some may be, but just have not made up their mind about what university is or should be for them yet. However, those who have are the ones that always try to become a better version of themselves and that really want to belong to a society, where change is not feared or refuted.

Universities should help and support these students, who might even have the toughest time at university as they do not want to miss anything and have high demands of themselves. Encouraging them will not only be an advantage for the students but also for university, since these later alumni are the ones that really make an impact.