Call for nominations to join Chartered ABS Taskforce

The Chartered ABS is forming a new taskforce to investigate the impact of UK business schools in delivering their international objectives and how this influences both domestic and international prosperity. We are calling for nominations from people with varied experience and expertise to join the taskforce, to formulate and carry out the work. This includes people working in our business schools and people with relevant experience from outside business schools. This will include policymakers and representatives of UK education in general.

This builds on the success of two previous task forces: The Innovation Taskforce and The Delivering Value Taskforce.

Background

The phenomenon of internationalisation is defined in various ways by a number of rankings (e.g. QS, Times, FT) and accreditation bodies (e.g. EFMD, AMBA) that work with schools of business and management. However, the lack of consistent definitions and methodologies for understanding ‘effective internationalisation’ undermines both the ability of individual member schools to improve their international reach and the ability of the Chartered ABS to lobby effectively for policy and practice level changes that further enhance the collective impact of members.

Focus

This taskforce will focus on the impact of Chartered ABS members in delivering international reach and how this influences both domestic and international prosperity in a post-Brexit world. Schools of business and management can, and do, act as conduits to international partnering which generates value both within and beyond universities to help forge regional economic links, international trade opportunities and inward international investment.

The scope of this taskforce is thus threefold:

• By working with a cross-section of member schools, to devise a credible and robust method by which the different dimensions of internationalisation and the international economic impact of UK schools of business and management can be both defined and measured;
• To provide evidence about the level and scope of internationalisation of and the international value UK schools of business and management (at both the aggregate level and within strategic groups of member schools);
• To develop a post-Brexit road map which offers advice to leadership teams within individual member schools as they consider options for enhancing the international dimension of their offering. This would likely take the form of a typological approach which builds on previous ‘Strategic Groups’ recently reported by the Chartered ABS and would offer advice on (a) pathways to internationalisation and (b) relevant metrics, resources, capabilities, etc.

Examples of some of the specific areas that the taskforce might wish to look at would be: key aspects of international campuses to include ‘mode of entry’ (joint-venture – teaching only or research and teaching; subsidiary, campus and land assets etc - as typologies), operational links and co-dependencies with parent campus, financial structure (e.g. profit repatriation), differentiation/segmentation of local delivery and pricing versus parent campus.

Outcomes

The aim is to produce a document similar to previous taskforce reports. It will be content rich, including a good number of case studies. There will be tangible action points and calls to action. The report would be an excellent resource for member schools and also demonstrate to policymakers and other stakeholders that business schools have a lot to offer on the international agenda. There will be a launch event.

Commitment

It is envisaged that the taskforce will be in place for approximately a year, with one meeting every other month, probably in London. These meetings will take up to three hours.

The Chartered ABS will provide support to the taskforce.

In between meetings members of the taskforce will be expected to commit to contribute by inputting information, making introductions, helping to write relevant parts of the final report and reviewing parts written by others.

This role is unremunerated.

How to apply

You may self-nominate or nominate others. If you nominate others, please ensure you have their agreement to participate.

We are looking for academics and external members, so you may wish to bring this to the attention of your Advisory Board or others with who you work.

Please send a letter outlining what you could bring to the task force and why you wish to participate (no more than two pages long), along with a brief CV. In the case of academics, please include a letter of support from your dean/head of school.

We wish to have a task force of a workable size and sufficient diversity and therefore we may need to undertake a selection process.

Applications should be sent to Ramin Bokaian, Research Manager, E: ramin.bokaian@charteredabs.org by Wednesday 15 August 2018.