When thinking in 2023 about the vision for 2028, the following keywords come to the fore: artificial intelligence, collaboration, internationalisation, lifelong learning, synergies between science and business, to name but a few.
EBS alumnus, entrepreneur and investor Randy Padar believes that artificial intelligence (AI) will make a huge difference to learning and that what we have seen so far is just the beginning. Employers also expect graduates to be able to use AI in their work. All this has an enormous impact on education. “The influence of those higher education institutions that are more effective in taking up new opportunities will grow. And vice versa – the influence of those who fail to do so will wane. In the US, we are already seeing universities closing their doors because they cannot keep up with the times,” Padar says. In AI, he is fascinated by personalisation of learning, i.e. learning as effectively as possible, based on the learner’s current level of knowledge and according to the learner’s needs, and gaining great experiences in the learning process.
Mart Habakuk, Chancellor of EBS, also confirms that the rising quality and growing availability of products using artificial intelligence will be a game changer for education and other sectors. “Artificial intelligence is replacing tutors, providing students with increasingly better feedback, and helping to design curricula and personalised learning pathways. In other words, it is breaking apart the traditional models of education provision and funding.”
Meelis Kitsing also stresses that the platforming of universities and the globalisation of business education are important trends. “Digital platforms enable global networking because education can be provided anywhere and to anyone, which creates economies of scale. Instead of offering a one-size-fits-all model for the average student, we can develop specific subjects that maybe only five people will study in their university. However, through the platform, this specific subject can be offered worldwide, so that it reaches a wider audience.”
Thinking globally has been an inherent quality of EBS from the very beginning. After all, EBS was founded by an Estonian, an American and a Canadian Estonian, and the first students attended training courses in the United States in 1988. Since then, internationalisation has been a consistent and naturally two-way process: foreign students and lecturers have come to study and teach in Estonia, while Estonian students have gone abroad on student exchange to gain knowledge and experience.
Now that EBS has been operating for 35 years, it has nearly fifty partner universities abroad, including prominent European business schools such as Lyon Business School, Bocconi University, Norwegian Business School, Copenhagen Business School and others. But the choice is not just limited to Europe – you can study in Australia and Argentina, Japan and South Korea, and many other distant countries.
Foreign students from more than 40 countries make up around a third of EBS’ students. Rector Meelis Kitsing: “The emphasis has to be on diversity and quality – those who come to us need to have a good academic background and practical experience to complement our community.” Stressing the importance of internationalisation, Kitsing adds that business education that is not international is not possible in Estonia with its population of just 1.3 million – our companies have international ties and we need to be able to interact with different cultures.
It is smart to learn in school, where any mistakes made are significantly cheaper and less painful than later on the job. And obviously students obtain contacts and connections in school, which will be essential in business. In this context, Mart Habakuk stresses that EBS has helped to create a strong business network, connecting students, alumni and business professionals. “This network is an important resource that contributes to both career opportunities and business cooperation.”
Lifelong learning is another important keyword in the vision of EBS – in addition to offering high quality postgraduate studies, it also competes in the market for training, microdegrees, and personalised learning pathways. Meelis Kitsing points out that so far the development of higher education has been seen in terms of lifelong learning v. formal learning. “The OECD identified this breakdown among key factors affecting the future of universities as early as 2004. Although this scale has been used for a long time, the above models may not actually be opposites. Formal post-graduate education can be integrated with lifelong learning,” mentions Kitsing, adding that learning is also becoming more personalised, taking into account the needs of the learner and the pace of learning. For example, instead of a traditional two-year Master’s programme, a person can study for a degree in a different way, by combining a set of Master’s-level subjects and microdegrees that best suits the person’s needs and timeframe.