Page 22 - Global Focus, Issue 2, 2018
P. 22
EFMD Global Focus_Iss.2 Vol.12
www.globalfocusmagazine.com
Innovation and the future of doctoral talent
In order to respond to these shifting demands
for talent, doctoral programmes need to innovate
and adapt. Yet doctoral studies have not
necessarily been at the forefront of innovations
– resistance to new forms of doctorates remains.
In order to develop their relevance and retain their
standards, developments in doctoral qualifications
require the confidence of communities both inside
and outside academia.
There is a tension between demands for
fit-for-purpose doctoral programmes and
legitimate concerns that innovations may lead
to lower standards or a lack of recognition. Thus
it is up to accrediting organisations, business
schools and programme directors to provide
relevant programmes that develop the required
competences for doctoral graduates without
diminishing the elite position of the doctorate
in the educational hierarchy.
The community of professionals working with
doctoral programmes should be rightly proud that
their graduates learn perhaps the most valuable of
all skills – they learn how to think. The next stage
of development is that graduates leave equipped
and inspired to enter all sectors and organisations
in order to demonstrate the potential value and
impact for society of a doctorate in business and
The community of professionals working with management.
doctoral programmes should be rightly proud A graduate holding a doctoral degree has a
that their graduates learn perhaps the most valuable passport to do anything they wish. The role of
of all skills – they learn how to think. The next stage business schools and their doctoral programmes
of development is that graduates leave equipped should be to open the eyes of their graduates to the
and inspired to enter all sectors and organisations potential opportunities and provide the skills and
in order to demonstrate the potential value and competencies for their talent to have an impact.
impact for society of a doctorate in business
and management
About the Author
Professor Mark Smith is Dean of Faculty, Grenoble Ecole de Management,
France
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