Changing times at the management school

From an interview in the Daily Bruin with Gareth James, the incoming dean of the Anderson School of Management: ...It’s a very challenging time for business schools in particular. Not only are there the challenges associated with topics that you raised in your question but while there’s increasing demand for business education at the undergraduate..., there’s some decline in interest in, for example, the MBA programs – which have been a mainstay for many business schools, including Anderson. 

We need to figure out in the long run – how do we provide a high-quality product to our students at a price point that the average individual can afford? Because obviously there’s massive not just tuition costs associated with doing a full-time MBA, but the opportunity cost of giving up two years of employment to come back to school to do that program. So we have to ensure that when students do that, they get the best possible experience and end up with great jobs at the end and a great experience during that time period.

Then in higher education, there’s somewhat related questions. Technological advances and changes in cultural norms over the last five years since COVID-19, that over the last 10 to 15 years overall – the student experience is very different than it used to be. When I first started teaching, you would have a lecture, and the vast majority of students would turn up for that lecture as long as it was a good instructor. These days, more and more of my colleagues are frustrated by the challenges of getting students to actually come into the classroom and experience the classes. As a father with two sons in college, I know they have some of the same challenges themselves. And the reality is that there are many more opportunities for students to learn now. There’s a lot of high-quality video and related materials online. If faculty post their lectures online, often students would rather watch it at one and a half or two times speed than sit in the classroom.

As instructors, we have to ask ourselves: What is the value proposition that we’re providing?

We have to be very careful to ensure that there’s an added benefit beyond just sitting in front of a screen and watching that video. … That physical campus experience and the interactivity of the students on that campus is a real value proposition and differentiator that no online video can provide...

Full interview at https://dailybruin.com/2026/05/04/qa-incoming-dean-of-ucla-anderson-school-of-management-reflects-on-plans-future.