‘Business education is investment for young people’

The Dean of Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, Peter Tufano was in Nigeria to speak to some stakeholders at the World Economic Forum on Africa. In a chat with DANIEL OBI, Peter spoke comprehensively about business education and about the school’s engagement with Africa. Excerpts:

Could you let us into world of Said Business School Oxford, the objective and when it was established?

The school was established in 1996 and it is integral part of Oxford University.  Many business schools are stand-alone as they do not affiliate with any other university. We try to create a kind of different business school which is embedded in the university. 

It is a school with students from around the world and they interact with people from the university and they study in addition to the normal subjects – marketing and finance, which we do very well and study how markets change around the world.  It is a high business school where you study business curriculum and create support and create alumni network and what makes it different and special is that it is an integral part of Oxford University.

What are some of the courses you offer, especially those courses that are relevant to African market?

We have an MBA programme and that is part of the reasons I am attending the WEF. We have programme in management which is to manage infrastructure projects. We have a specialised programme on infrastructure. We have executive programme on leadership and many more that are relevant for various students across the globe. Globally, less than 2.5 percent of people who take GMAT exams and go further for MBA programmes come from Africa. 

As I think about business education, it is an investment for young people. So the question I ask is 30 years from now, will 2.5 percent of world leaders come from Africa or be more. So I am committed of getting that fraction in my school to 10 percent. So the global percent of 2.5 percent to 10 percent will take a bit of work and that is why I think I am the only business school being here at WEF.

I want Oxford to be graduates for the best students in Africa who choose to have international experience. I want to use Oxford experience to help students in Africa achieve their dreams.

Is the level of development in Africa a function of that poor percentage of students studying MBA globally?

Only 5,000 young from the entire continent wrote the GMAT exam last year. Does that mean that only 5,000 students from the continent that could go on to do their MBA. I understand that there are education issues but the number is very low. The low number could be that some Africans believe in reading for their MBA locally than going to Europe

In that, there could be some students that want to study in Africa and stay in the continent but there could be others who want to create international experience for themselves, working in Africa but working with people from other countries. My class has a mix from different continents such as Americas, Europe and others. There is no minority in my class.  If you are learning about business and want experience and also learning about how people in other parts of the world do business, live and culturally interact with one another you would like to do that in a place like Oxford. You could think about issues and topics while getting skills in finance and private equity and whatever you want to do in entrepreneurship.

You were at the World Economic Forum in Abuja; how far were you able to convince Africans about the school?

I am an educator and I was there educating people. At Said Business School, Africans would like to see courses that relate to African environment. We have a course taught by Africans on doing business in Africa. We have a programme called Oxford 1+1 MBA programme and it is for two years. Our MBA is for one year but there may be Africans who want programmes in African studies or environmental study or public health. They could combine any of these with their MBA.

Most business schools will have business students interact within themselves and talk to professors and bring business professionals to speak to them. What we try to do in our business school is to make sure that our students are interacting with people who are studying government, philosophy or medicine because ultimately in the business world, they have to interact with all those different kinds of people.

Is the formation of business school as it is a relatively new concept, a failure of tertiary schools?

There are basic skills that people need and there are specialized professional skills they need. Postgraduate professional business schools are additional value for more matured students to have the ability to understand how organisations work. They have the experience to ask challenging questions.

You rarely visit Africa, so how do your lecturers get the experience to teach about Africa?

The course we are running now called Doing Business in Africa,  is being taught by someone who works in Africa full-time and we have hired them to come up to work with us. I am also in the middle of hiring someone who has spent a lot of time in the continent.

Some students who would like to acquire skills at some business schools abroad are really pushed back by cost/tuition, how do you manage this?

We have set up scholarships for African students. There are also a number of other scholarships that will appeal to African students. We are also trying to find local scholarships that would be willing to fund students who want to proceed to Oxford or other schools.

I understand that cost is an issue for some students. In the other hand, to the extent that the cost is an issue a one year programme is half the cost of a two year programme that some students would otherwise consider.

Do you plan to set up a satellite campus here in Africa?

The experiences we are delivering to the students are embedded with the university experience. Part of the experience is interacting with students from other parts of the world. Also there is content that is delivered by professors not just from the business school. If we set up here, we deny students of all the benefits. The strategy is placed-based and our ability is because we are Oxford.