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Press Release - International Finance Corporation
Johannesburg, South Africa, May 12, 2005 — Sixty business school faculty
members from 20 universities around Africa are in Johannesburg this week
to develop their teaching skills. Sponsored by the International Finance
Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, this is the
first continent-wide workshop for African management and business school
faculty on participant-centered and practice-based teaching methods.
The workshop, titled Teaching the Practice of Management, was designed and
jointly organized by African faculty from the Gordon Institute of Business
Science of South Africa and the Lagos Business School of Nigeria with the
involvement of leading international business schools, including Harvard
Business School, IESE, and Columbia Business School. The workshop
addresses the changing needs of teachers of management for Africa’s new
generation of business and community leaders and is part of the Global
Business School Network (GBSN) – an IFC initiative that seeks to enhance
management skills in emerging markets by partnering with business schools
to build local capacity for management training.
“This program has enabled us to bring together for the first time faculty
from business schools across the African continent to work together in
developing practice-based teaching skills. Enhancing the capabilities of
African business schools to train local management graduates is critical
for development and improvement of the investment climate,” said Guy
Pfeffermann, former chief economist of IFC and director of the GBSN.
The program focuses on introducing practice-based teaching and learning
methods into African management education and classroom discussion of case
studies, which are used in many leading international business schools.
“Practice-based teaching and learning allow managers and executives to
apply principles. Cases stretch them and force them to make decisions.
Making decisions in the classroom helps them make better decisions in
their organizations,” said Nick Binedell, director of the Gordon Institute
of Business Science.
The program – an intensive one-week course – is designed for faculty from
business schools in Africa that are committed to incorporating discussion
and practice-based teaching into their curriculum and for faculty members
who will play major roles in leading curriculum development in their
schools over the next decade. The program began with a two-day meeting of
the deans and directors of participating schools to discuss institutional
issues related to fostering and supporting discussion and practice-based
teaching in Africa. Professor Tom Piper of Harvard Business School, one of
the teachers in the program, noted the importance of “support at the
leadership level of these institutions to encourage a learning process
which encompasses the active engagement of participants and helps them
develop the skills, attitudes, and capabilities essential to practice.”
“We were delighted with the response to the program,” said Professor
Albert Alos, rector of the Lagos Business School, Pan-African University,
co-host of the program. This year’s program was over-subscribed, and
another session will be held again next year.
On May 11, SAB Miller sponsored a dinner that brought together
participants in the program with representatives of the local and regional
business community. The theme of the evening was the role of management
education in developing countries and its impact on business, and the
event provided a platform for dialogue between business schools and the
business community. Andre Parker, Managing Director, SAB Miller Africa and
Asia, who serves on the Africa Advisory Group of the GBSN, observed, "The
GBSN is a critical capacity-building initiative for Africa and we are
delighted to support it."
The program is part of one of four GBSN African pilot programs financed by
IFC. GBSN harnesses the experience of several of the world’s top business
schools in support of institutional capacity-building for African business
schools. Strengthening these business schools will deepen and widen the
pool of well-trained local managers who play a crucial role in generating
jobs, reduce reliance on expatriate managers, and help stem brain-drain.
GBSN’s other pilot programs are with the Lagos Business School in Nigeria,
the Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration and Kenya’s
USIU. GBSN is also helping the World Bank’s International Development
Association in support of Ethiopia’s major business school. |
