Education is currently undergoing a crucial transformation. Major challenges imposed by globalisation and the digital revolution have called educational traditions into question and require disruptive changes in learning processes. At ESADE, we aim to address these challenges by transforming the educational experience we offer the students and participants in our programmes without abandoning the identity and values of our institution. To do this, we have taken a step that marks us as pioneers in the university and executive-training sector: an in-depth overhaul of our learning model.

Future challenges: globalisation and the digital revolution

“Our big news this year is not the launch of a new programme, the opening of a new building or campus, or a new international outlook,” commented Eugenia Bieto, Director General of ESADE Business & Law School. “Instead, we are focused on something more important and much more strategic for us: responding to globalisation and the digital revolution, which pose challenges to our role as an educational institution. And we have reached a very clear conclusion: that ESADE can only address these two challenges by reinventing our learning model.”

The combination of globalisation and the digital revolution has affected all sectors -- tourism, transport, audiovisual, banking -- and transformed the business models of most companies. Universities are no exception. “Sixty years ago, some enterprising businesspeople entered into an alliance with the Jesuits in order to found ESADE, which went on to become a success story. Today, we must emulate that capacity for initiative and reinvent ESADE’s educational model in response to the new ways in which today’s generations learn, as well as the needs of a society that is currently undergoing profound changes,” commented Dr. Bieto.

Four features of ESADE’s new learning model

1. The emphasis is shifted away from transmitting information (lectures will disappear almost entirely) and towards creating meta-knowledge. The instructor verifies that the students have assimilated the content through challenges and action-oriented projects.

2. Students work on basic theory before coming to class (via online materials, reading assignments, videos, and tests that confirm students’ mastery of the subject matter and allow them to attend class). Classroom time is used to clear up doubts, discuss the material in depth and compare perspectives.

3. Digital platforms and content take on a fundamental importance throughout the process because they allow a large portion of individual learning, instructor-student interaction and assessment to be moved outside the classroom.

4. Students learn in “wide-angle” mode, vaulting over the barrier between academic disciplines. The world is not a puzzle of subjects designed by instructors working within their respective silos of knowledge; it is a complex reality that one must learn to understand and manipulate in a multidisciplinary manner.

“The new model is defined by a new learning ecosystem, the enhancement of the overall educational experience and the central role of the faculty members who are piloting the process of change,” commented Francisco Longo, Associate Director General of ESADE, who is responsible for overseeing Student First (ESADE’s name for this new project).

Investment in new capacities and technological resources   

Over the past year and a half, ESADE has developed and applied the new methodology on its various campuses. During this process, the school has encouraged change through the creation of an educational innovation centre and launched a pilot programme in which eight faculty members from various departments used the new method to teach subjects to more than 1,000 students. The extension stage of the project will continue throughout the 2016-2017 academic year. We expect approximately one third of the approximately 130 instructors in the ESADE faculty to join the project during this time. ESADE’s ultimate goal is to have the new educational model fully implemented within three years.

To support this educational transformation process, ESADE will make a significant financial investment and allocate resources to add new technological infrastructure, develop a new ecosystem, and create advanced hubs of experimentation and simulation to foster better links with the world of research, learning and the reality of the business world. The school will also launch an ambitious plan to adapt the physical spaces on its campuses. In total, ESADE will allocate €10 million to the project over the next three years in order to fully adapt the institution to these new educational methods and environments.

New learning ecosystem: Rambla of Innovation

ESADE’s objective is to ensure that the new model is essentially an experiential learning process. The model relies not only on classrooms but also on laboratories and various meeting points between knowledge, learning and the business world. ESADE therefore decided to locate its new laboratories on its international Sant Cugat campus, specifically in the ESADECREAPOLIS building, which is designed to boost innovation processes. The laboratories will be located next to EGarage, a space launched by ESADE five years ago to encourage entrepreneurship among students. Located next to EGarage is EWorks, a space for putting ideas and projects into effect. This work space is designed for entrepreneurs who already have a clear plan and want to start working on it.

This environment is the place where ESADE will open its new laboratories. The school plans to create the Decision Lab, a space where faculty members and researchers can work on exploring the key factors in people’s decision-making processes in markets. The Decision Lab will be the ideal place for any student who wishes to validate a project and work with ESADE faculty members to design early feasibility studies for the launch of a new product or service.

Also in the coming months, ESADE plans to open the Design Factory, replicating the successful model promoted by Finland’s Aalto School of Management– the leading school for design thinking – which has already collaborated with ESADE in other fields. The aim of the Design Factory will be to allow students – working alongside faculty members – to devise responses and solutions to new challenges.

The last new space that will be opening on the ESADE campus during the 2016-2017 academic year is the Fab Lab, which will follow the model pioneered by MIT. A Fab Lab is a place for designing a new product, building prototypes and conducting all sorts of pre-launch tests. The equipment of ESADE’s future Fab Lab will include 3D printers.

In short, ESADE plans to create a new learning ecosystem – or “Rambla of Innovation” – for use by the nearly 2,000 students who take part in the MBA, MSc and BBA programmes on ESADE’s campus each year. This environment will combine entrepreneurship and innovation, placing students at the centre of their own journey of learning and value creation.

Successful experiences and initiatives at ESADE

Javier Solana is among the faculty members who started applying the new teaching methodology this year, as part of his training sessions in the Law and Global Governance programme at ESADE Law School. Prof. Solana has applied the new dynamics in discussions of the consequences of the Brexit with his students.

Models have also been developed for practical classes, where students work with ESADE faculty to apply models of creativity in companies. One example is the second edition of the Creativity for Business Innovation Challenge (C4BI), a joint initiative of ESADE and chef Ferran Adrià. In the C4BI, students from ESADE, Aalto University and Copenhagen Business School address the challenge of applying creative processes pioneered by Ferran Adrià’s restaurant in a very different business or sector. This year, the C4BI participants will apply these methods to a highly innovative healthcare centre: Hospital Sant Joan de Déu.

ESADE Law School’s Master in Legal Practice provides another opportunity for the application of the new educational method. In this programme, students take part simulations of legal hearings – an opportunity to put their knowledge to work in the roles of judge, lawyer and prosecutor. These sessions are recorded and can later be analysed in various ways.

ESADE’s online-only courses are also fertile ground for the school’s educational transformation. ESADE’s latest online programme is Geopolitics and Global Governance, taught by Javier Solana via the Coursera platform. Registration for this programme is 20% higher than the Coursera average, and the fee for participants, who pay to receive their final certificate, was four times higher than the average.

Finally, ESADE’s commitment to entrepreneurship and new technologies is fundamental. The school has reached an agreement with the organisers of the Mobile World Congress to move its campus to the MWC site during the event.

Source: ESADE