The NWU School of Business and Governance's Mafikeng site of delivery
A new two-year MBA course was launched in 2016 — a game changer for us — and it’s already in its second and final year. With 2017 already accelerating full steam ahead into the first term, the School of Business and Governance at the North-West University (NWU) is well positioned to face the challenges of the modern market environment, in partnership with its numerous interest groups.
The School of Business and Governance is the first full school in the extended NWU to merge in line with the revised strategy and subsequent restructuring of the university. This exciting synergy will be developed over the next few years. Not only do we offer the public and private sectors in the area a wide menu of choices, but we also provide access to three campuses in Potchefstroom, Mafikeng and Vanderbijlpark.
The Potchefstroom and Mafikeng business schools both moved to brand-new facilities, and the Quest Conference Centre in Vanderbijlpark was upgraded.
The alignment of the MBA programme means that a student can attend block classes, evening classes and morning classes over weekends, and on Mondays write any module exam at any of the three campuses.
The school’s success in the market for more than 50 years is proof of its sustainability. This was underwritten by its international re-accreditation for five years (the first accreditation was for three years) by AMBA (the Association of MBAs) in London. The international panel from Europe’s top business schools must have been impressed by the MBA programme of the relatively small NWU School of Business and Governance, located far from the bustle of the city.
The popularity of the new MBA programme, together with the postgraduate diploma in management as an honours degree prerequisite for the new NQF Level nine qualification, meant that the school was unable to accommodate all the applications for 2017. The MBA course was already full in December last year.
At the combined study school at the end of January on the Potchefstroom Campus, caterers had to serve more than 400 management programme participants. The keynote speaker was the renowned media expert Tim du Plessis.
Private and public sector organisations are still headhunting and hiring fresh talent, and they recognise the value of an MBA.
NWU’s MBA continuously adapts to market developments and future trends. Important themes include globalisation, entrepreneurship, strategic talent management and triple bottom line imperatives (managerial ethics and corporate social responsibility). These all are embedded in strategic thinking and a multi-disciplinary orientation. The key requirement is a practical organisational project between syndicate groups in collaboration with actual companies that illustrates the real-world implementation of strategic initiatives.
This is only one of the ways in which the NWU School of Business and Governance innovates the MBA curriculum and accommodates different generations in dealing with the increasing diversity of organisations and the needs of the future.
At the start of 2017 it is already clear that the year will expose markets and managers of large and small companies worldwide to very volatile scenarios. While Brexit in Britain and Trumpanomics still have to reveal their full consequences, it is already clear that a new dispensation awaits global markets.
Change in all its terrifying glory? As with any new strategy, we have seen in South Africa too that announced plans first have to crystallise, which will naturally demand a lot more pragmatism (resources). In this regard the impact of technological change, trade globalisation and institutions and their policies has to be taken into account. There are also major elections in key countries this year, and here at home, and this will affect relationships inside and outside countries — a further return to protectionism, or freer trade?
In South Africa the socioeconomic time bomb must be eliminated by implementing plans such as Local Economic Development and the Integrated Development Plan in communities in the various provinces, and at national level the grandiose National Development Plan, which could have a positive multiplier effect. South Africa must create jobs on a large scale by stimulating local production and growth. However, this requires strategic visionary leadership from everybody involved in managing the country’s resources and real public-private partnerships.
One of the role players in this regard is business schools, which could be important impact partners in the various provinces. This requires sensitivity to strategic errors and the breaking down of the silo approach that currently prevails. Capital must be mobilised to break down South Africa’s own wall of unemployment and poverty.
Professor Ronnie Lotriet is programme manager of the MBA programme at the NWU School of Business and Governance