Participants and staff at the start of the week in the forecourt of Universidad del Rosario in central Bogota
Our MBA students have just returned from Bogota, the capital city of Colombia – home to 8 million people, and the largest city in South America. This week-long study trip is integrated in our MBA every year and consists in the delivery of two modules, Sustainability in Context in our full time (i.e. 12 months) programme, and Managing around the World: Roundtables for Practicing Managers for our Exec MBA programme (over 2 years, part time).
A key benefit of delivering those two modules in a different location every year is to provide our students and practising managers with opportunities to “leave the office behind them”, engage with local and like minded practising managers, identify and address key personal challenges, as well as social, economic and environmental challenges that affect the conduct of business in environments away from home. Immersing ourselves into a different environment and culture facilitates reflection and introspection. Last year those two residential modules were delivered in South Africa with our partner Stellenbosch University. This year, we were partnering with a leading Colombian university, Universidad del Rosario in Bogota.
To any student interested in sustainability issues, Bogota provides a compelling case for close inspection. Colombia is home to some of the most polluting industries while the infrastructure struggles to cope with the growing population of its capital city. Wealth inequalities remain very high, which impact on the business models of local companies – with Colombia displaying one of the world’s highest gini coefficient and little progress being made to tackle extreme poverty.
Through a mix of formal and infomal sessions, workshops, observations, reflections and company visits our students first identified unique, context-specific sustainability challenges that act as barriers to growth and economic (and human) development, then found out about some very innovative sustainable business models implemented in local organisations, such as the recently launched business model of Fondo Nacional del Ahorro, Colombia’s largest savings trust, aimed at providing housing to citizens unable to secure access to credit. Economic, social and environmental problems are common in Colombia, and it was refreshing to witness the effort of local organisations, big and small, to tackle those issues. One of our sessions was led by Paula and Sebastian, two of our MBA alumni in Colombia who, armed with their local knowledge, told us about the way business model innovation (which we address in the MBA) provided solutions to those social and environmental challenges, while the Head of WWF Colombia explained the nature of those challenges and the work WWF had been undertaking with leading multinational firms in the country to benefit, not only their bottom line but local population too.
Two of our students, Vicky Thompson and Sandra Norval reflecting on their personal challenges towards the end of the course…
Our Exec MBA students joined practicing managers from Bled School of Management, Slovenia and other partner institutions and explored the many leadership challenges they faced, either in their current job or while transitioning away from their current role and organisation. The opportunity for our MBA students to exchange their views on leadership and management with other from different countries and cultures always proves a success, while the exploration of their own leadership challenges required self reflection and the ability (and willingness) to open up to others and dig, sometimes deeply into issues of a very personal nature.
We also had some more leisurely time (and some fun) along the way during what became a very intensive week. This included a city tour of Bogota and a visit to Monserrat high above the city on the Sunday… and the local mojitos and local beers which we had to try. No complaints as far as the mojitos are concerned, but with a few too many on the last night many of us ended up enjoying ourselves late into the night or early the following morning. We all had a fantastic, and richly rewarding week in Bogota where life-long friendships developed.
Study tours and field trips are integrated in the MBA at Exeter. To help our MBA participants cover the cost of the trip our programme generously covered all related expenses (accommodation in a four star hotel in town, lunches and dinners with participants and Faculty, airport transfers and local transportation within Bogota) with only the airfare left to the charge of the participants. We have big plans for next year when we will travel to yet another world capital city which will (no doubt!) provide us with many cultural and environmental challenges to overcome during the week!
You can find more details about the various opportunities for field trips and overseas study tours on our MBA website
[Pictures courtesy of Louise Heaps, Exec MBA student]