SDA Bocconi: Executive Education Returns to the Classroom

BOCCONI UNIVERSITY'S BUSINESS SCHOOL IS READY FOR THE POSTLOCKDOWN PHASE: STARTING JUNE 26, IN CLASS TEACHING WILL COMPLEMENT DISTANCE LEARNING. DEMAND FOR ONLINE EDUCATION HAS INCREASED FIVEFOLD DURING THE PANDEMIC

Fifty managers, half of whom are in the classroom and half are connected via streaming: management training of the future becomes a reality on June 26th at SDA Bocconi school of management where classroom activities in attendance resume after the green light from the Lombardy Region. This resumption is characterized first and foremost by safety and equal opportunities. Safety for those who choose to return to the classroom: the campus is equipped with all the devices for social distancing, temperature measurement and the sanctification of environments and air. In addition, the QR code of the SDAB Life App will record the presence of anyone who enters the campus, who will also be equipped with masks, gloves and sanitizing gel mandatory during their stay on campus. Equal opportunities to continue their online training if they are unable to return to the campus, relying on the most modern teaching technologies and broadcast of lessons in streaming.

The first to experience the new teaching method are the participants of the ‘Administration, Finance and Control’ course, which will be followed, for example, by those of ‘General Management for SMEs’ and the advanced training course in Insurance Brokerage.

"In executive education, being able to learn and interact with colleagues is fundamental", explains Giuseppe Soda, Dean of the SDA Bocconi School of management. "That's why we prepared from the start of the lockdown to be ready to open our classrooms again as soon as health conditions and government and regional directives would allow. Every year more than 10,000 managers attend our courses and being able to guarantee quality and now safety to each of them and their companies or institutions is fundamental".

The pandemic has accelerated the processes of teaching innovation (and their adoption) developed by SDA Bocconi's Learning Lab: this has made it possible to transfer traditional online teaching activities both in synchronous and asynchronous mode and to now resume just as quickly in blended mode. "The pandemic has also given a strong boost to the demand from managers for online courses", explains Soda. "In recent months, in fact,  demand has increased fivefold: this is a trend that will continue especially for the more technical contents and related to the updating of skills already in use".

And it is precisely SDA Bocconi’s ability to innovate, to be flexible and to identify creative solutions that participants acknowledge. A Bloomberg survey in fact, conducted during the Covid emergency, places Bocconi’s school of management in 4th place in the world for its ability to transfer innovation and creativity, just behind the business schools of Stanford, Cornell and Berkeley universities.

by Barbara Orlando