For the Dean of Deusto Business School, Álvaro de la Rica Aspiunza (Bilbao, 1970), 2021 was a very relevant year since the institution he directs was among the best in the world by obtaining two of the international accreditations that within the so-called -Triple Crown: those of the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), which only 6% of the world’s business schools own and where Deusto is the sixth Spaniard to receive it, and those of the AMBA (Association of MBAs), which have only 2% of world centers. “The third is EQUIS, which is also on our roadmap; that would be the next step,” says De la Rica. Some international seals that recognize the level of his teachers, his publications, internationalization and relationships with the business fabric, he says.
And this also outlines areas for improvement for the oldest management school in Spain, founded in 1916 and known as La Comercial de Deusto. One of them is strengthening the alumni network, which has just turned 100 and has 7,000 members worldwide. “They invite us to benefit much more from it,” says the dean. Also to renew the Advisory Board of the institution. De la Rica claims that they have already been created to accelerate the transformation of this council, to include women and younger members and to improve governance dynamics through the creation of several working commissions: Academic Excellence, Future Trends and International Positioning.
Since taking office in July 2018, this PhD in Economics and Master’s degree in Advanced Management from the University of Deusto began developing a roadmap that will prompt the institution to launch a new Bachelor’s degree program “probably in 2023-2024”. bring ‘academic year’ as it has been delayed by the pandemic and following the University Ministry’s decree in September ‘we must adjust it’. Its programs will include international mobility and mandatory internships, and there will be a group taught entirely in English on each campus to attract more foreign students.
The institution wants to change its strategy, “so far focused on the degree and not very ambitious in the Master’s”, in order to accompany its students on their way into professional life, to internationalize them and network more closely with companies. “The need for training is evolving and we believe we have a very large niche in retraining,” states the Dean. The strategic plan designed for 2025 envisages a review of the postgraduate portfolio, in which two reforms with a focus on internationalization were made [actualmente Deusto recibe unos 50 estudiantes de posgrado extranjeros sobre los 380 que cursan estos cursos, pero su objetivo es llegar al 35% del total]. And in the executive field, it has decided to specialize in in-company or company-tailored programs and to specialize in closed programs, particularly in the health sector, which will also unlock new content, such as a Master’s degree in Social Services Management. According to De la Rica, the in-house courses are the most profitable for the Deusto Business School.
growth
The business school, a non-profit institution with offices in Bilbao, San Sebastián and Madrid, has continued to grow despite the pandemic. This course will touch the 20 million euro turnover. Perhaps the spoils of bankers who graduated from La Comercial such as José Ángel Sánchez Asiaín, Emilio Ybarra, Pedro Luis Uriarte, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri… will no longer come out of their classrooms, but De la Rica assures that Deusto has not lost his pedigree: “He changed the kind of companies that students enter, which are much more diverse; there are also more students and much greater competition among business schools than before,” he explains. “There is no fear that there is more anonymity in those who leave our classrooms because the companies may be less well known than the big banks,” he estimates.
He knows all sides of the coin in detail.
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Additionally, the Dean notes that “even today, students are not as determined as they used to be to accept anything and everything they want to work in. Career opportunities are terribly threatened, for example, in the accounting industry, where they may not even last a year. They prefer to work in industries with a stronger social focus.”
Young people, too, increasingly prefer an education outside the official circle. Through shorter, hands-on and often online courses. Far away from universities and business schools. “This extended training offer is also necessary. The emerging models can be healthy for the university, they must make us think,” observes De la Rica, who expects hybrid formats to be implemented in Deusto, where there will soon be online masters courses, “because society demands them” . . The Dean believes that the entry of the big tech companies into the economy could result in the higher education sector being disadvantaged due to the heavy regulation it is subject to. But with the tremendous need for training out there, there’s room for everyone, he says. In the end, “the market will put everyone in their place.” “The training that you finish at the age of 20 cannot be the one that you retire with. You have to keep learning throughout your career.”
The head of the Deusto Business School is aware of the changes in the training sector, to which the large investment funds are positioning themselves, “which is very positive because they see future prospects in training with it”. Of course, he also believes these investors can distort the goals of the institutions they acquire by treating them as corporations. “It is important to maintain the mission. At Deusto it would be very difficult for us to open investment funds because we are a social project. I don’t think we need that,” he says.
He also doesn’t want to get involved in the industry’s price wars: “In terms of the course, we’re one of the cheapest private universities,” he defends himself [sus precios oscilan entre los 5.500 y los 15.000 euros anuales de Medicina]. “And we never compete on price alone. We want everyone who chooses Deusto to have this in mind in the medium and long term. And if we need to adjust prices to achieve future stability, we do that. Because it guarantees future profitability.” “But we’re not looking for volume. We prefer to prioritize a smaller dimension that makes us sustainable over time. The 2×1 strategy is a big mistake. As well as lowering the prices for in-house programs. It is necessary to honor the formation with the prize”.
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