{"id":16938,"date":"2018-10-09T09:08:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T09:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hnews.hult.edu\/?p=16938"},"modified":"2026-05-05T17:19:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:19:51","slug":"future-oriented-business-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/future-oriented-business-curriculum\/","title":{"rendered":"An innovative approach to building a future-oriented business curriculum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world is changing at an unprecedented rate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

New disruptive technologies are driving exponential possibilities, and new business models and strategies must be developed to keep pace. And when it comes to business education, the mindset of new graduates must be shaped to lead<\/strong> in a global business environment characterized by this ever-accelerating change.<\/p>\n

As part of Hult’s mission to be the “world’s most relevant business school<\/em>,” we’ve reoriented our courses and curricula to tackle this trio of future-oriented challenges: understanding new technologies<\/strong>, exploring business model components<\/strong>, and developing a future mindset.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taking a forward-looking approach to our course content reflects a key pillar in how a Hult education takes you beyond the fundamentals of business<\/strong>, to learn about the world, the future, and yourself\u2014arming our graduates with the hard and soft skills needed for business leaders today.<\/p>\n

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Innovation, agile-thinking, and new course iterations<\/h3>\n

Our approach to leadership development won us the\u00a0AMBA Innovation Award\u00a0<\/strong>for our Global One-Year MBA<\/a> curriculum in 2014. Since then, we’ve continued to iterate and innovate to ensure our all our degree programs remain future-focused.<\/p>\n

In 2017, we created and deployed a core course to build “The Future Mindset<\/strong>” and a portfolio of exponential technology “Nano courses<\/strong>” to inspire curiosity and creativity in the application of disruptive technologies to different organizations and business models.<\/p>\n

We decided early on to “walk the walk” with the approach we took to developing and introducing new curricular innovations. For example, we used agile build approaches<\/strong>, A\/B testing<\/strong>, leveraged new learning technologies<\/strong>, and experimented with new delivery models.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Core to the Hult curriculum: The Future Mindset course<\/h3>\n

To prepare our students to reorient their thinking, we set out to address the question of “How are you transforming your mindset in an ever-changing, hyper-connected world?<\/em>” Crucial inspiration to shape this essential future mindset comes from an investor letter penned by Jeff Bezos of Amazon<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

“What does day two look like? Day two is stasis<\/strong>. Followed by irrelevance<\/strong>. Followed by excruciating, painful decline<\/strong>. Followed by death<\/strong>. And that is why it is always day one<\/strong>.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This year, our Future Mindset course focused on the central theme of designing the city of the future<\/strong>. It used five of the cities where Hult has campuses\u2014San Francisco, Boston, London, Dubai, <\/strong>and Shanghai<\/strong>\u2014as the core “playground” for the experience.<\/p>\n

Professors based in each city covered topics including\u00a0design thinking, data analytics, innovation approaches, platform economics<\/strong>, and agile management<\/strong>. The course concluded with a competitive team-based challenge, asking students to present their innovative ideas for their city of the future, along with the requirement that they pivot<\/strong> their idea based on feedback or new criteria received half-way through the course.<\/p>\n

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Leveraging the disruptive power of technology: Nano courses<\/h3>\n

To understand the risks and opportunities<\/strong> presented by new technologies, Hult students can choose from a number of electives or “Nano courses.” These courses are designed to teach the business implications of the disruptive technologies<\/strong> dramatically influencing tomorrow\u2019s landscape.<\/p>\n

In the 2017\/2018 academic year, these courses included:<\/p>\n