We helped create a business school adapted to modern times
Internet increasingly dominates more aspects of the economy, from the service industry to the purchase of goods. While this tendency continues to grow, the curriculum that delivers the leaders of the future is still stuck in a pre-digital era state. In Opinno we are conscious of the importance of education in generating success, so we were keen to lend its expertise in innovative consulting to the design of the Impact Business School in collaboration with the European University of Madrid (EUM).
This business school addresses the real needs of students when they face the current job market. To define the educational methodology that provides the ideal training for students, Opinno and the EUM created an innovation process based on the lean start-up methodology which the company has employed both in its consulting work, in the implementation of innovation processes in the cultural sector and the definition of the keys to enterprise within organizations, as well as internally.
To ensure that the postgraduate studies offered address the students´ actual needs, we lead a focus group based process. The teams were comprised of young students who wish to expand their training with the objective of identifying both current deficiencies as well as what they hope to gain from a business school. Thanks to the information generated in these sessions, we has defined course content as well as the teaching style.
Beyond these focus groups, we were responsible for the creation of a web page to measure the reactions of potential students to the messages and the corporate image. “The analysis of visitors´ interactions [on our website] has allowed us to improve the design of the web page and fine tune the messages”, explains the web development project lead and member of the Labs department at Opinno, Christian Schmidt.
This combination of live interactions and the digital testing resulted in the innovation and improvement of the courses to completely adapt to the students´ needs. The school will open its doors in Madrid (Spain) in October with different configurable programs comprised of modules, ranging from 18 month MBA programs to three month intensive programs.
All of the programs focus on giving the students real world business experience to prepare them for their first encounter with the job market. “There´s a vicious cycle at the moment: no one will give them a chance because they have no experience, and they have no experience because no one will give them a chance”, explains the consulting project lead from the Ideas department at Opinno, Laura García Muñoz.
These new postgraduate programs, designed through successful start-up methodologies and formulated with the challenges of tomorrow in mind, offer the necessary tools to allow students to succeed in their professional careers. We have always centered its activities on the promotion of entrepreneurship. Helping young people to improve their training and to integrate themselves into the business ecosystem is the surest route towards guaranteeing a future full of innovation and success.
