This year's theme was "Creating the Future of Executive Education." UNICON hosted sessions on the impact of new technologies and how they may shape executive education in the very near future. Technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning have the potential to disrupt current content delivery models and their financial underpinnings.
Presentations, panel discussions, exercises and break-out sessions facilitated an exploration of new trends and technologies for executive development, the implications of the digital generation on business education, disruption in education and more.
The conference hosted several sessions such as “The Power of Learning Design,”, “ExEd Customer Journey Mapping”, “New trends and technologies for Executive Development,” and “Executive Development in a New Era.
A keynote session on the second day introduced UNICON’s benchmarking research. Working with Percept Research, the consortium conducts an annual Membership Benchmarking Survey of members’ schools to identify trends and highlight changes in the executive education industry.
Eric Bergemann (MIT Sloan) revealed executive education insights regarding open enrollment programs, custom programs, revenue, program delivery models, and other services provided. Eric also reviewed enhancements to the benchmarking initiative in 2017 including a deeper exploration into coaching services as well as new Executive Summary in addition to the full report provided by Percept Research.
Eric Bergemann (MIT Sloan) discusses new Membership Benchmarking enhancements
Brian Mahoney presented in the final keynote session of the conference called ‘Understanding the Implications of the Digital Generation on Business Education’ which is based on 2017 global attitudes and usage study managed by Percept Research on behalf of AACSB International, the Executive MBA Council, and UNICON.
The study shed light on the evolving expectations and experiences of up-and-coming generations of professionals spanning “Generation Z” and “Millennials” (so-called “digital generations”) as they relate to the broad range of management learning and development alternatives that will be available to them.
Brian Mahoney (Percept Research) summarizes audience targeting in Digital Gen global study
This keynote session focused on the opportunities that these generations present for business schools in non-degree executive education and how schools can align their educational models and adopt effective strategies to meet the needs of the digital generations throughout their careers. The full report from this study is available here.
Percept Research serves as the research partner to UNICON, a global consortium of business‐school‐based executive education organizations. Its community of member organizations is engaged in accelerating the development of leaders and managers, thereby enhancing performance in public and private organizations globally, through executive development initiatives.
The primary activities of UNICON include conferences, research, benchmarking, sharing of best practices, staff development, recruitment/job postings, information‐sharing, and extensive networking among members, all centered around the business and practice of executive education.
Percept Research also conducts business school market research and consulting for over 250 schools worldwide. Consulting engagements include new program feasibility studies, brand positioning, return on learning assessments, and messaging strategy.
2017 UNICON Team Development Conference Wrap-up Video by ITESM
The 2018 Team Development Conference will be hosted at the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business from November 28–30.
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Looking to access the presentations provided at the conference?
You will find copies of the presentations from the 2017 UNICON Team Development Conference here.