The Market’s Filthy Lesson: Disruption for Business and Management Education in Australian Public Universities

Abstract

Although business and management education has traditionally dominated business schools in Australian public universities, this is no longer the case. The rise of private providers together with emerging vocational education offers students an alternative and increasingly legitimate avenue to acquire practical business and management training. Vocational education and training may be particularly desirable to employers given that such programs focus on producing work-ready graduates. The rise of these alternative and accredited providers not only challenges the role of universities as the preferred provider of business and management education but also calls into question, more broadly, the value of Australian business schools. We contend that increasing competition in higher education will lead to a fall in Australian universities’ provision of business and management education, the collapse of some business schools, and a further deepening of highly context-specific business and management training for disciplines like engineering and health.