Rotterdam School of Management's Maryke Luijendijk-Steenkamp on MBA Trends

Maryke Luijendijk-Steenkamp is the Director of Marketing & Admissions at Rotterdam School of Management - Erasmus University in the Netherlands. She has several years of experience working with MBA applicants. In this interview, Luijendijk-Steenkamp discusses MBA trends she has observed recently such as an increased interest in sustainability amongst MBA applicants as well as a rise in the number of female MBA applicants.

What are some of the trends you are seeing both in regards to MBA students and the business world?

The enrolment trends for the RSM International Full-time MBA Programme have been fairly consistent over the last few years. The profile of our class has been consistent with regards to average age and years of work experience. The percentage of female students has grown steadily to 33% in the current class compared to 24% a few years ago. The percentage of international participants has been consistently in the upper 90 percentile.

However, we have seen fluctuations in the geographical composition of participants. The overall geographical distribution has been similar throughout, yet the breakdown of countries within these areas have varied. Trends in the global business landscape have been evident in trends within our geographical class composition. Academic and professional backgrounds reflected in the class have been steady. The number of applications have been fluctuating with a surge in application volumes for the programs starting in 2010 and 2011 which could be ascribed to the global recession during these times. Participants are increasingly looking for support in funding their MBA education which entails an increase in the number of enquiries regarding Financial Aid offerings.

Have you seen an increase in the number of students hoping to go a more untraditional path, such as working in a startup or starting their own startup than a large organization on Wall Street? If so, what do you think has contributed to this?

At RSM a rise in applicants with backgrounds and or interests in sustainability have been evident. The fact that our school is known for teaching sustainability and is constantly looking at innovative ways to pass this on to our participants has contributed to this. So has the global trend in business to look at more than just the bottom line. At RSM we teach our participants how to do this whilst still making the bottom line.

We have traditionally had a steady intake of candidates seeking an “untraditional” path. We regularly have graduating students who become successful entrepreneurs. Often startups are formed amongst students whilst on the programme, sharing the resources and knowledge of respective group members to realise the startup dreams.The Netherlands is also an extremely entrepreneurial and innovative country which is a conducive environment for establishing startups and setting up new businesses. Since our students are geographically very dispersed, we do not see a significant shift in moving away from large organisations since we have always placed our graduates in traditional and non-traditional sectors.

It seems that these changes also changes the type of personalities that might be best suited for management. Are you seeing a diversity in the types of students that are applying to business school (such as artists, etc.)?

In the European business school environment classes have always been quite reflective of the global business landscape, comprising many different types of backgrounds and personalities. At RSM specifically, we have always had a fair percentage of non-business/non-economic professional and academic backgrounds reflected in our class-composition, and purposely so. In order to grasp the challenges that our participants will face when operating in diverse environments post-MBA, we need to ensure that the in-class dynamic and content of conversations are diverse and bring new perspectives. We shy away from typecasting any specific personality best suited for management – we have a total profile and total diversity approach to admissions,which means that we will take all aspects of any given participant’s profile in equal consideration to assess whether the participant will be able to bring something to the table. The candidates that have depth in their profiles and bring “all-round” perspectives to class are the ones that are traditionally most equipped to add to the environment of teaching management skills.

The world has gone global. Gen Y and Z have grown up talking to people in other parts of the world during things as simple as playing online games. In the US, Latinos and women have become an important growth market, because of their numbers and significance online. How are business schools addressing this shift in the market?

Business schools are waking up to the fact that traditional ways of teaching might not be enough anymore. Traditionally the “best” way to follow business education would be to attend classes in the same setting on a full-time basis. However, participants have an increaslingly global mindset which makes makes for a scenario where offering international experiences in class is imperative. At the Rotterdam School of Management our class is 95% international with regards to composition and students can choose from several international trips both academic and non-academic and can participate in exchange programmes across the globe. Furthermore, with the increasing usage of technology to the extend that it has become a lifestly with Gen Y and Z, business schools need to ensure that they have some form of blended models and/or other ways of incorporating technology into their curriculum. Furthermore, the rise in women entering business education means that schools have to create aspects of their educational programmes aimed at this niche market. At Rotterdam School of Management for example, we introduced the Kilimanjaro Leadership Elective in which an all-female group climb Kilimanjaro and stretch themselves beyond their leadership perceptions and reach new heights. As a business school it is also our responsibility to discuss and adress gender issues in the boardroom.