Discover the potential of AI on the Vlerick MBA

AI: rapid advancements, vast potential. Professor Martin Butler explains

AI is everywhere – and its capabilities are advancing by the day. Businesses that choose to ignore it do so at their peril.

It’s critical that business leaders understand how AI works, the opportunities and challenges it presents – and the impact it can have on their organisations. This is why we’ve made sure it is fully integrated into all our MBA programmes.

Professor Martin Butler, Academic Director of the MBA, explains more...

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Taking a holistic approach

“The nature of an MBA is that it is first and foremost general management education,” says Martin. “You move from studying finance, to studying HR, to studying strategy. However, AI can impact all business areas. This is why we take a holistic approach – with each module addressing AI in terms of how it impacts that specific domain.

“For example, the leadership course discusses the impact of AI on leaders. Our strategic management course explores how AI can help uncover trends. On a more practical level, the finance module shows how to use AI to take raw data and create a balance sheet and cash flow statement with unprecedented levels of efficiency.

“We also have a core module on Digital Transformation that introduces the key concepts around new technologies, of which AI is an example. Participants who want to go deeper into these concepts can choose AI-focused electives.”

Before you even start your MBA, you take an online course to get fully up to speed on AI fundamentals.

Martin says: “Our foundational course on AI is designed to make sure all our MBA participants start the programme with the same level of proficiency. It gives you the opportunity to test your current knowledge – and it signposts you to tools where you can upskill if you feel it’s necessary.”

Practising what we teach

AI presents exciting opportunities for business – and for Vlerick, too. Our faculty are embracing the potential of AI – and experimenting with it in their work.

“We are focused on developing the AI capability of our faculty and teams,” says Martin. “We regularly share best practice and examples of AI in action across the school. For example, some faculty use AI to organise academic content for case studies. Others use it to generate multiple-choice questions for an exercise.

“From a productivity perspective, it can be incredibly useful. And in a fast-moving world, where our contextual environment is very dynamic, we sometimes have to update materials quickly. AI tools can help to pull out themes, incorporate new information or personalise content for different audiences – and do it quickly.”

Focusing on impact

Of course, while we are keen to explore the role AI has to play at Vlerick, we are also mindful of the challenges it presents.

“Sustainability is at the heart of the Vlerick philosophy,” says Martin. “So it’s critical that we use AI in a responsible way – and indeed an ethical way. We have a clear AI policy in place that sets out when using AI is acceptable – and when it isn’t – so faculty, staff and participants know what is and isn’t allowed. And in any AI discussion, we have sustainability front of mind.

“We instil this responsible approach into our MBA participants too. We advise them to consider when it’s a good idea to use AI – and importantly, when it isn’t. A small example – don’t ask a generative AI bot how tall the Eiffel Tower is. Ask Google. Why? Because Google consumes a fraction of the energy AI does to find the answer.

“We discuss the privacy and ethical challenges AI presents throughout the programme – and the cyber security challenges in detail in our Digital Resilience elective.”

Learning from each other

With a technology as fast moving as AI, there are always opportunities to learn from what others are doing.

“You learn a lot from our faculty” says Martin. “But you also learn from your peers.

We welcome MBA participants from diverse professional backgrounds – so your classmates will have different experiences of AI to bring to the table.

“At the heart of Vlerick is our entrepreneurial spirit. If a participant shows us a new tool or use of AI in class, we believe that only enriches the learning environment for everyone. AI is a fast-moving beast. We know that the collective wisdom we need to share around it doesn’t sit exclusively within our faculty – it is within the entire Vlerick learning community.”

Making the right decisions

Your MBA will give you the skills, knowledge and confidence to explore new technology, trends and business opportunities – including AI.

“It’s important to remember that the objective of studying AI on the MBA isn’t to return to your organisation and immediately start implement an AI application,” says Martin. “It’s to make sure you fully understand how AI works and the implications of introducing it into your business environment.

“You’ll be able to explain the pros and cons of AI to colleagues. You’ll consider the context – such as the impact an AI tool could have on your organisation’s sustainability strategy. You’ll understand the return on investment you could expect to generate.

“An MBA gives you the knowledge to make good decisions about when to use AI – and perhaps even more importantly, when not to.”

Find out more
If you have any questions about how we address AI in our MBA programmes, please do get in touch. We’d love to talk to you.

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Inge Thienpont

Inge Thienpont

Customer Relationship Manager – European, Executive and Online MBA