Does business education have a future in Iraq?

During the last two decades of the 20th Century, the World Bank, along with top U.S. business school faculty, was determined to re-create free market, American-style business education in emerging economies in Eastern Europe and Latin America (often referred to as the "Washington Consensus.") Now, it seems, times have changed. First, the model used in these parts of the world hasn't been quite as successful as originally thought. And, World Bank funding for these initiatives has dried up.

[See "State Capitalism Comes of Age: The End of the Free Market?," Foreign Affairs, May/June 2009; "The Washington Consensus Meets the Global Backlash: Shifting Debates and Policies," Robin Broad, Globalizations, December 2004.]

But the biggest change may be in the style used to begin such an engagement. Recently in Iraq, two young American business school professors decided to take an entirely different approach when they visited the University of Tikrit (the University originally founded by Saddam Hussein): They listened first, interacted and then worked together to create a joint plan of action to ensure that both sides were getting what they needed.

In doing so, they may have created a new model for building education systems in other countries.

Deputy Dean Scott Koerwer and International Business Professor Kendall Roth of the University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business tell a compelling story of what they learned on their recent visit to Tikrit, what economic and educational progress they believe can be achieved and what it takes to design an entire educational system in partnership with the Iraqi people.

Source: Carnegie Communications