Just when business school deans thought it was safe to step back into the executive education market, they are discovering demand for these short, non-degree programmes is not as straightforward¹ as they had believed.

正当商学院院长们认为可以放心重返高管教育市场时，他们发现，对这种无学位短期课程的需求不像他们之前所想的那么直截了当。

Strategy consultancies such as Bain and Boston Consulting Group have long been executive education providers, but now publishing companies, technology start-ups and recruitment consultancies are circling in an attempt to land chunks² of a global market worth in excess of $70bn a year.

贝恩咨询(Bain & Co)和波士顿咨询集团(BCG)等战略咨询公司一直以来都是高管教育的提供者，但现在出版公司、初创科技公司和招聘咨询公司都在伺机进入这个每年价值超过700亿美元的全球市场。

In some cases, the new entrants have arrived through acquisitions — LinkedIn, the professional networking site, for example, recently bought Lynda.com, the training company. Others have arisen through alliances, such as the Financial Times’ partnership³ with Spain’s IE Business School to deliver corporate⁴ programmes.

在某些情况下，新入行者是通过收购进入这个市场的——比如职业社交网站领英(LinkedIn)最近收购了在线培训公司Lynda.com。其他新入行者则通过联盟进入该市场，比如英国《金融时报》与西班牙企业商学院(IE Business School)合作推出企业项目。

For the educational technology companies, it is a case of building on their existing businesses. “We are beginning to see the emergence⁵ of edtech-driven, venture capital-funded start-ups that believe edtech [the use of technology in teaching] is the driver of executive education,” says Mike Malefakis, associate dean for executive education at Columbia Business School in New York.

对于教育科技公司来说，涉足高管教育意味着在现有业务的基础上发展。“我们开始看到由教育科技（edtech，在教学中运用技术）驱动、风险投资资助的初创企业出现，这些企业相信教育科技是高管教育的驱动力，”纽约哥伦比亚商学院(Columbia Business School)主管高管教育的副院长迈克尔•马莱法基斯(Michael Malefakis)表示。

The recruitment agencies too, faced with the erosion of their customer base by sites such as LinkedIn, are building assessment⁶ tools and skills training into their services to corporate clients.

客户群遭到领英等网站侵蚀的招聘机构，也正在他们为企业客户提供的服务中融入评估工具和技能培训。

But the competition does not stop there, says MIT Sloan dean David Schmittlein. The number of business schools entering the executive education space is increasing, especially young, up-and-coming ones. “How much of it is because of a more stable economic environment and how much because of spare human capital as MBA numbers are down [is unclear].”

但麻省理工斯隆管理学院(MIT Sloan)院长戴维•施米特莱因(David Schmittlein)说，竞争还不止这些。进入高管教育领域的商学院数量正在上升，尤其是那些建立不久、正崭露头角的商学院。“就此而言，有多少是因为经济环境更为稳定，有多少是因为MBA课程入学人数减少所致的富余人力资本，（尚不清楚）。”

There is even competition from closer to home — from universities’ continuing education divisions, law schools, medical schools and engineering schools, says Prof Schmittlein. As subjects such as leadership creep on to the agenda of engineering schools, for example, “these will [begin to] look even more like management education institutions”.

施米特莱因表示，甚至还有来自与商学院关系更近的机构的竞争——大学的继续教育学院、法学院、医学院和工程学院。比如，随着领导力课程悄然提上工程学院的议程，“这些学院（会开始）更像管理教育机构”。

What is more, companies that traditionally have been the customers of business schools are setting up corporate universities, often with the help of schools and cherry-picked professors.

此外，传统上一直是商学院客户的企业也正在设立企业大学，往往借助商学院的帮助，并且选择性地聘请少数知名教授。

“More and more we are being asked to help companies build their internal capabilities⁷,” says David Altman, executive vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at the US-headquartered Center for Creative Leadership, a not-for-profit research organisation⁸ and education provider. “Big companies are calling them academies, while others are saying they want to build their own internal capabilities.”

“越来越多的企业请求我们帮助它们构建内部能力，”总部设在美国的非营利研究组织、教育提供者创新领导力中心(Center for Creative Leadership)主管欧洲、中东和非洲业务的执行副总裁戴维•奥尔特曼(David Altman)说，“大公司将其称之为学院，而其他公司则表示它们希望构建自身的内部能力。”

Trends that began before the financial crisis are continuing, such as corporate demand for shorter courses. The trend for companies to eschew⁹ open-enrolment courses in favour of ones designed for a single company has accelerated, as has the need for programmes that award a certificate or diploma, which can often be credited towards a degree.

始于金融危机前的趋势正在继续，比如企业对更短期课程的需求。企业摒弃开放招生课程，转向专为一家公司设计的课程的趋势已经加快。对授予证书或文凭（往往可计入学位课程的学分）的课程的需求也已加大。

Demand for certification is very important in Asia, says Guy Saunders, associate dean for executive education at Melbourne Business School in Australia. He believes all schools could eventually allow short courses to be credited towards a degree. “My sense is that the wall is cracking in the big schools too.”

墨尔本商学院(Melbourne Business School)负责高管教育的副院长盖伊•桑德斯(Guy Saunders)表示，在亚洲，对证书的需求非常重要。他认为所有商学院最终都会允许将短期课程计入学位课程的学分。“我的感觉是，大牌商学院的高墙也在出现裂缝。”

The demand to prove return on investment — a thorny¹⁰ concept in the context of education — is also back on the agenda. Josep Valor¹¹, academic director of customised programmes at Iese Business School in Spain, which topped the FT’s customised executive education rankings this year, says there are ways to measure this through executive promotion¹².

对证明投资回报的要求——这在教育领域是一个棘手的问题——也重新提上了议程。领衔今年英国《金融时报》定制高管教育排行榜的西班牙Iese商学院(Iese Business School)定制课程教务主任何塞普•巴洛尔(Josep Valor)介绍说，有几种通过高管的晋升来衡量投资回报的方式。

He cites the example of Oracle¹³, the software group, where Iese runs a programme for senior managers with Michigan Ross business school. Oracle judges the success of the programme by the number of people who go on to become vice-presidents in the company.

巴洛尔引用了软件集团甲骨文(Oracle)的例子。Iese商学院和密歇根大学罗斯商学院(Michigan Ross)合作为甲骨文的高管举办了一个课程。甲骨文依据课程参与者晋升为公司副总裁的数量来判断该项目成功与否。

“Companies are looking for value for money and can see [we offer that] because we can prove we have successful programmes that address their challenges,” says Prof Valor. “We do not know how to solve their problems — they know how to solve their problems. We help them think about how to solve their problems better.”

“企业在寻找物有所值的课程，它们能看到（我们提供这种价值，）因为我们能够证明我们拥有应对他们的挑战的成功课程，”巴洛尔教授说，“我们不知道如何解决他们的问题，他们知道如何解决他们的问题。我们帮助他们思考如何更好地解决他们的问题。”

Asia, Africa and the Middle East are proving to be the growth markets for executive education in 2015. Demand is biggest in Asia for cross-cultural leadership and for training managers to run subsidiaries outside the region.

亚洲、非洲和中东正被证明是2015年高管教育快速增长的市场。亚洲对跨文化领导力、对培训管理者在亚洲以外运营子公司的需求最为强劲。

Demand from China in particular for executive programmes has rebounded¹⁴, says Kai Peters, chief executive of the UK’s Ashridge Business School, which along with other schools has trained Chinese government officials. In the Middle East and Africa, the demand is for developing younger leaders.

英国阿什里奇商学院(Ashridge Business School)首席执行官卡伊•彼得斯(Kai Peters)表示，中国对高管课程项目的需求再度升温。该校与其他商学院合作培训中国的政府官员。中东和非洲的需求则是培养更年轻的领导者。

In the US and Europe, demand is increasingly sophisticated, says Mike Canning, chief executive of Duke Corporate Education, part of Duke University in the US. “It is no longer about filling knowledge gaps. It is about rewiring, [which] is not about knowing something, but making sense of things for which we have no model.”

在美国和欧洲，据美国杜克大学(Duke University)下属杜克企业教育学院(Duke Corporate Education)的首席执行官迈克•坎宁(Mike Canning)介绍，需求正变得日益复杂。“不再仅仅是关于填补知识空白。也要‘重新布线’，这意味着，与其说要了解某事物，不如说要弄清楚我们没有现成模型的事物。”

The use of online technology is also on the rise. This year, half of Columbia’s executive education participants will be distance-learners. Although demand for campus-based programmes shows modest growth, “online has mushroomed into the growth engine of enrolment”, says Malefakis. Columbia’s two online programmes that replicate¹⁵ traditional programmes have not cannibalised their campus equivalents, he adds.

在线技术的应用也方兴未艾。今年，哥伦比亚大学高管教育课程的一半学员将采用远程学习模式。马莱法基斯表示，尽管对校园课程的需求也出现一定的增长，但“在线课程已逐渐成长为招生人数增长的引擎”。他补充道，哥大两套复制传统课程的在线课程没有影响校园课程的招生。

“One of the real keys as to why online is growing is not just the price point but the opportunity cost for both learners and faculty¹⁶.” Online students can study at their own convenience, in the evenings and at weekends, he points out. “Learning has become 24/7.”

“在线课程增长的真正关键之一不在于价格点，而在于学员与教员的机会成本。”他指出，在线课程学员可以在自己方便的时候学习，晚上和周末都可以。“学习成了一件每周7天、每天24小时内自由支配的事情。”

That said, the main challenge may not come from the rise of technology or increased competition from consulting and publishers, says Dominique Turpin, president of IMD business school in Switzerland. The dearth¹⁷ of academics who can teach executives is the biggest threat, he says.

话虽如此，瑞士国际管理发展学院(IMD)院长多米尼克•图尔平(Dominique Turpin)认为，主要挑战或许并不在于技术崛起，或者来自咨询与出版机构的竞争加剧。他表示，最大的威胁是缺少能给高管讲课的教员。

“The only way we can survive is to be innovative¹⁸ and relevant. You have to be close to the client,” he says. “If you ask the board members of IMD what worries them, it is where to get the faculty.”

“我们唯一的生存途径，就是创新，保持自己的相关性。你必须接近客户，”他说，“如果你问IMD的理事会成员，他们最担心什么问题，他们的回答将是到哪里聘请教员。”