Abstract
Students' satisfaction with their major curriculum and their perceptions of career readiness are important drivers of recruitment, retention and rankings. As a result, universities, and business schools in particular, are redesigning curricula to be responsive to marketplace demands. Curricula are increasingly using holistic and experiential learning tools to foster student satisfaction and career confidence. To connect these practices to the outcomes of satisfaction and confidence, we examined student responses to a newly designed, experiential undergraduate business curriculum. The results indicated that, compared to students who graduated from a traditional, functionally structured curriculum, students graduating from the holistic, experiential curriculum were significantly higher in their satisfaction and career self-efficacy (but not leader self-efficacy). These findings provide evidence that holistic, experiential curricular redesign is related to improved student attitudes and confidence. We conclude by discussing the implications for education and future research.
Highlights
Recruitment, retention and rankings might be considered the ‘three Rs’ of higher education
Rankings have become important for many schools as they compete for top students (Agasisti and Johnes, 2015, Rauhvargers, 2013), making student satisfaction an important consideration (Chong and Ahmed, 2015, Douglas et al, 2015)
A model in which this curriculum variable was a significant predictor would reveal a difference between students in the two different curricula
Summary
Recruitment, retention and rankings might be considered the ‘three Rs’ of higher education. Most universities focus on recruiting high quality students and retaining them for reputation and revenue (Bedggood & Donovan, 2012). Rankings have become important for many schools as they compete for top students (Agasisti and Johnes, 2015, Rauhvargers, 2013), making student satisfaction an important consideration (Chong and Ahmed, 2015, Douglas et al, 2015). Many institutions are concerned with students' satisfaction and career confidence. An important factor influencing these outcomes is the curriculum. Observers have raised concerns regarding traditional curricula and recommended more holistic and integrated curricula that better prepare graduates to face the complexities of the ‘real world’ (Barnett, 2000, Moore, 2003). Most programs adhere closely to a functional-centric curriculum (Navarro, 2008). Critics have called for more integrated and experiential approaches (Colby et al, 2011, Weber and Englehart, 2011)
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