Statistics education in GCC business schools

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the state of statistics education in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) business schools in terms of course content, teaching faculty, integration of technology, learning resources and teaching pedagogy in addition to achieved and foreseeable changes on the business statistics education. The study stems from the GCC's need to examine the quality of business education and more specifically the quantitative knowledge of business graduates. This need is driven by the large number of business graduates from higher education institutions in the GCC states and additionally their critical role in generating the knowledge-based economy aspired by the GCC countries. Moreover, the rising quest of GCC higher education institutions for international accreditation of business programs represents another motivation for assessment and reform of business education. A survey of GCC business schools was conducted using an online questionnaire. The results of the study are summarised and benchmarked against a recent study undertaken on top 50 US business schools. Generally, the study provided remarkable evidence about the quality of GCC business statistics education in terms of contents and technology integration; however, it posed several questions about the course delivery and curriculum review.