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There are a few international media highlights from the past months, and as always, there is also lots in the pipeline to look forward to.

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Rising quality of Indian business education is boosting local applications but international exchange opportunities remain popular

Close alignment between partner institutions is essential for allowing exchange students to focus on their courses without being bogged down with extensive administrative documentation. It maximises the potential for students to transform their skillsets by immersing themselves fully in new environments.

Saila Kurtbay, Head of International Affairs at Aalto University School of Business, says that when selecting partners, the school is careful to foster connections with universities that synchronise with its academic offerings. This allows them to co-create study abroad opportunities that add value to students’ home degrees.

Among its Indian partners, Aalto collaborates with IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore, in addition to IIM Calcutta.

‘These collaborations offer diverse opportunities for collaborative research projects and academic initiatives. The student exchange programmes established with these partners facilitate cultural understanding tremendously and students learn diverse perspectives and business practices from their peers,’ says Kurtbay.

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The Times of India is the world’s most widely-selling English-language daily newspaper, with a daily print circulation of more than 4 million copies. Over 13.5 million readers wake up to one of its 13 regional editions every morning, and the online website attracts more than 30 million unique visitors per month across India, North America, and the UK.

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Why quantum computing is advancing rapidly – but adoption remains slow

Nina Granqvist of Aalto University School of Business and Anne-Sophie Barbe, CNRS Research Fellow at the the University of Toulouse, explore how, despite growing global investment and excitement, the commercial adoption of quantum computing remains limited as companies grapple with technical complexity, market uncertainty, and a lack of clear, near-term applications.

Many companies, despite being seen by advocates as likely future users, haven’t even started to explore quantum computing. For these organisations, the landscape is not only unfamiliar but deeply confusing.

Part of the challenge is the ambiguity of the term “quantum computing” itself. It is used to describe a range of technologies with varying capabilities and levels of maturity – from general-purpose quantum computers to quantum annealers. Some reports claim breakthroughs like “quantum supremacy” and “quantum advantage” have already occurred, while others say practical applications are still decades away. The result is a mix of hype and uncertainty that leaves many potential users unsure where – or whether – to place their bets.

Adding to this confusion is the technical complexity of the hardware. Quantum computers can be built using very different physical systems, such as superconducting circuits, trapped ions, or photons. Each approach draws from its own scientific tradition, and understanding and comparing them is far from straightforward.

To navigate this complex terrain, companies would likely need to hire in-house quantum experts. But such talent is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive, driven by intense demand and limited supply. Justifying these hires can also be difficult when no commercial applications yet exist, and the future of the technology remains highly uncertain.

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Innovation News Network launched early in 2020 and has quickly become a go-to source for the latest news dedicated to research, emerging science, policy and innovation topics across the globe. Its website attracts around 60,000 readers per month, with top readerships in North America, the UK, India, and Singapore.

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Training minds for turbulence: business schools rethink risk

In an era of disruption, finance students are being taught how to think flexibly, adapt swiftly and manage ambiguity as a core career skill.

Teaching students to embrace ambiguity and probabilistic reasoning is also the ethos of finance faculty at Aalto University School of Business. Students are immersed in live case studies where outcomes evolve during the course, forcing them to revise their assumptions and adapt their frameworks. ‘Understanding the fundamental nature of scientific information helps grasp the inaccuracy of predictions,’ says Associate Professor Elias Rantapuska. 

Rantapuska encourages students to shift from a deterministic mindset to one of probability and correlation. For example, a course on IPOs may suddenly pivot to a mergers and acquisition case if a strategic buyer intervenes. ‘Finance students may get this exposure and understanding earlier than most adults,’ he says. ‘Lots of grown-ups never really get to this stage and insist on a deterministic world and simple truths throughout their lives.’

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The Financial Times is a daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in the UK, it has editorial offices across Britain, the US, and mainland Europe. It reaches over 14 million readers around the world, with top readerships in the UK and North America. 

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Sustainable Habits Every B-School Student Can Adopt

It’s important that b-school students—the business leaders of tomorrow—try to lead lifestyles aligned with this shift, positioning themselves ahead of the curve and future-proofing their careers.

At first, the prospect of ‘trying to be more sustainable’ while studying can seem daunting, even overwhelming. However, it’s not about perfection; there are plenty of small changes every business school student can make that will benefit our planet.

an easy way to minimize your consumption while at b-school is to eliminate paper use where possible, using the printer only when strictly necessary.

Aalto University School of Business student and sustainability lead for KY—the school's student association—Elsa-Maria Oksanen, notes that she has already started implementing these practices to be more sustainable while studying:

‘I rarely use paper and rely mostly on digital materials where possible. This has been very easy to achieve, thanks ɫɫ��’s emphasis on sustainability and our access to online portals for papers and publications.’ 

Taking public transport or using an active mode of transportation, such as walking or cycling, is a very effective way for b-school students to reduce their carbon footprint and improve local air quality.

‘I try to exclusively travel by public transport or use my bicycle. Luckily, the public transport in Helsinki—where my school is situated—is so good that I don’t need to own a car anyway,” says Elsa-Maria.

Emma Karppinen, another student from Aalto and an executive board member of KY, has also leveraged the location’s excellent public transport options to try and be more eco-friendly: 

“I’m using public transport as much as possible to be more sustainable at business school, and I’m really enjoying it so far. It feels great to be doing something good for the planet.’

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BusinessBecause is an outlet covering the business education sector, read by around 94,000 people per month, including applicants and students at business schools around the world. Its readership is weighted towards younger people, aged between 18-34, and roughly 20 percent of its readers are in India. 

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Inflexible, Absent And Narcissistic Leaders Drive Employee Burnout 

Companies that fail to adapt and offer flexibility to their employees can lead to long-term decline, ending in burnout, according to . 

Nikolina Koporcic-Nietola, Academy Research Fellow at Aalto, finds companies that cling to overly rigid work arrangements foster emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and a diminished sense of personal accomplishment among their workforces. 

The blow to morale also strikes at a firm’s bottom line, with symptoms of employee burnout manifesting in decreased productivity, increased absenteeism, and higher turnover rates. 

According to the research, burnout is a problem with no quick fix. The reason lies in the nature of the challenge: burnout is a progressive condition that must be resisted through continual, proactive measures to preserve employee health and organisational performance. 

‘Effective burnout management depends heavily on leadership empathy, open communication, and a supportive organisational culture. Leaders play a pivotal role in shaping the mental health of employees and facilitating burnout prevention and reintegration,’ says Koporcic-Nietola. 

Read more:

BlueSky Thinking is an online thought leadership platform committed to exploring the expertise, research and ideas of the leadings minds operating within the global business and higher educational sector, as well as influential management thinkers and business practitioners. The website has over 50,000 readers (200,000 page views), and is growing – with a dedicated following in the USA, India, mainland Europe, Canada and Australia. 

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