The value of public business education in Australia: challenges and opportunities for decision makers

Purpose: With their former role as “cash cows” under threat owing to COVID-19, Australian business schools are fighting not only to maintain their status but also their survival. This study aims to look at how the sector might best approach these challenges. Design/methodology/approach: The study reviews the recent literature on business and management education in Australia and compares that with emerging trends and policy directions. Findings: This analysis of current and emerging trends suggests that business education needs to find alternative arguments for legitimacy, and that business schools in public universities can no longer be regarded automatically as the “keepers of knowledge”. Research limitations/implications: The study contends that public resources would be better channelled towards fit-for-purpose business and management education, with this being administered by an array of entities, some of which would include private providers, public–private partnerships or public entities other than “business schools”. Practical implications: The study articulates the current and emerging challenges faced by decision and policy makers in the field of public business education and contends that the largely homogeneous business education provided by public universities in Australia is not always in the public interest. Social implications: The value of business education provided by public institutions is becoming increasingly contested, with many stakeholders, including employers, questioning the utility of contemporary business education. Originality/value: Previous studies have looked at the aspects of the future of business and management education, but no overview has hitherto synthesised the findings of such studies and drawn out the practical implications. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.