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People have joined Oxford Saïd online calls more than 1 million times since the start of the pandemic

Published

As more programmes return to the classroom, we reflect on how online platforms have enabled e-learning and created a new elumni network

Since March 2020, and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, students, faculty, staff and guests have dialled-in more than one million times for online classes and meetings hosted by Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Between March 2020 through to May 2022, the School has hosted 1,097,828 online hours, equating to a 125-year Teams meeting. Participants came from almost every nation across the world, including Mongolia, Peru and Papua New Guinea.

Reflecting on this huge feat, Mark Bramwell CIO of Oxford Saïd, said:

‘These figures are an amazing and tangible demonstration of the School’s reach. Through leveraging this technology ourselves and with strategic partners, Oxford Saïd has connected people in every corner of the world.

In the early days of the pandemic, we managed a seamless transition that caused minimal disruption to the education we offer, proving that we are an innovative business school, truly able to blend the best of new and old.’

 

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Many classes have returned to in-person learning to the delight of senior practitioners over the course of the last monthThese include the Oxford Programme for Negotiation, Oxford Real Estate Programme, Oxford Private Equity Programme, Oxford Impact Investing Programme and Corporate Academy Affairs.

Covid-19 lockdowns created both a need and demand for online teaching. Oxford Saïd now offers 26 online courses.

Another benefit is the democratisation of learning.

Eleanor Murray, Associate Dean for Executive Education and Senior Fellow in Management Practice, said:

‘Technology has significantly scaled up access to high quality executive education for practitioners at all levels of the organisation. We have also focused on greater accessibility to our programmes for practitioners in the global south and north to ensure global discussions can be contemporary and diverse. These tools offer practitioners the opportunity to enter development pathways which have historically been costly to access.’

One such programme is ‘Fintech 101’, an online custom programme developed by Oxford Saïd for HSBC, to train their employees across in the latest financial technology. It is delivered with our partners, Esmee Learning.

To respond to the growing number of alumni from online, the School is even setting up its own elumni network, similar to the OBA.

Participants who complete a Saïd Business School Executive Education online programme will shortly be invited to be part of the ‘Oxford Saïd Elumni Network’.

This network will enable elumni to continue their professional growth through networking, thought-leadership and further learning opportunities.

The elumni community is a global community of over 30,000 professionals from 176 countries, working in diverse sectors such as Finance, Law, Marketing, Healthcare and Energy. The average age of a participant is 40 years old, 51% have a masters, 36% are leaders and 50% of participants have more than 15 years experience.

Oxford Executive Leadership Programme elumni, Thomas Romero, Director of Thought Leadership and Strategy for pharmaceutical group Chiesi USA, Inc. commented on the importance of a post-programme community:

“Amazing experience with all our cohort. Lifetime learnings, memories, and good friends. Let’s keep evolving and bring others along our journey.”

Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme and Oxford Fintech Programme elumni Steve Le Roux, founder of Envel, AI-powered mobile banking, added:

‘Not many online programmes give you the opportunity to build a network with like-minded people.