Analysing the skills required for working life to develop future-proof business education. Case: Master of Business Administration at Finnish UAS

The world of work is changing and consequently the demand for skills is chang-ing. The aim of the thesis was to answer the question - how to ensure that in this fast-paced changing environment the universities of applied sciences (UASs) in Finland prepare future-ready graduates of Master of Business Administration (MBA), equipping them with the skills that are required in the working life. Literature review was conducted to investigate the changing world of work and required skills and competences expected by the employers. The study applied qualitative research methodology to address the issue of future MBA education development in Finnish UASs. Data was gathered through seven semi-structured interviews with participants of four Finnish UASs and the results were analyzed to better understand what developers of MBA programmes need to consider. The research results point out that it is difficult to define a universal skill set for MBA graduates to meet the demands of the working life. While literature is emphasiz-ing the importance of generic, transversal, employability and future skills, empir-ical results indicate that the hard skills or so-called field specific skills remain as important. It can be concluded, however, that teamwork skills, problem-solving, leadership, communication, empathy and self-management skills are among the critical skills in the future for the managers and leaders of companies. Based on the empirical results, the following skills´ areas occurred to be among those that developers of MBAs in Finnish UAS need consider in particular. It is important to ensure that a) students develop global perspectives, b) learn new leadership skills in line with the fast-changing work environment; c) develop agility and resilience skills; d) build a passion for lifelong learning in addition to many other relevant working life skills. Development of MBA programmes should be-come more agile and more specialized addressing emerging skills´ requirements. While MBA programmes in Finnish UAS are evolving to meet the changing needs of working life, the pace of change must accelerate to keep the MBA degree fu-ture-proof. Finnish UASs´ MBA programmes are well positioned to establish high level education standards, to further strengthen practice-oriented education, and to build an internationally recognized brand of work-life oriented MBA pro-grammes