Tulsi Parida notching up masters degrees to stay relevant

Wednesday 09th January 2019 01:38 EST
 
 

A former New York high school teacher, Tulsi Parida, 27, has two masters degrees on top of her original undergraduate qualification from Northwestern University and is now studying for a third, an MBA at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School. “After I did my initial masters (in teaching) I did not think I would do any more. But you should never say never,” she said. She hopes her new qualifications will enable her to switch roles and move into investing in education start-ups which have a beneficial social impact.

Parida is not the only graduate topping up their learning to stay in the race. There are in fact, several business schools who are preparing to embrace the radical change. Peter Tufano, dean of Oxford Saïd believes longer lives and the growth in people taking second careers will create more demand for such life-long learning. Most of us will not take multiple masters degrees like Parida, but his plan, which he calls “one plus” is for Saïd’s one-year MBA students to follow their degree with a pipeline of courses taken after graduation, while working, which would update their knowledge over the next 10 years of their career.

Bodo Schlegelmilch, chair of AMBA and a professor of international management and marketing at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, said business education changes every few years and that business schools need to change their business model. He said, “I see that the education industry overall is too conservative, and obsessed with past achievements.”


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