“Co-creation” and the BBA Program

One of the four core values of the Ross School is “Co-Creation”. You might ask, “What in the heck is that?” I’m glad you asked! According to the School’s strategic positioning statement, this is defined as the following:

Our commitment to innovation in business education together with our relationship to the University of Michigan supports our philosophy of co-creating robust and diverse individual experiences for faculty and students across all programs — from BBA to Executive Education. Co-creation means that each person participates actively in the educational process; that the process is not a one-way delivery system from professor to student.

This core value also recognizes that we have forged and will strengthen cross-disciplinary programs, research partnerships and intellectual affiliations. For example, faculty grapple with the complex, often multidisciplinary problems that challenge our society and students can customize their education with a variety of opportunities.

After reading that you still might ask, “What in the heck is that?” For a long time, you could have put me in that camp, too. But now I’m getting a much better understanding of what it means. And it turns out that it’s really important for understanding all that Ross has to offer to BBAs. Let me take a shot at translating what this means to our undergraduate population.

Co-creation is all about creating a program of study that fits you as an individual rather than simply taking some pre-defined course of study. It’s about taking diverse pieces from around Ross and around this great University and constructing an educational experience that fits you. It’s about working with an advisor, working with representatives of the school, creating with them (get it?! — co-creating!) a set of courses and extra-curriculars that support your goals.

This is a big deal for Ross and the BBA Program and is one of our core values because we have such a set of absolutely fantastic programs surrounding the academic classes. There’s the Dare to Dream competition for those with an entrepreneurial bent. There’s the Washington Campus program for those who are interested in pursuing a life in, or simply understanding a life in, public policy. There’s the Erb Institute for students who emphasize the importance of sustainable enterprises. Study abroad programs in Germany and China for those who think that international business is what deserves emphasis. Double majors in business and music or economics or engineering or ... whatever. It almost doesn’t matter what a student wants to do. If he or she takes the time to define the interest, the Ross School has programs in place that the student can take advantage of.

This is a strength in diversity and a strength in context that is not easily duplicated elsewhere. I have always matained that the strength of Ross is that it is located within the University of Michigan. And this is one way in which the BBA Program fits the strategy of co-creation better than the MBA Program: BBAs have a diverse set of resources throughout the University in which to co-create their educational experience. If another undergraduate business program were to want to compete with Ross in this dimension, it would almost certainly come up short unless it was part of one of the world’s great universities as Ross is. Further, since business schools (any school, for that matter) have little influence over the rest of the university in which they are located, they have little ability to change their competitive position in this dimension.

This same philosophy manifests itself in the Ross BBA curriculum. Yes, students have a core curriculum that they all must complete; however, this is not a large number of hours, leaving a good chunk of the students course work for electives in Ross, electives in LS&A, minors, and double majors. In this case, the co-creation is primarily between the student and his or her advisor who brings a deep knowledge of possible courses inside and outside of Ross.

In conclusion, though co-creation sounds like a theoretical concept, it can actually be seen and felt in many different parts of a student’s experience while they are here at Michigan.