'There is a World Outside Verona': global capabilities and the global workforce: a case study of a Masters program

This is a study of global capabilities needed in postgraduate students. International education and the globalization process, evident in their impact on a business student’s global capabilities in tertiary education, have gained momentum in the past decade. The knowledge-intensive economy demands that business students seeking a global career possess global capabilities.

RMIT University has a set of generic teaching and learning capabilities that are ostensibly applied to its many degree courses. There exists no explicit set of global capabilities that address what is needed to work globally. Further, neither RMIT University nor RMIT Business possesses a definitive set of global capabilities for business students. The aim of this research is to contribute to the body of knowledge on global capabilities in the Master of Business Information Technology (MBIT).

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three distinct sets of subjects, whose views contextualised the data gathered from both the business and education environments. University, corporate, and students’ perspectives into the global capabilities needed by postgraduate students were gathered.

Results from this research have identified the importance of global capabilities whether you are a student, an employer or an academic. The most important capabilities are an understanding of globalization, global work, and the global organisation. Clear themes were the comprehension of cross cultural sensitivity and an ability to adapt to a globalized ever changing world. These capabilities can be acquired though exposure in an academic setting that is acutely sensitive to the world of globalization. Students in a liminal career state need to adopt these capabilities in order function globally.