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• A comparison of the Canadian and Romanian markets for business education highlights how two different systems are adapting to global pressures, from enrollment challenges to shifting student expectations.
• While Canada leans on its multicultural strengths and strong co-op traditions, Romania draws on European partnerships and private-sector collaboration to modernize its programs and retain talent.
• From this comparison, business schools worldwide can pinpoint best practices for financial resilience, curricular innovation, and flexible educational delivery that will help them meet the needs of a new generation.

 
A complex mix of forces is fundamentally reshaping business education. Geopolitical instability, demographic shifts, funding pressures, and rapid technological change are driving both a wave of global disruption and an urgency for local solutions, in ways that demand innovation and adaptation from business schools worldwide.

We can learn a great deal about the impact of such global trends on our industry by looking at them more closely on a local scale. With that in mind, we have examined business education in two distinct national contexts: Canada and Romania.

The two of us chose these two countries because we each know their national contexts well. Karina Ochis is an associate professor at Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in Romania, where she teaches management, institutional economics, and human resources; Ola Ibrahim, who specializes in international student communications, has worked at Mohawk College in Ontario, Canada, for eight years.

We met recently while completing our master’s degrees at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In our conversations, we realized that a side-by-side comparison of business education in Eastern Europe and North America offers a unique comparative lens through which we can learn how business education is evolving within the rapidly changing global order.

On the one hand, Canada represents a mature, globally respected higher education sector that is navigating new financial realities. Canadian business schools are leveraging their country’s multicultural context, as well as its reputation as a living laboratory for inclusive, cross-cultural teaching and learning. Romania, on the other hand, represents a system in transformation, blending Eastern European academic legacies with strong Western influences. It also is an educational hub for students from the Middle East and North Africa.

Below, we look at how institutions in both countries are addressing four areas that are especially critical to the future of business education: enrollment and funding, work-integrated learning, curricular innovation, and the impact of Generation Z. This comparison reveals not only how different institutions are responding to external pressures, but also how all business schools can adopt practices that converge on a shared goal: developing modern, globally relevant business education.

1. Enrollment and Funding

While business schools in Canada and Romania operate in different funding environments, they share fundamental concerns about long-term financial viability.

For example, Canadian universities and colleges are experiencing steep , largely due to  and a persistent housing crisis. These institutions, which traditionally rely on international student tuition to supplement reduced government funding and domestic enrollments, must now .

This reassessment has led to the realization that innovation in program design, delivery, and partnerships is increasingly crucial. For instance,  are one innovation that institutions are adopting to work around government restrictions on international enrollments.

Schools in Romania face a significant brain drain, making the challenge of retaining top graduates paramount.

In Romania, despite the fact that there has been a  in 2024–25, schools face a significant brain drain, making the challenge of retaining top graduates paramount. Business schools in Romania are taking several approaches to remain financially resilient and to reverse the loss of graduates to other markets. These approaches include leveraging industry partnerships, seeking out competitive grants offered by the European Union (EU), and designing targeted programs aimed at talent retention.

Global lesson: Regardless of their funding models, business schools must address declining enrollments by diversifying their income streams and linking their programs to local and global market needs.

2. Work-Integrated Learning

Canada’s business education model features work-integrated learning (WIL) as a central pillar, with institutions building co-op placements, internships, and live consulting projects into curricula to boost students’ employability and promote equity. For example, institutions such as Toronto Metropolitan University actively connect students from all backgrounds to and . The University of Waterloo in Ontario offers , in which business students can access co-op placements that include full-time paid work and internship opportunities.

In Romania, WIL programs are gaining attention but still remain underdeveloped. Their implementation is largely hindered by three factors: outdated regulations, the perception among students that working during studies is optional, and continued adherence to a precapitalist educational system in which WIL was largely found in technical schools. Expanding authentic WIL could significantly improve student retention and talent alignment with the domestic economy.

Global lesson: WIL is a powerful driver of both employability and equity, but only if it is implemented with institutional commitment, robust regulatory support, and cultural buy-in.

3. Curriculum Innovation

Global trends have reinforced the need for curricular innovation in three areas in particular: artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, and financial literacy. In Canada, for example, AI literacy is rapidly becoming a core expectation. The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto  directly into finance, strategy, and operations courses, as has HEC Montréal.

Many Canadian schools also treat climate change as a core business issue, and they have developed innovative courses that integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles into leadership training. Such courses are often supported by Canada’s strong emphasis on WIL, bridging the gap between academic innovation and workplace readiness.

Many Canadian schools treat climate change as a core business issue, and they have developed innovative courses that integrate ESG principles into leadership training.

Romania has a national three-year strategy on artificial intelligence, designed to align with EU regulations, but regarding education, the real momentum comes from think tanks and private initiatives. Despite their efforts, however, the pace of AI integration across the country remains slow.

Regarding financial literacy, the Romanian National Bank has taken important steps to support financial education. These steps include the , coordinated by Cosmin Marinescu, the bank’s deputy governor. This program’s goal is to analyze, evaluate, and support the country’s economic policy decisions, reflecting the national importance of financial literacy. Because this initiative takes place outside of Romania’s universities, it also shows there is room for state and private institutions to do more in preparing graduates for everyday financial realities.

Sustainability is also a national priority—but here, more educational organizations are addressing the topic. For instance, institutions such as the Bucharest Business School are integrating ESG topics into curricula through partnerships with entities such as the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Global lesson: If business schools wish to position themselves as leaders in their national contexts, they should embed AI, sustainability, and financial literacy across their programs as essential competencies. In the process, they should draw on their own institutional agility and, when possible, relevant national priorities and policies.

4. Gen Z Learners

Generation Z, comprising individuals born between 1997 and 2012, has a unique set of pedagogical needs and expectations. Gen Z’s arrival has required schools and  alike to make significant shifts in their approaches. The learners of this generation expect active, relevant, and flexible learning environments. To meet these expectations, business schools must adopt multifaceted approaches that emphasize faculty readiness, institutional investments, and adaptation of global best practices to local realities.

Canada’s approach to engaging Gen Z incorporates two primary principles:

• Active learning classrooms. ALCs are spaces designed with flexible layouts and audiovisual tools that help students learn interactively. ALCs have been introduced at several Canadian institutions, including  in Montreal and . But although these classrooms are growing more common among Canadian schools, effective implementation at the institutional level often faces challenges due to bureaucratic inefficiencies.
• Universal Design for Learning.  focus on providing students with multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression. This approach accommodates diverse learning styles and needs, fostering a more inclusive and effective learning environment for a generation that highly values flexibility and personalization.

Romania, on the other hand, faces challenges in effectively responding to Gen Z’s expectations. These challenges include:

• Limitations in faculty training. There is a crucial need for Romanian educational organizations to offer additional professional development opportunities for faculty that focuses on how to engage Gen Z students in the classroom.
• Students’ unfamiliarity with alternative methods. This unfamiliarity can deter faculty from incorporating these methods into their teaching, highlighting a need for both faculty and students to adapt to new pedagogical styles.
• The need for a cultural shift. To scale practical Gen Z-oriented educational approaches at Romanian universities, educators need to transition away from an overreliance on traditional methods and toward curricular innovations that foster more dynamic learning environments.

Global lesson: Engaging Gen Z requires institutions to be more proactive, emphasizing faculty readiness, strategic investments in new pedagogical tools and training, and thoughtful adaptation of international best practices to suit local realities and educational cultures.

Different Methods, Similar Objectives

The business education markets in North America and Eastern Europe, exemplified by the cases of Canada and Romania, illustrate different paths to a shared goal: delivering modern, inclusive, and globally relevant business education.

From a comparison of the two markets, business schools worldwide can draw the following key insights:

• Funding resilience matters. In response to underfunding and declining enrollments, schools must seek out diversified income streams and stronger partnerships.
• Work-integrated learning is essential. The employability of business school graduates depends on programs that move beyond mere “paper-level” commitments to experiential learning. Rather, schools must provide students with substantial real-world experience.
• Curricula must embed AI literacy, sustainability, and financial literacy. Skill development in these areas is now the baseline for future managers, requiring schools to promote responsive policies and build agile faculties.
• Gen Z needs new pedagogical approaches. Such approaches should incorporate project-based, tech-enabled learning that actively engages students. It will be crucial for institutions and their faculty to adapt, learning to make such a style of educational delivery the norm.
• Good institutional governance is critical. All business schools must establish clear policies for the delivery of their programs and operations, while keeping the above lessons in mind. Only through good governance can schools ensure their ability to support sustainable futures for graduates.

The overarching lesson we can take from this examination of the Canadian and Romanian contexts is clear: To sustain pedagogical innovation, business schools must balance local realities with global demands. They must design the right environments for flexible, tech-reliant learning that incorporates collaboration, discussion, and hands-on problem-solving.

Only those business schools that take appropriate steps to ensure their own financial resilience will survive to see the next era for business education. And schools that effectively combine continuous curriculum innovation, robust faculty development, and strong industry engagement will be best positioned to serve their markets and prepare graduates for meaningful careers in a rapidly shifting global economy.