‘Stanford Rebuild is our answer to Covid’
ZENIOS tells Anjuli Bhargava that rapid innovation is, and will continue to be, necessary due to the upheaval of the pandemic
How do you see your GSB student composition changing this year?
The biggest difference we expect to see is in the globalisation of our students. For the last 20 years, Stanford and many other business schools have worked to attract students from all over the world and we typically have 40 per cent international students in a batch. Students represent more than 60 countries, which offers a broad set of perspectives and rich educational experience. However, that is going to be difficult this year.
But, in general, our entire curriculum has been made available virtually. What was already a fastgrowing trend in education was accelerated with Covid-19.
What is the primary goal behind Stanford Rebuild? What are you hoping to achieve and why now?
Stanford Rebuild is our answer to the pandemic. It was created in order to address the many challenges that have presented themselves now. Our goal is to bring together people with different perspectives and innovative minds and support their efforts to create solutions, products or services that address these challenges and help accelerate recovery from the pandemic.
As many states and countries have begun rolling out their plans for reopening, this is a critical time where people and organisations are thinking about what approaches and products will need to be designed for our new “normal”. Rapid innovation is, and will continue to be, necessary due to the upheaval of the pandemic, which is where Stanford Rebuild comes in.
Some of the challenges we are already seeing from Covid-19 that participants can consider addressing through Rebuild include implementing scalable and socially responsible testing and contact tracing; redesigning childcare and early education; addressing the mental health impact of social distancing; and supporting small businesses as they recover and, in many cases, reinvent themselves. Open and free to everyone across the globe, we hope Stanford Rebuild can encourage and inspire people to develop ideas and solutions that solve the challenges we have seen emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Do you in general see a shift towards more sustainable businesses and solutions as the world moves forward?
Businesses have been shifting towards more sustainable solutions for years now, with more than 90 per cent of CEOS stating that sustainability is important to the success of their company due to a growing sense of corporate social responsibility.