5 trending fields of higher education for Gen Y leading to success for young entrepreneurs

Society, perspectives, occupations and rapidly changing technology are now changing the popularity of young people’s educational choices from their predecessors. Gen X, now aged 40-50, looked to get their second degree in business administration or an MBA, because the value of success was climbing the ladder to be a senior executive of a leading company.

The young men and women of Gen Y, aged 20-30 plus have opposing values. They don’t want to waste time accumulating experience or wealth from a salary. They are ready to be entrepreneurs and business owners. They think they can get money to spend without wasting too much time, that they can have freedom in their lifestyles, and that they don’t have to wait for 60 to retire. This is what is making startups currently so hot.

For these reasons, the formerly popular MBA has given way to five academic fields that meet the needs of Gen Y. They are Entrepreneurship, E-business, Digital Marketing and Brand Management, along with Logistics and Supply Chain. Let’s see what each of these popular disciplines have to teach.

1. Entrepreneurship: This course focusses on business skills, particularly for SMEs and startups, from product design, production, sales, marketing, finance, business planning and innovation to using technology to achieve success. The learning is from case studies of real entrepreneurs around the world in both success and failure.
2. E-Business: This course imparts knowledge and skills in electronic technology used in every dimension of business, including production, online marketing, transportation, ordering, finance, customer relations and managing full-time online customers. It is also about strategies that are appropriate for businesses that are becoming fully-fledged e-businesses.
3. Digital Marketing: This is studying the behavior of customers in the online world and the arrival of devices from the digital world such as the Internet and smartphones, as well as 3D printing and digital marketing channels. There is digital marketing analysis, increasing marketing skills from the online world such as publicity on social media, ad copywriting and creating advertising media in the social media world.
4. Brand Management: This course connects creative, communication and marketing with the emphasis on differentiation together with communications strategies to create consumer awareness and acceptance of brands.
5. Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Learning about planning processes, operations and controlling efficiency of the movement of goods and services, from procuring raw material, warehouse management and transportation to controlling costs, which is the essence of logistics. Supply chain management concerns itself with management of the processes which arise between the seller or service provider and the supplier. The supply chain runs from purchasing raw materials, production, warehousing and transportation to distribution. The supply chain requires IT systems which give the greatest efficiency in management.

These are the fields which resonate with students in this era. Most of them carry the hope that the graduated subject will support their startup to achieve success, which is the desire of Gen Y.

Reference: Forbes Thailand