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...But is it important for business schools to also strive for professional diversity? Many academics, administrators and students would say so. In fact, it's been argued that restricting the MBA course participants to a limited range of experience means that traditionally accepted patterns of thought go unchallenged. They argue that a wide-ranging group of students helps to put business decision-making into a wider perspective, and thereby reduce the risk of a herd mentality that leads to ill-informed decisions. Perhaps Wall Street should take note?

Finding this balance, however, is not easy. Jenny George, outgoing dean at Melbourne Business School, says "There is only so far you can go with diversity of experience. It would be great to have an MBA class with a strong representation of people from the arts and humanities, but the reality is that an MBA student needs to be highly numerate. If they can't do the numbers, they're going to struggle."

A growing number of schools bridge the gap in numerical capabilities by offering extra modules to bring everyone up to the same level. The Desautels Faculty at McGill is one example, and Professor Omar Toulan, Associate Dean of Masters Programmes explains, "There are students who do not necessarily have the quantitative background for the MBA core. As such, we provide a 40 hour Base Camp prior to the program for students to reach a common level for the fundamentals of statistics, accounting, and maths."

Though Craig Buntin may be more comfortable with a figure of eight, the Olympic pair skater is now studying for his MBA at Desautels-McGill. He feels that professional diversity is an important factor in the learning process: "Our generation of business leaders will work in a world which requires us to think globally and work with people from different backgrounds and cultures. Class diversity teaches you to listen, and value the opinions of others. They may be approaching a problem from a completely different perspective than mine."

Read full article: , August 2, 2011