Corporate Education and Human Capital Theory with Matthew Butler-Adam

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Matthew Butler-Adam (Regional Managing Director of Duke Corporate Education) joins host Monde Nkosi to discuss corporate education and Human Capital Theory. Matthew provides an overview of the >$100 billion corporate education sector globally. He breaks down the sector into various verticals, exploring their characteristics and growth profile. Matthew also describes the academic research into the reasons behind growing educational spend at individual and country levels, with a specific focus on Human Capital Theory. Matthew shares personal reflections from his journey growing up in Durban, South Africa, to attending some of the best universities in the world including Oxford and Harvard, and now to working in the sector he is passionate about.

Matthew is Regional Managing Director of Duke Corporate Education, leading their activities for the UK and Europe. Prior to Duke, he worked in strategy consulting and M&A advisory at Bain & Company and Deloitte. Matthew is the author of Cracking Corporate: Building a Career That You Can Be Proud Of and was identified as a top young businessperson by the Mail and Guardian. His educational background is in economics and education, including a Master’s in International Education Policy at Harvard and a Master’s in Development Economics at Oxford, where he was awarded the Luca d’Agliano prize for the best dissertation. His research was funded by the Laurie Dippenaar FirstRand Foundation and the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.
Chapters
  • 00:01 Introduction to the Education Investment Podcast
  • 02:40 Matthew's Background and Educational Journey
  • 05:37 Matthew's Book "Cracking Corporate"
  • 10:33 Defining Corporate Education and Market Size
  • 14:00 Examples and Types of Corporate Education
  • 18:34 Verticals in Corporate Education
  • 25:33 Measuring Return on Investment in Corporate Education
  • 27:42 Social Impact of Corporate Education
  • 31:49 Research on Educational Investment Returns
  • 35:35 Economic Returns of Education
  • 41:22 Human Capital vs Signalling Theory
  • 45:47 Awareness of Education Returns and Conclusion
3 Sep English South Africa Education · Investing

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