Hult International Business School

Hult International Business School is a non-profit educational organisation and the first triple-accredited Business School in the US.

Ranked by the Financial Times, The Economist, Forbes, and Bloomberg Businessweek, Hult offers programmes at undergraduate, post-graduate, and executive education levels and awards joint US and UK degrees across its global campus locations in Boston, San Francisco, London, Dubai, Shanghai, and New York.  

Founded by one of Europe’s most successful entrepreneurs—Bertil Hult—the school offers an alternative to traditional, theory-based education and strives to be the world’s most relevant business school. Hult’s philosophy is that business skills can only truly be learned by doing. By immersing students from all over the world in practical, hands-on experiences from day one, Hult programs develop the skills employers and entrepreneurs need most. This fresh and innovative approach to education is creating a global community of confident, capable graduates, ready to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. 

To support its mission, Hult requires an IT and AV partner capable of matching its ambitious plans and culture of innovation – that’s why Hult has a long-standing, well-established relationship with SCC Collaboration. Together, SCC AVS and Hult have delivered a unified communications solution that enables remote teaching and learning from Hult’s business school in London. The school offers undergraduate and graduate business degrees, with dedicated campuses in central locations, to anywhere in the world. 

Despite this project having been in the planning since before the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, the global pandemic accelerated plans to enable remote learning for Hult’s students. Hult asked SCC AVS to create digital classrooms from which Hult professors could connect to students at home and other international Hult locations on a global basis. 

Whilst SCC AVS began work on proof-of-concept solutions at Hult’s London campus, the business school was keen to implement the new technology on a global scale quickly. This was in response to the UK entering strict lockdown measures amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite significant logistical challenges, SCC AVS extended its proof-of-concept to a full unified communications solution in one classroom at Hult London. Following this successful initial launch SCC AVS rolled this out to an additional 13 classrooms across two sites in the capital. This complemented Hult’s unified communications solution in its 20 sites across the US. 

The Technology includes ceiling mounted microphones that use dynamic audio tracking to direct the camera towards the student who is currently interacting with the group, ensuring the whole class and remote students can participate clearly. A secondary high-quality tracking camera follows the tutor’s movements giving a consistent teaching experience, combined with high-speed connections which guarantee’s a real-time learning environment. 

As a result, Hult was able to quickly implement remote delivery of teaching and home learning for all of its international students. This ensured a seamless education experience despite the various lockdowns around the world. The business school is pleased with the solution and continues to invest in improving its remote learning capability. The school see’s this project as part of its long-term investment and sustainable innovation programme, regardless of how long the COVID-19 pandemic stretches.