A sector commentary argued business schools are uniquely positioned to drive higher education’s next transformation by shifting focus from traditional outputs to verifiable impact on firms, communities and economic outcomes. The piece urged deans and faculties to leverage corporate proximity, measurement cultures and applied programs to demonstrate external results rather than inward-facing metrics. The author called for new accountability frameworks that track employment quality, regional innovation adoption, entrepreneurship outcomes and measurable improvements in productivity — outcomes that would be externally verifiable and less subject to self-reporting. Source: opinion analysis.