Business Schools Ranking in Cuba

Summary: This article explores the current state of business schools in Cuba as of 2025. It covers how institutions are adapting to economic reforms, fostering entrepreneurship, and responding to the nation’s evolving economic landscape amid structural challenges and growing globalization.

Business Education in Cuba: A Unique Socio-Economic Context

Business schools in Cuba operate within a unique and challenging economic and educational environment marked by a longstanding commitment to accessible education amid ongoing economic difficulties.

In 2025, Cuban business education reflects the country’s broader economic context, where centralized economic controls and persistent financial crises coexist with efforts to expand private enterprise and modernize skill development.

Business schools thus play a critical role in preparing professionals to navigate Cuba’s transitioning economy, fostering entrepreneurship, and supporting emerging market needs.

Cuba’s economy faces significant challenges, including a projected fiscal deficit exceeding 10% of GDP, continued recessionary pressures, and a shrinking economic output over the past decade. These financial strains have resulted in reduced public spending capacity, deteriorating quality in some public services, and a complex environment for higher education institutions.

Despite this, education remains a pivotal public priority, with Cuba allocating nearly 24% of public spending to education, maintaining high enrollment rates and average schooling years of 11.8 as of 2025.

Within this context, business schools must adapt to support Cuba’s efforts at economic diversification, entrepreneurship, and integration with global markets.

Many countries in the region, like Argentina, face similar challenges in balancing economic pressures with higher education reform, offering opportunities for cross-border learning.

Global Exposure: Internationalization and Collaboration

Key trends shaping Cuban business schools in 2025 include an emphasis on internationalization and global engagement. Following partial thawing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba, business schools are increasingly exploring international collaborations, study programs, and joint projects with foreign universities.

Prominent institutions abroad engage Cuban students and faculty through exchange programs and practical projects focusing on local entrepreneurial ventures adapting global business models in sectors like healthcare and retail.

This international outlook encourages exposure to global best practices and investment opportunities.

Similar trends can be observed in academically evolving countries such as Brazil, where global partnerships are transforming the local education ecosystem.

Rise of Entrepreneurship in Cuban Business Curricula

The government’s recent permissions for private enterprise and self-employment have significantly shifted the business education landscape.

Business schools encourage students to develop startup ideas within Cuba’s emerging private sector ecosystem, facilitating practical learning opportunities that combine critical strategy frameworks with real-world entrepreneurial challenges.

Comparably, schools in rapidly developing countries like Vietnam are embracing entrepreneurial ecosystems as part of business studies, enabling comparable regional development.

Adapting to the Digital Age: Technology in Business Education

Adapting to technological advances remains a challenge but also a priority as digitalization accelerates worldwide. Cuban business schools increasingly emphasize integrating digital skills and innovation into curricula to prepare graduates for evolving market demands, including new technology adoption in sectors still dominated by state control.

This mirrors a shared effort observed in other nations like India, where digital transformation is shaping future-ready business schools.

Embedding Sustainability in Business Education

Sustainability is gaining importance as Cuba faces climate change risks and economic instability. Business education includes awareness of sustainable practices, corporate social responsibility, and resilience planning, reflecting broader national concerns about resource management and long-term viability.

Incorporating sustainability aligns Cuban institutions with global movements witnessed in areas like Canada, where climate-conscious education policies are transforming managerial training.

Building Industry Ties: Corporate and Sector Linkages

Business schools seek stronger ties with domestic and international corporations to enhance relevance and employability. Partnerships foster practical training opportunities, internships, and access to emerging sectors, including multinational ventures increasingly active in Cuba.

Industry collaboration is vital for aligning education with real-world skills and ensuring job-market readiness among graduates.

Business institutions in Australia also leverage industry partnerships to bridge academia with business innovation, providing a valuable model for Cuba.

Student Expectations and Program Evolution

Students expect curricula that deliver relevant skills for a more open and dynamic economy, with a demand for programs that combine rigorous theory with hands-on business experience.

There is also growing interest in specializations aligned with Cuba’s evolving sectors such as healthcare management, financial services, and retail innovations adapted to local conditions.

Cuban institutions are mirroring evolving global academic trends found in places like business schools in Cuba, positioning themselves at the center of change in Latin America.

Ongoing Challenges Facing Cuba’s Business Schools

Despite encouraging trends, Cuban business schools face several persisting barriers:

• Funding Constraints and Resource Limitations: The country’s economic crisis limits financial resources available to higher education. This affects infrastructure, faculty salaries, and acquisition of technological tools, which together impede modernization efforts.
• Competitiveness and Talent Retention: Attracting and retaining high-quality professors and researchers is difficult due to low salaries and limited career incentives compared to more prosperous countries.
• Evolving Market Needs and Skill Gaps: The transition from a state-controlled economy to one allowing more private enterprise demands new business competencies rarely developed in traditional curricula.
• Technological Adoption and Digital Infrastructure: Limited access to advanced technology and internet connectivity hampers both pedagogical innovation and student capability development, creating a digital divide within business education.

The Road Ahead: Opportunities to Strengthen Cuban Business Schools

Opportunities for Cuban business schools in 2025 include:

• Leveraging International Collaborations: Expanding partnerships with global universities and business schools can enhance curriculum quality, research capacity, and student mobility. Joint projects focusing on Cuban enterprises and market conditions can deliver practical benefits and attract external funding.
• Driving Entrepreneurial Innovation: By fostering startup culture and creativity, business schools can become incubators for new business models suited to Cuba’s unique environment.
• Integrating Digital and Hybrid Learning Modalities: Adoption of online platforms, digital tools, and hybrid teaching methods can help overcome resource constraints and increase access, making education more flexible and aligned with global standards.
• Embedding Sustainability: As climate threats grow, sustainability-focused curricula prepare students to mitigate related risks in business contexts.
• Responding to Market and Social Needs: Curricula that reflect Cuban society’s evolving economic framework can enhance graduates' employability across sectors.

Comparable progress in innovation and hybrid learning is being accelerated in nations such as Colombia, opening the door for knowledge sharing and replication in Cuba.