When Henley Management College was redesigning its MBA programme, the school decided against stand­alone classes or electives for public sector students, who comprise about 20 per cent of the class.

“When you do that, you ghettoise the people in the public sector,” says Stephen Lee, director of the Centre for Voluntary Sector Management at Henley. “And what they get most benefit from is sharing their frustrations, their concerns and interests with people from other sectors.”