In 1996, MIT Sloan School of Management established partnerships at two top-ranked Chinese universities, Tsinghua and Fudan. In 1999 they came back to and created a program with Lingnan College at Sun Yat-sen University. MIT also recently started a program in the western mountainous province of Yunnan. MIT Sloan provides textbooks, training for professors, visiting professors, and guidance on how to run an exceptional MBA program. MIT takes its expertise in running one of the best MBA programs in the US and applies a similar model to the best universities in China. It gives Chinas future business leaders a professional MBA program for a fraction of the price and an excellent opportunity to hone skills in business English. International students now too are recognizing an ideal way to study the best American business education has to offer in a Chinese environment.
After over 10 years of operation, the MIT’s China MBA programs are running stronger than ever. Not only are the schools attracting some of the best talent in China but at the same time they have developed a powerful alumni network. Next semester at Lingnan college, MIT’s premier business school in southern China, will welcome over 10 international students as well to its program in Fall 2007. The MIT programs in China continue to be ranked among the top 10 business schools in China.
As the MIT-sponsored universities continue to grow and improve their programs, they are also preparing to move in new directions – with strategies to adapt to a rapidly increasing market for Chinese business education. With a sound foundation in western-inspired MBA education, the schools are now building more and more components of specifically Chinese business concepts into their programs. China MBA News reports:
In an interview Alan White, the senior associate dean of MIT Sloan and shown here in China, said, ‘Our approach is to work with Chinese Faculty and educators to assist them in determining their definition of a Chinese MBA. Educational materials in China need to be developed based on Chinese practice, not on Western practice. For this reason, we do not transport MIT to China; we consider the approach of establishing Western schools in other countries the missionary approach. This is not our concept. Our program focuses on Chinese faculty development. To develop a great university you develop the faculty.’
As an international student currently enrolled in Lingnan’s MBA program, I encourage and welcome these new changes. Many of the professors, though their careers boast of experience all over the world, were born Chinese and have extensive experience in some of China’s most successful corporations. As China’s stock market rises and more businesses look to China as more than just a place for cheap labor and other resources, MBA graduates are being called to take on larger roles in both multinational and Chinese corporations that involve a critical Chinese management component. For the past couple decades, “Chinese business” was largely analyzed and taught from a western perspective – the west’s interpretation of how best to do business in China. Now it is time for Chinese managers and professionals to step up and start to tell the world not only how to do business in their country but how best to do business with their country. Chinese corporations like Lenovo and Haier have already made international recognition for their brands. More are on their way.
Lingnan teaches a fine course on International Business Management. The professor, Dr. Songhua Hu, not only has an excellent understanding of international business procedures and regulations but he adds an interestingly and exclusively Chinese element to the course. The course uses both the latest text in International Business from MIT Press but also uses an well-researched text published by Dr. Hu, himself, at Sun Yat-sen University Press. The case studies are an intriguing mix of Dr. Hu’s Chinese teaching and working experience coupled with selected international case studies. This combination gives a unique China component to the curriculum. This trend will only continue as the western-partnered universities in China work to better meet the needs of the international roster of students in their classrooms.
Western supported education in China is no longer a one-way street of funding, training, and teaching. It’s time for the west and China to start sharing more with each other about the world’s best business practices.
The stock market just starting to creep back down from scary highs and a serious Chinese feeding frenzy. The wealth gained or lost in the past few weeks might make some of the following facts not so true anymore. But I’m sure there’s still plenty of Chinese cashing in big. Here’s a look at some statistics about the wealth in China from 