‘China Calling’ by Andrew Saunders, Management Today, October 2011

As usual Management Today’s article on business schools is wrapped around an advertising feature for a selection of institutions but the content is different and interesting; it is about the growth of management education in China and the development of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) based in Shanghai. This school is being run by John Quelch, a former professor at LBS and Harvard.

The article makes the case for managers to think about broadening their education by a spell in China, either a few years in management or attendance at business school, or both. It is suggested that a period in Asia will in future be regarded as a necessary part of the CV for those who want to take the top jobs in global companies.

CEIBS is still dominated by Chinese participants - partly because 85% of sessions are in Chinese and need simultaneous translations for non-speakers - but there are increasing numbers of western participants for the full time MBA, despite the $50,000 price tag. And, unlike the UK and USA, it is the full time MBA which is growing and not just at CEIBS; there are now more than 120 different MBA programmes in China. The appetite for learning is voracious and continuous.

Unlike the western institutions, the majority of participants are into middle age and have significant management experience; in fact a significant proportion are at senior level. It is not so much seen as a route to the top; it is more a requirement to stay there and improve. The most needed and popular topics at CEIBS have been on the softer side of management with managing change and finding/developing talent at the top of the tree; the harder subjects are seen as areas of strength already.

Ironically it is finding training talent that is seen as a key limiting factor in the development of CEIBS. They have been relying on 50% visiting faculty but feel that they need a higher proportion of full time people to expand and still retain quality. Another problem is some resistance to professors from western business schools; eastern participants quite reasonably question their qualifications to teach them when they see such a lack of growth in western economies. There is also some blame attached to the west for the financial crisis.

It would have been interesting to hear how western participants to Chinese MBA programmes had fared and whether the Chinese MBAs are getting the same kind of global recognition as those from the top western schools. But the article was certainly an interesting reminder that Harvard, INSEAD and LBS may be facing significant competition from Asian business schools in the future.

Click here to read the article in full

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/features/1094849/mt-mba-business-education-guide-autumn-2011-china-calling/