Economy
Getting schooled in big business
By Andrew Moody (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-16 09:57
 |
Large Medium Small |
|
 |
|
The entrance to China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. [Nan Shan / For China Daily] |
Questions raised over the respective merits of Eastern and Western methods of vocational teaching
OXFORD/BEIJING - If China is to continue on its path to becoming the world's leading economy in the 21st century it will need first rate managers.
But do its business schools have the capacity to deliver the same standard of business and management education as is available in the West?
Certainly, business educational institutions such as the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing and the Hong Kong UST Business School have made their mark.
Many of these have significant links with major world institutions and attract the best lecturers globally.
But is there sufficient strength in depth? Are the 184 business schools across the country up to the job of delivering the management expertise that China so badly needs?
Dr Eric Thun, lecturer in Chinese business studies at the Said Business School at Oxford University, said there was now a shift in the balance of power in the provision of business education from West to East.
"I think the environment has changed a lot over the last 10 to 15 years. There was an assumption you had to go to the West to learn about business but that is no longer the case. There are some absolutely top-notch programs in China. There are some business schools much more highly ranked than us in the global rankings," he said.
|
||||
As part of an initiative by the Ministry of Education, MBA courses were then established at 10 mainly technical and engineering colleges in 1991.
It was another three years before China's major universities began to start offering them.
Wu Changqi, associate dean and professor of strategic management at the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, said China's shortage of management skills has been a major driver behind the growth of business schools in China.
"I think to some extent management education in the West has peaked with the numbers declining but here in China there is still a shortage of managers and that is what is driving the growth of business schools," he said.
He said potential MBA students are increasingly opting to study in China rather than go to the United States or Europe because they are worried they will get left behind in China's fast moving business world.
"If they go to America for two years with things moving so fast here they worry they might lose contact with their companies which might be sponsoring them on their courses. For them it might be advantageous to remain in China," he said.