New approach to learning with cultural diversity in mind
The Richard Ivey School of Business set up a Hong Kong campus in 1998 with the opening of the Cheng Yu Tung Management Institute. Three primary reasons were behind the decision to establish the school's first offshore campus in Asia.
'We saw active demand in Asia for a very different learning approach to developing management skills,' says Dr Larry Wynant, associate dean, Asia, professor of finance, and executive director, Cheng Yu Tung Management Institute, the Richard Ivey School of Business.
'People were interested in an interactive and pragmatic learning method. [And they wanted] a classroom that had lots of diversity in the cultural backgrounds of the people [involved].'
The second reason was to become a leader in developing knowledge on one of the world's most dynamic business environments.
'This was a chance for us to understand on a first hand basis the business practices in Asia,' Dr Wynant says.
'It's one thing to understand a business environment by doing research about it. But by teaching and interacting with business managers and students you can get a more intimate understanding of the business issues of the day.'
The third reason was a serious commitment to globalisation. 'By having a presence here, we could transform what we taught whether at home, in Europe, or in Asia,' Dr Wynant says.
After exploring several options, Hong Kong was chosen owing to the large number of University of Western Ontario graduates here, the proximity to the mainland and the support of Henry Cheng Kar-shun of the New World Group, who was willing to support the school in its start-up phase.
'With 250,000 graduates of Canadian universities, including 2,200 from the University of Western Ontario, in Hong Kong, there is a huge Canadian link, awareness and connection,' Dr Wynant says. 'It was a natural market for us.'
Ivey's Hong Kong EMBA is a 22-month programme in general management.
The first year begins with two weeks 'in residence' at the Cheng Yu Tung Management Institute in Hong Kong; the second with a one-week residential at Ivey's home campus in London, Ontario, in Canada.
With the exception of these two periods, classes are scheduled outside office hours. They take place two to three weekends from September to May, with three- to four-week breaks between modules.
Topics run from accounting and finance to information technology, communications, management, marketing, strategic planning and law.
With 30 per cent of the local EMBA market, Ivey also offers a host of short-term, non-degree executive development programmes. Tailor-made custom programmes are developed in partnership with individual companies to meet their specific needs.
Consortium programmes bring together a select group of non-competitive companies with similar needs. Open-enrolment public programmes focus on general management issues.
All of these programmes are taught by the school's own full-time professors.
Looking to the future, Ivey plans to continue expanding its programme offerings. A part-time MBA will be launched in Hong Kong next year, with classes starting in January.
'This will give us a chance to reach a new market segment, younger managers earlier in their careers,' Dr Wynant says.
In another two to four years the school hopes to launch what he calls 'on-the-ground' programmes in the mainland.
Kathleen Slaughter, professor of management communications, executive director, Ivey Asia, Cheng Yu Tung Management Institute, is particularly upbeat about the prospects the mainland offers.
'It's a market you have to keep up with and you can't do it from the other side of the world,' she says. 'We are constantly besieged by graduates asking us when we are going to go to Beijing and Shanghai. You have to be there to see how quickly things are happening.'
