It has been a busy and momentous past year for Dr Janet De Silva, dean of Richard Ivey School of Business' Asian campus in Hong Kong. Since assuming responsibility for the overall development and Asian expansion of Canada's premier business school 14 months ago, De Silva has witnessed heightened interest for its Executive MBA (EMBA) programme from senior executives, entrepreneurs and professionals across the region, even as Ivey jumpstarted exciting developments on mainland China.
One of the past year's high points was Ivey's delivery of a custom EMBA programme for executives of Agricultural Bank of China (ABC). 'Based in Canada, this programme appealed to ABC's need to develop internationally capable executives. Ivey's case-study method provided real-life learning and exposure to the cultures and business approaches in other markets. While not in class with Ivey, ABC executives obtained work experience with Canada's Bank of Montreal,' De Silva says.
Early this year, Ivey developed another custom executive programme, this time for the Asian business partners of Manulife Financial, a major Canada-based financial services company. The programme used the 2008 global financial crisis as a case study for exploring the role of leadership in influencing risk management.
And in mid-May, Ivey announced a pioneering business-law combination partnership with the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) in Beijing. The alliance paves the way for Ivey executive education programmes in collaboration with CUPL on the mainland. Plans are afoot to create a joint EMBA programme.
Ivey stands out from other business schools in Hong Kong and in Asia for being a global leader in case teaching and case writing, De Silva says. It is one of only four exclusive case method schools in the world, and is the largest producer of Asian and Indian case studies. Its total case library is second only to Harvard Business School.
At Ivey, learning is designed to be both collaborative and challenging. 'We believe that each executive is more than able to contribute, that real life is the best context, that professors are not simply there to lecture, but to lead and inspire the class,' De Silva says.
'By learning from real-life case studies within a group of high-calibre business leaders and professors, every class is grounded in today's business world, learning from real-life scenarios.'
