Business school retools executives

Ten years ago, China formally introduced the EMBA (executive MBA) programme, offering Western management knowledge to local corporate honchos. The country has since become the largest EMBA market in the world, with more than 10,000 EMBA students graduating from around 60 business schools every year.

Boosting the demand is Chinese entrepreneurs' increasing desire to retool themselves with the most advanced management theories as the nation edges closer to becoming the world's largest economy.

EMBA education first emerged in the United States in the 1940s and thrived in the West for decades. Although senior executive education started late in China, it caught on quickly. The latest global EMBA ranking compiled by the Financial Times in October shows seven Chinese business schools made it to the Top 100 around the world.

The EMBA programme jointly run by Beijing's Tsinghua University and French business school INSEAD and another managed by the Shanghai-based China Europe International School (CEIBS) even broke into the top 10, with a ranking of 4th and 7th, respectively.

CEIBS, a joint venture of the Chinese government and the European Union set up in 1994, was the first in the nation to start EMBA classes.

It was not until July 2002 that the Ministry of Education formally approved 30 mainland universities to start offering EMBA classes and issue degrees. It was extended to another 32 universities in 2009.