Business education boom boosts China
That China has changed a lot in the last two decades isn’t hard-hitting news. But in that time, business has changed immensely too, from the way we do it, to the kind of companies on the market and what makes them successful.
That China has changed a lot in the last two decades isn’t hard-hitting news. But in that time, business has changed immensely too, from the way we do it, to the kind of companies on the market and what makes them successful.
This year, MIT Sloan School of Management is celebrating 20 years of experience in the MIT-China Management Education Project. To mark the occasion, Alan White, Senior Associate Dean Emeritus and Senior Lecturer Emeritus, speaks about his experience in the changing landscape of business education and how China – and the world – are evolving.
“Education can add value to your career at many stages throughout your life,” says White, who believes leadership potential can always be improved with management training. The MIT Sloan School of Management offers various courses, from an MBA or MFin that suits graduates and those in their early 30s, to a mid-career programme such as the EMBA, which attracts those in their late 30s and early 40s.
There are obvious advantages to business education, with networking at the top of the list. White advises that diversity will always help you to stand out. Yet despite the slew of skills that many attribute to their MBA experiences, such as understanding strategy or accounting better, White has another idea. “Business education is something you do, not something that happens.” And he doesn’t mean that there are advantages in actively pursuing education; he means get out of the classroom. Business education is no longer a classroom experience.
Part of MIT Sloan School of Management’s experience includes consulting assignments under the mentorship of a faculty member. In the Lab project, MIT Sloan students partner with international MBA students from five partner schools to address business issues at host companies in China. The teams visit the companies each spring to work on-site with their Chinese IMBA teammates. Likewise, the Chinese IMBA students spend a week at MIT Sloan. “We believe that education should stick. If it’s action oriented it can have a real impact,” White says.
About 4 per cent of MIT Sloan School of Management’s MBA students are from mainland China, while a stunning 52 per cent make up the MFin programme. White is impressed by how fast things have changed in China over the past 20 years. The change is reflected in the development and adjustment of course structures with partner universities Fudan University, Lingnan (University) College at Sun Yat-sen University, Tsinghua University and Yunnan University.
The most important trend White has experienced in business education has hit home in China, too. “Globalisation is so important. In education, it’s about communication, being able to think outside your country – as a business – even if your target market is local,” he says. With entry barriers lower – and competition much higher – White says every business has the potential to be global – and so does education.
And although education opportunities between Asia and the west are levelling, White believes globalisation might hugely increase the number of expats working overseas. “Imagine an international marketplace of talent where nationality is irrelevant. I think globalisation will move people around and that will be considered desirable.”
Meanwhile, entrepreneurship is an important trend that is proving challenging to business education. While MIT’s engineering and business students benefit from one another’s expertise, publicised success stories like Apple and Google (or Dropbox, the cloud storage company that developed out of MIT and was valued at US$10 million over a year ago) have changed the way graduates from around the world think. “People are less oriented towards a corporate culture, they want independence instead of a single career for their whole lives,” White says.
The difficulty is that there are no academic rules for teaching entrepreneurship – or leadership. “It’s not about being trained – so we rely on outside speakers with experience to come in. It’s another reason for experiential learning,” White explains, adding that while China is ripe for entrepreneurs, opportunities are lacking.
Changes like this show that schools are led by markets – having to interpret and then change curriculum accordingly – otherwise management education could lose its importance. And institutions have to keep up with demand from students.
If anything is preventing Chinese universities from catching up with schools like MIT, it’s the model they’re run on and not a lack of facilities. “China inherited a Russian model where research is done in academies and not in faculties,” White explains. “The faculty are so busy teaching that they can fall behind in their knowledge because they aren’t out living and working in the real world.”
In the west, faculties have a lot of power and, effectively, administration is there to serve the faculty. In China, it’s the other way around. “If you don't have a research-based faculty you won't have a truly global school,” White states, adding that in China universities rely on outside speakers to communicate this understanding to students.
Nonetheless, White’s advice for those who want to make a move is experiential. “The field is more level, especially between east and west, so I would advise you to get as much experience as you can in the environment you’re going into – not just in education – before you go for the job.”
