Going for MBA in China?

[Ando]

Hello Chinese-Forums.com! This is my first post here after being on the forum lurking for a few straight hours just reading and reading all the useful information here.

A bit of background about myself, if anyone cares to know: I am a 20something American male currently living in New York, working for a Japanese company subsidiary company. Yes, I speak Japanese, which is probably the only reason I have this job, honestly. However, I've come to the point where, I just love kanji... sorry, hanzi so much that I want to tackle Chinese now. I know a bit about self-teaching, and am very, very "fluent" in Anki and all that, plus have over 3000 characters under my belt already - so I'm not really expecting too much trouble. From the week of simple studying and playing I've done so far, I have to say it's going to be a blast. The grammar is really this easy? Fantastic. I conduct my day to day business in Japanese, and there are still grammar structures that trip me up/I've never seen before.

So, now that I've introduced myself a bit - which was probably unnecessary as this is a huge forum - let me get to my real question.

Is it possible to apply for an English speaking MBA program in China? I'd prefer Beijing or Shanghai, but I'm not terribly picky. Or, do I have to go through an American university?

My goal here is to spend 1-2 years in China to pick up my MBA. Naturally, this won't happen until next, next fall, so I have plenty of time to pick up my Chinese skill before that. So, once I'm there, I can focus on communication and really honing my abilities.

That's pretty much all I need to know at this point, and google proved not to yield much information on the subject, so I figured I'd ask here. If anyone can point me in the direction of more information, particularly requirements and hopefully even applications, I'd be eternally grateful.

I hope to be able to contribute more and more to this community as time goes on - I'm certainly in this for the long haul!

[skylee]

You could consider the MBA programme offered by the HKUST in Hong Kong, which is ranked No 6 in the world according to the Financial Times. Or if you have the money you could do its EMBA, which is ranked No 1 in the world. The folks in HKUST speak in English. HKUST's website -> http://www.ust.hk/en...out/ranking.htm

This webpage might also be useful -> http://rankings.ft.c...a-rankings-2011

[tooironic]

Your situation may be a little tricky - mainland China has the largest percentage of Mandarin-speaking people in the world (i.e. great for learning the language) but ranks relatively low for MBA programs.

Then again, there's CEIBS - has anyone had experiences with that school?

You may be better off doing it in a city like Melbourne which has Melbourne University (a very high-ranking business school) BUT also has a very large Chinese-speaking population AND may be cheaper than the higher-ranking schools.

[Ando]

Thank you both for the replies.

skylee, while HKUST looks great, I agree with tooironic that being on the mainland would be best. Hong Kong scares me a bit because there will be a lot of Cantonese, correct? Plus, from what I've heard there is a lot of English spoken in Hong Kong. Since I could go through a MBA course in Japanese but certainly won't be able to in Chinese, English is my only option for that. Since that will be in English, I really would like to minimize the amount of English that will go on outside of my school work.

tooironic, I really like the look of CEIBS! I would like to echo the call to anyone who knows anything about this school. The website was impressive, and I think I will apply for admission there for the August 2012 class, as it is a bit too late this year (not to mention I didn't plan on going this year).

However, I would naturally like some backups. To further specify, I don't really require an incredibly good school. A decent school that is in Shanghai or Beijing would be more than fine. The main goal is to acquire Chinese ability, with the secondary bonus coming out of it with my MBA as well.

[gougou]

To further specify, I don't really require an incredibly good school. A decent school that is in Shanghai or Beijing would be more than fine. The main goal is to acquire Chinese ability, with the secondary bonus coming out of it with my MBA as well.

In that case, don't go for CEIBS. It is one of the best schools in the world (depending on which rating you trust), and as such also quite pricey. If Chinese is your main worry, you'll get it much cheaper at the other universities. Tsinghua or Beijing University have fairly decent MBA programs for less money - some of those also involving prestigious partner universities in the US.

[skylee]

I thought you wanted to apply for an English speaking MBA programme. I didn't realise that you wanted such a programme to be conducted in a Mandarin-speaking environment. If you study at HKUST you don't need to know any form of Chinese. Sorry.

[Ando]

Thank you for the other recommendations, gougou! I will look into those universities as well. One of the main things i am concerned with, however, is being able to directly apply to these universities without having to do an exchange program from an American university. I just want to do apply to the school in china and go.

However, i I'll also apply to CEIBS. While I don't need to go to a top tier university, it would be nice, don't you think?

Sorry skylee if I confused, I DO want a program in English. I'm just talking about minimizing the amount of English outside my course work.

[gougou]

Don't worry; the programs I referred to have the option of going to the States, not the prerequisite of coming from the States.

[imron]

Tsinghua University has a highly-rated International MBA program conducted in English.

[tooironic]

It's fair enough that you want to do an MBA program whilst learning as much Chinese as you can outside the course, but do make sure that you thoroughly investigate the teaching quality and content of each course before you apply. Whilst prestige doesn't always guarantee quality, there's a reason why ranking exists.

[Ando]

Of course, tooironic! Why do you think I'm here? ;) (Well, besides the plethora of amazing learning resources compiled in the other forums!)

I'll be applying to places outside of China, as well. As I will need back ups, I'm sure. Perhaps I will go and apply to Melbourne, as I've always wanted to be in Australia as well. However, the majority of schools I want to apply to, I would like to be located in China. It would make me feel much better if I could find 5 decent schools to apply to in China alone.

Tsinghua has definitely made the list! Great recommendation! I looked through their program and they seem to have a pretty tight grasp on what they are doing, with a lot of interesting courses being offer. Plus you get a certificate from MIT Sloan as well? Pretty cool.

When I searched for Beijing University MBA on google, I found it offered through Peking University. Is this what you were talking about, gougou?

[gougou]

Yeah, that's their name - it's the old transliteration of Beijing. I don't know anybody who's done that one (a friend of mine is doing the Tsinghua one, and he seems very happy with it), but they have a decent reputation too.

[Ando]

Thanks for all the help, gougou, and everyone else!

I'm particularly pleased to hear that you know someone who is in Tsinghua and enjoying it right now, as that is the school I will definitely be shooting for, it seems.

[Xiwang]

Depending on your timetable, you might want to check into the new NYU Shanghai campus. The news stories have been a bit vague as to the exact programs that will be offered. However, the instruction will be in English (except, obviously, for the language classes).

http://www.nyu.edu/about/leadership-university-administration/office-of-the-president/redirect/speeches-statements/important-step-towards-creating-new-campus-shanghai.html

[Ando]

That looks very promising, but my timeline to enter is more around Fall 2012, so I doubt they'll be done by then, unfortunately.

Thanks for the article though!

I do have a question regarding Tsinghua university, though. I was looking at the application procedure, and they mention you need to have passed the HSK 6... I can't find information on this, and the information I find about the HSK test is confusing to say the least. It looks like it is split up between Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced with levels in each. So then what is level 6? And how hard would that be to pass? And why do I need it if the program is in English?

[skylee]

In the e-application form for Tsinghua MBA programmes there is this remark "HSK is only required for applicants for FMBA, PMBA(taught in Chinese). Please leave it blank if not applicable " . It seems that knowledge of Chinese is not one of the admission criteria for the Internaional MBA programme.

[Ando]

Thank you for the help clearing that up, skylee! That's very good news. I thought I was going to have to kick my study of Chinese into overdrive there, which honestly probably wouldn't be the worst thing. Unfortunately, at the present moment I am still required to use a lot of English and Japanese daily, so my time to use Chinese is limited. And I have to include time to study for the GMAT. Looks like it's going to be a busy year!

[geeness]

Hi.

I similarly considering the QinghuaTsinghua MBA. My main concern is the reputation post-study.

In just about any respectable position that requires an MBA qualified candidate - who are they going to take on? Chen 中国人 who studied at a well reputed foreign institution, or Joe Bloggs who studied at Qinghua?

If I were the company, I can see why they would choose the former every time.

Depending on your age, why not consider studying Chinese for a year prior to completing an MBA course elsewhere in the world?

My initial enthusiasm for the Qinghua course has waned since spending a substantial number of hours reviewing the post-study prospects.

If you earn $100k per year now, you'll take at least a 50% drop if you complete the Qinghua MBA, then stay to work in China.

Regardless of what some may say; the cost of living in a tier1 city is extremely high. In addition, those who stay for business in China, who are of foreign origins with no blood family ties, will then earn less again when returning to their home country.

The fee is too high right now for high calibre international savvy individuals to contemplate attending, given the above.

Do private message me; opinion exist to be changed :-)

[kdavid]

Could someone please link me to an article or post which outlines the pros of doing an MBA in China as opposed to a western university?

[imron]

Do private message me; opinion exist to be changed

Don't private message him. Forums exist so opinions can be discussed in public where everyone can benefit from the wisdom/insight given