MIT-China Management Education Program

A recent study published in the New York Times noted that MIT has more Internet addresses than all of China. By 2007, however, more than 50 percent of Web users will be Chinese, according to forecasts. Since 1996, MIT Sloan has been developing initiatives that prepare the management force of China for business in the global arena -- all the more crucial since China's admission into the World Trade Organization in 2001.

MIT Sloan initiatives give graduate students in three Chinese IMBA programs a foundation on which to build successful management careers in their country and in the international business community. These innovative initiatives also offer rich opportunities for collaboration between communities at MIT Sloan and at Chinese universities. Together students, faculty, and staff from both continents develop a deeper understanding of the complexity and the impact of Chinese-based economies.

MIT-China Management Education Project -- MIT Sloan established the MIT-China Management Education Project in 1996 with two distinguished Chinese educational institutions — Tsinghua University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai. Lingnan College at Zhongshan University in Guangzhou joined the project in 1999. MIT Sloan also provides support for the MBA Program at Yunnan University in Kunming through training of its MBA faculty.

In China, the MIT-China Management Education Project has been endorsed at the highest levels. During a visit to MIT, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji expressed his enthusiasm for the project and his confidence in MIT Sloan.

The mission -- One of the highest priorities of the MIT-China Management Education Project is faculty development. The project brings Chinese faculty to MIT Sloan to work with MIT Sloan faculty and take classes with MIT Sloan MBA students. The visiting professors then incorporate this new knowledge into the curriculum and teaching formats at their own universities.

Many U.S. and European business schools establish academic affiliations with Chinese universities in which Western faculty, visiting or in residence, provide much of the instruction. MIT Sloan faculty and program organizers have invested in an alternative model. They believe strongly that transferring knowledge directly to Chinese faculty produces broader, longer-term value.

The model in action -- The MIT-China Management Education Project uses a collaborative model that involves faculty and students from all the participating schools. The project functions on a variety of levels and on several learning platforms.

(*) Several faculty members from each of the Chinese universities come to MIT Sloan every semester to develop the core subjects and electives they then teach in IMBA programs at their respective schools.

(*) At MIT Sloan, Chinese faculty meet with MIT Sloan faculty and teaching assistants in their disciplines to strategize on adapting MIT Sloan teaching materials and methods to the Chinese environment. They introduce Chinese-based problems into class discussions and join teams of MIT Sloan MBA students to work on class projects. Along the way, they become more fluent in English, making connections that lead to lifelong professional associations and enduring personal friendships.

(*) Four Tsinghua IMBAs visited MIT Sloan for orientation week in 1999. When they returned to China, they developed a similar program for their classmates. Orientation week is now a regular feature of all three IMBA programs. When teams of Fudan and Lingnan IMBAs twice won a regional entrepreneurship contest that brought them to the finals in Texas, MIT Sloan faculty and students hosted them in Cambridge.

(*) To date, virtually all the IMBA faculty at Tsinghua, Fudan, and Lingnan have made at least one visit to MIT Sloan. Follow-up visits to the MIT Sloan campus allow them to strengthen their course plans and teaching materials, to renew friendships, speak English regularly, and reenergize their commitment to the project.

(*) Most of the MIT Sloan faculty have participated in the project as hosts and advisors, and the experience has deepened their understanding of China. Some have introduced Chinese cases into their courses. Others are including examples of Chinese business practices in their research.

(*) MIT Sloan provides each program with textbooks, cases, and other teaching materials. It also provides the schools' libraries with texts and reference books and subscriptions to CD-ROM and online database systems that give access to more than 2,700 journals and newspapers.

(*) MIT Sloan faculty regularly visit the participating Chinese universities. They conduct faculty workshops and teach and co-teach classes with their Chinese colleagues. MIT Sloan students, usually visiting during spring break, help IMBAs develop their skills in teamwork, leadership, and communications, and advise them on career development issues.

(*) MIT Sloan faculty use videoconferencing technology to teach IMBA cases in China on topics such as applied macroeconomics, the global economy, managerial communication, and regional management issues.

Students, faculty, and program staff involved in the project testify to its tremendous success. Speaking during a video conference to an audience of MIT Sloan and Tsinghua IMBA faculty and students, Donald Lessard, Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management, congratulated the Chinese faculty on its success in integrating the new knowledge into the curriculum. He also praised the deans for their skilled leadership. The project, he said, has exceeded MIT's expectations.

The achievements of the MIT-China Management Education Project are changing the course of management education in China and at MIT Sloan.

(*) MIT Sloan Managerial Communication classes that Chinese faculty adapt for their IMBA students have been so successful that the Chinese National Advisory Committee for MBA Education now requires all Chinese MBA programs to include them in their curricula.

(*) MBA programs are proliferating in China (89 at the latest count), and the IMBA programs participating in this project consistently rank at the top.

(*) The National Advisory Committee also has added a required course in Information Technology and recommended that all MBA programs replace their required course in Statistics and Operations with Data, Models, and Decisions. Both courses are taught in the MIT Sloan and IMBA core curricula.

(*) Graduating IMBA students are taking positions with multinational employers at salaries far above what they were earning before their received their IMBA degrees. Others are launching their own businesses.

(*) Word is spreading internationally about the quality of these IMBA programs, and an ever increasing number of students apply to and are accepted into these programs from outside Mainland China. They bring diverse global perspectives into the classroom and broaden the alumni network.

Faculty and staff on both continents are continually expanding the depth and breadth of this innovative program that collapses boundaries and builds powerful global bonds.

In 2011, MIT Sloan celebrates the 15th anniversary of the MIT-China Management Education Project. In 1996, MIT Sloan launched the project at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai. Lingnan (University) College in Guangzhou joined in 1999. The program has since awarded more than 3,400 International MBAs.