Executive MBA Council Meeting Sparks Reflections on the Growth of EMBA Programs in the Region

Time：2014-05-04

ORANGE, CALIF., April 15-16, 2014 – Executive MBA Programs are playing an important role in supporting a growing Chinese economy, and the quality and rigor of those programs are critical to that aim, according to key presentations by deans of leading business schools in the region at the 2014 Asia Regional Meeting of the Executive MBA (EMBA) Council.

Yingyi Qian, Dean of School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, Ji-Ye Mao, Professor and Dean, School of Business, Renmin University of China, and K Ravi Kumar, Dean, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technical University served as keynote speakers at the meeting, which took place on April 14-16 at Tsinghua University.

China is an increasingly important global business player, says Qian, and the unprecedented growth in the Chinese economy is contributing to the expanding need for business education. The world-class offerings of Executive MBA Programs in China are helping meet that demand, he says.

The movement in China toward frugality in government has resulted in a shift in the EMBA student population, says Mao. With state-owned organizations limiting their sponsorship dollars for EMBA students, the majority of EMBA students in China now come from private enterprises, he says.

Partnerships among business schools have helped support the growth of EMBA programs in China, and Asia in general, says Kumar. Those partnerships can be challenging to develop, but when partners approach collaboration with the same mindset, the results can be powerful, he says.

The meeting also featured panel discussions on English-language programs in China, b