News Center



Bringing Together East and West

Apr 18-2013   



 

“Young Chinese recognize the need to have a more global mindset. While that might be gained by going abroad to do an MBA, they see advantages in attending an internationally-focused MBA in China.”

- Bruce Stening, Vlerick International Dean of BiMBA

 

 

by SARAH KENT

Walking through the old campus of Peking University along leafy paths surrounded by ivy-clad buildings, a sudden clearing reveals a sleek white structure. Students in long black robes are milling around and the air is buzzing with voices speaking Chinese and English. The scene is a snapshot of old and new, east and west: the students are graduates of BiMBA-Beijing International MBA at Peking University, one of a small number of top-level international-grade
MBAs offered in China.

The program was the first joint international MBA program in Beijing approved by the Chinese government, and is a joint educational venture operated by the National School of Development at Peking University, recently established by the prestigious China Center for Economic Research at Peking University (CCER). The current degree-granting institution for BiMBA is the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in Belgium, rated the best business school in Belgium and the 14th worldwide in 2008, according to a survey of full-time MBA programs by The Economist. During its first ten years,BiMBA cooperated with a US business school consortium and Fordham University in New York was the degree-granting institution.

The graduation ceremony perfectly encapsulates BiMBA's objectives: providing students with a modern business education while emphasizing the Chinese market and how to adapt cutting-edge economic principles to it.

  

 

Both full-time and part-time MBA programs are taught in English and graduates receive an international degree certified by Vlerick, which holds all three major international business school accreditations: EQUISAMBA and AACSB. Students benefit from regular visits by experts from international universities, but they can also choose to study the strategy of Sun Tzu, a course which involves field trips to the ancient battlefields of Shandong, leaving students with a deeper understanding of Chinese history.

Dr. Lee Zhang, the Associate Dean of BiMBA sees this intermingling of traditions and schools as BiMBA’s unique strength. In his mind, China is a developing country in a different economic situation from America. Although it can benefit greatly from western business theories, it should not rely solely on these traditions, but focus on adapting them to China’s individual situation. This is why increasing numbers of both international and Chinese students are choosing to enroll in programs like BiMBA.

Many international students seeking to enter the Chinese market are now choosing to come to China to study business, rather studying in their home country. Five years ago,5% of BiMBA’s MBA class was international . This number has now increased to 40%.

Mr.Jutah Kiki Sean, a Singaporean prospective applicant to BiMBA, is a good example. When asked recently why he was considering moving to China to study for an MBA after eight years working in finance in Singapore, he said that he wished to do business in China, and studying for an MBA elsewhere would not give him the China-specific business knowledge he required.

Increasing numbers of Chinese students are also interested in international MBAs. As Bruce Stening, Vlerick International Dean of BiMBA, explains, “young Chinese recognize the need to have a more global mindset. While that might be gained by going abroad to do an MBA, they see advantages in attending an internationally focused MBA in China.”

 

 

These advantages are becoming relevant to more and more students. When BiMBA was founded, the majority of Chinese applicants worked for large multinationals (MNCs), but in the past four years the number of applicants from private and state-run businesses has increased as these businesses enter international markets.

BiMBA comes under the umbrella of Peking University, but as a joint venture, it is also able to offer its students the benefits of Vlerick’s resources. Laura Johnson, 30, a British citizen who graduated from BiMBA in 2008 and went on to start her own business in Beijing, says one reason she chose BiMBA was the Vlerick degree she would earn, as well as the guarantee of study with internationally renowned professors–80% of the professors at BiMBA are international.

BiMBA, and programs like it, are a proud ref lection of China’s move to the forefront of the global economy and its development in the global community. Its importance lies in the message that it sends for the future: that students do not only gain an insight into the ways in which Chinese and Western cultures mix and benefit from each other, but that they become part of that synthesis.

Bringing Together East and West

Apr 18-2013   



 

“Young Chinese recognize the need to have a more global mindset. While that might be gained by going abroad to do an MBA, they see advantages in attending an internationally-focused MBA in China.”

- Bruce Stening, Vlerick International Dean of BiMBA

 

 

by SARAH KENT

Walking through the old campus of Peking University along leafy paths surrounded by ivy-clad buildings, a sudden clearing reveals a sleek white structure. Students in long black robes are milling around and the air is buzzing with voices speaking Chinese and English. The scene is a snapshot of old and new, east and west: the students are graduates of BiMBA-Beijing International MBA at Peking University, one of a small number of top-level international-grade
MBAs offered in China.

The program was the first joint international MBA program in Beijing approved by the Chinese government, and is a joint educational venture operated by the National School of Development at Peking University, recently established by the prestigious China Center for Economic Research at Peking University (CCER). The current degree-granting institution for BiMBA is the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in Belgium, rated the best business school in Belgium and the 14th worldwide in 2008, according to a survey of full-time MBA programs by The Economist. During its first ten years,BiMBA cooperated with a US business school consortium and Fordham University in New York was the degree-granting institution.

The graduation ceremony perfectly encapsulates BiMBA's objectives: providing students with a modern business education while emphasizing the Chinese market and how to adapt cutting-edge economic principles to it.

  

 

Both full-time and part-time MBA programs are taught in English and graduates receive an international degree certified by Vlerick, which holds all three major international business school accreditations: EQUISAMBA and AACSB. Students benefit from regular visits by experts from international universities, but they can also choose to study the strategy of Sun Tzu, a course which involves field trips to the ancient battlefields of Shandong, leaving students with a deeper understanding of Chinese history.

Dr. Lee Zhang, the Associate Dean of BiMBA sees this intermingling of traditions and schools as BiMBA’s unique strength. In his mind, China is a developing country in a different economic situation from America. Although it can benefit greatly from western business theories, it should not rely solely on these traditions, but focus on adapting them to China’s individual situation. This is why increasing numbers of both international and Chinese students are choosing to enroll in programs like BiMBA.

Many international students seeking to enter the Chinese market are now choosing to come to China to study business, rather studying in their home country. Five years ago,5% of BiMBA’s MBA class was international . This number has now increased to 40%.

Mr.Jutah Kiki Sean, a Singaporean prospective applicant to BiMBA, is a good example. When asked recently why he was considering moving to China to study for an MBA after eight years working in finance in Singapore, he said that he wished to do business in China, and studying for an MBA elsewhere would not give him the China-specific business knowledge he required.

Increasing numbers of Chinese students are also interested in international MBAs. As Bruce Stening, Vlerick International Dean of BiMBA, explains, “young Chinese recognize the need to have a more global mindset. While that might be gained by going abroad to do an MBA, they see advantages in attending an internationally focused MBA in China.”

 

 

These advantages are becoming relevant to more and more students. When BiMBA was founded, the majority of Chinese applicants worked for large multinationals (MNCs), but in the past four years the number of applicants from private and state-run businesses has increased as these businesses enter international markets.

BiMBA comes under the umbrella of Peking University, but as a joint venture, it is also able to offer its students the benefits of Vlerick’s resources. Laura Johnson, 30, a British citizen who graduated from BiMBA in 2008 and went on to start her own business in Beijing, says one reason she chose BiMBA was the Vlerick degree she would earn, as well as the guarantee of study with internationally renowned professors–80% of the professors at BiMBA are international.

BiMBA, and programs like it, are a proud ref lection of China’s move to the forefront of the global economy and its development in the global community. Its importance lies in the message that it sends for the future: that students do not only gain an insight into the ways in which Chinese and Western cultures mix and benefit from each other, but that they become part of that synthesis.